HAMILTON, ONT. — The Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU) Bold men's basketball team defeated the McMaster Marauders 94-70 in a Halloween matchup on Saturday evening at Burridge Hall.
The Bold now own a two-game winning streak after losing their season opener to the Laurier Golden Hawks.
Rebounding was a key factor in that loss: Laurier outrebounded TMU 44-33, which led to multiple second-chance points and eventually a narrow 79-73 Golden Hawks win. Bold Head Coach
David DeAveiro didn't let his squad make the same mistake against McMaster.
TMU outperformed McMaster, who ranked sixth provincially in rebounding entering the game, 36 to 31 on the glass. Marauders forward Riaz Saliu, who was averaging 15.5 boards per game, was held to just nine. Oliver Lucas, who led the OUA in field goal percentage at 75 per cent, was held to just one-for-five on the night in another impressive feat by the Bold defence.
It was instead the Bold's
Ares Culley-Bremner who owned the game-high in rebounds with 12. The former Marauder finished with 15 points in his return to Burridge Hall, marking a season high for the fifth-year and the second-highest scoring total for TMU, behind only guard
Kevin Toth's 16.
It was in the third quarter when TMU's lead really ballooned: back-to-back threes from guard
Tobe Ezeokafor made the score 49-34.
Ezeokafor was one of multiple guards off the bench for the Bold to provide a scoring burst against the Marauders. Nathaniel Savage attacked the rim with tenacity, resulting in multiple layups and eight points. The second-year transfer from the reigning OCAA champion Humber Hawks had played just nine total minutes this season before Saturday's game, and made the most of his time.
Guard
Javier Gilgeous-Glasgow, who started the season opener against the Golden Hawks, also came off the bench to provide an extra scoring punch – and he did just that, adding 14 points on four-for-six shooting and three-for-four from beyond the arc.
That extra scoring from the bench helped propel the Bold to their highest-scoring game of the regular season. Coupled with their elite defensive performance (TMU forced McMaster into 19 turnovers, which turned into 23 points), the offensive production makes DeAveiro's squad look scary (no Halloween pun intended) entering their fourth game of the season.
That fourth game is away against the Bold's inner-city rivals, the Toronto Varsity Blues. The game tips off at 8 p.m. at the Goldring Centre on Nov. 4. Following the Toronto-vs-Toronto matchup, TMU will host their home opener against the Windsor Lancers on Nov. 6. The game will feature a banner raising in celebration of their 2025–26 Wilson Cup championship.
If fans can't make it to the Goldring Centre on Wednesday, they can tune in live on OUA.tv.
