Opening the 2025-26 OUA regular season on the road, the University of Toronto Varsity Blues men's basketball team earned a 61-57 win over the Brock Badgers on Friday (Oct. 24) night in St. Catharines.

A physical defensive battle between the Blues and Badgers, Toronto was able to contain their opponent's offence through effective perimeter defence. More than half of Brock's field goal attempts came from beyond the three-point line, however, the Blues limited the Badgers to just 8-for-33 from the three-point arc. The on-ball pressure was also effective in creating chaos as Toronto converted 15 steals and 24 total turnovers by Brock into 18 points off turnovers. Not a single Badger was able to reach double-digit points versus the Blues defence on Friday night.

On the offensive end of the floor, it was a complete team effort as a trio of Blues finished with a matching team-high of 12 points.

Second-year centre Lukas Prekovic nailed a critical late-game three to help the Blues pull away, adding six rebounds, two steals and one block to round out his stat line. Leading all Blues with 38 minutes, third-year forward Simeon Jeffers also reached 12 with several strong drives to the basket, also tallying seven rebounds, two assists and three steals. Coming off the bench, fourth-year centre Nigel Hylton rounded out the players with a dozen points, recording seven rebounds and two steals as well.

Michael Okeke registered a team-high nine points for Brock in the loss.

U of T will look to keep up the defensive intensity as they travel to Hamilton to challenge the McMaster Marauders tomorrow (Oct. 25) night. Tip-off for the Saturday showdown is set for 8 p.m. The game will be streamed on oua.tv.