Wolves men’s basketball team blown out in home opener

The Wolves men’s basketball team fell short in their home opener of the 2025-26 season, losing 85-53 against the Durham Lords at the Jack Doyle Athletic and Recreation Centre on Halloween night.

The Durham Lords look to defend their OCAA championship, starting off strong with two wins coming into Ottawa. The Wolves had their first major test of the season against the Lords, coming into this matchup with only one regular-season game under their belt.

Gezim Pjetergjokaj started the game with force, driving into the paint and drawing a foul in the first three seconds of the game, converting one of two free throws.

The Lords scored a basket 20 seconds later and ran with it. Getting off to a hot start, Durham went on to score eight more points, going on a ten-point run to extend their lead midway through the first quarter.

James Texeira provided the majority of the offence for the Wolves in the first quarter with seven points, including a three-point bomb to bring it to a one-possession game going into the second quarter.

Durham led 19-17 after the opening frame.

Texeira finished the game six for ten from the field, scoring 16 points, going three for five from three-point range, and having two assists.

“I thought I played decent, we still lost the game, but I brought as much energy and effort as I could,” said Texeira.

The Lords started their full-court press and three-two zone defence in the first quarter and ramped up the intensity in the second quarter. They started to pull away with a large lead and played very tough defence, leading to many turnovers and unforced errors from the Wolves.

In the second quarter, the Wolves went five minutes and twenty-two seconds without putting the ball in the basket. Their struggles on the offensive end also carried over to the defensive end, which led to the Wolves trailing by 19 points going into halftime. The Lords led 44-25 going into the third quarter.

The Lords’ momentum continued in their favour during the second half, stretching their lead to as much as 46 points. This was a deficit too large for the Wolves to come back from, ending the third quarter with the Lords leading 69-35.

Head coach of the Wolves, Trevor Costello, showed some Halloween spirit by wearing a black wig during the game, but his team couldn’t disguise their scary play on both sides of the floor. “We didn’t set the tone early. Turnovers off a little bit of pressure early. Very discouraging, in the end result, the effort wasn’t there,” said Costello.

Costello mentioned that his young team has a lot of learning to do and has singled out their poor defensive effort as a team.

On a positive note, the whole roster got to see the floor and gain experience they would otherwise not get in a tight game. Farouk Meguader, better known as themoroccanmamba on social media, is using the play time to prove to Costello that he deserves to be in the discussion for the Wolves’ sixth man.

“One of the plays, we had our big just pop out every time in the middle, and he just got open and made a shot. We should have looked for that in the first, second, and third quarters, but we just started doing that in the fourth.
 So I hope tomorrow we start implementing that because they can’t guard that,” said Meguader.

Another player who stepped up with the increased playing time was P-J Hacksaw, coming off the bench. Hacksaw brought the energy the Wolves needed to the floor. Playing only 14 minutes, he shot four for seven from the field, two for three from the free throw line, while also tallying three rebounds and one assist.

The Wolves faced the visiting Fleming Phoenix the following day and lost 72-64, while the Lords extended their winning streak to four games after beating La Cité 82-65.

The Wolves will fight to even their record when they visit the St. Lawrence Surge in Kingston on Nov. 7.