The University of Toronto Varsity Blues men's basketball team fell by just one point in a thrilling 71-70 defeat versus the Waterloo Warriors on Wednesday (Nov. 6) night at Goldring Centre for High Performance Sport.

A back-and-forth contest throughout, the Blues and Warriors exchanged the lead on six different occasions, with ten periods during the contest where the two teams were tied. Trailing by six with just four minutes remaining in the fourth quarter, U of T made one more push with the chemistry between veterans Inaki Alvarez and Lennart Weber leading to seven of the final nine points scored for the Blues. However, as the clock ticked down, Waterloo were able to prevent a final shot from U of T, holding on for the one-point victory.

Alvarez finished with a team-high 16 points for Toronto, adding five rebounds, three assists, two steals, and one block to round out his stat lines on the night. Weber registered a double-double, pulling down 14 rebounds to go with 13 points. Simeon Jeffers notched 15 and Quarry Whynne recorded 13 to round out the double-digit scoring for the Blues.

Waterloo was led by a game-high 22 points from Cristian Craciun and 18 points from Rafael Llorin.

With little time to rest, the Blues will look to respond this Saturday (Nov. 9) night as they travel to challenge the Guelph Gryphons. Tip-off for the road game is set for 8 p.m., with the game streamed on oua.tv.