After losing Ontario University Athletics championships in rugby and football to Queen’s, Western was due for a victory over their Kingston-based rivals.

Despite a less than dominant performance, the Mustangs men’s basketball team was buoyed by an outstanding second half and clutch free throw shooting, leading to a scrappy 85-72 victory over the struggling Gaels.

“I thought it was a win we needed to have,” Western assistant coach Matthew Tweedie said after the game. “We had a couple breakdowns but we have to be happy overall with a 13 point win.”

Both teams came out of the gate flat. Western was non-existent on the glass getting out rebounded 10-5 in the first quarter, while Queen’s only shot 28 per cent from beyond the arch.

The Mustangs took a narrow 41-40 lead into halftime, despite being dominated by Queen’s centre Mitch Leger, who had 14 points and seven rebounds, four of which were on the offensive boards.

“He’s a beast,” Western centre Andrew Wedemire said of Leger. “He’s a tough match-up for a big guy [because] he shoots the ball so well.”

The second half was a completely different story. Western opened the half energized and physical, kicking off the third quarter with a 12-1 run. Mustangs head coach Brad Campbell attributed the turnaround to improved rebounding.

“I thought in the first half, we didn’t do a great job [rebounding], but in the second half we got more physical and limited their offensive rebounding. That was the difference,” he said.

Wedemire answered the bell on both ends of the court for Western, limiting Leger to six points and one offensive rebound in the second half, while contributing 24 points and a perfect 14 of 14 from the free throw line.

Wedemire was quick to commend the efforts of Mustangs point guard Ryan Barbeau, who tore up the Gaels’ defence with 24 points and nine assists in a game high 39 minutes.

“He carries the load. Without him, we’re kind of lost on offence. We need him out there as much as possible,” Wedemire said.

After the game Gaels assistant coach Duncan Cowan expressed his discontent with the officiating.

“They shot 35 free throws, we shot 11,” Cowan said. “The whole game we hung around, but we were never really in it — that game was over in the first quarter.”

Despite coming away with the victory, Campbell believes there is still room for improvement.

“We have talent. We’ve got a lot of new guys and it’s going to take us a little bit of time, but we’re definitely improving. It’s the old cliché — if we just continue to get a little bit better each week, we’ll be successful,” he said.

The Mustangs will look to improve upon their 4-2 record this Friday in Toronto against first team OUA all-star forward Boris Bakovic and his Ryerson Rams. Western takes on the Toronto Varsity Blues, the seventh-ranked team in the country, on Saturday.