Feb. 25 Niagara College report
The men’s basketball program, who hosted the Loyalist Lancers in Ontario Colleges Athletic Association crossover action on Saturday afternoon, got the job done but it wasn’t pretty at times.
Finishing the regular season with a 15-5 record and the OCAA West’s third-place team, the Knights were the heavy favourites to win the game and head to the OCAA championship. The Knights led for nearly the entire game, but couldn’t pull ahead by more than a few baskets at a time. At the half, the Knights led 45-39 before being outscored in both the third and fourth quarters.
The Lancers took the lead against the Knights for the first time in the entire game with under a minute to play. They led 78-77 and forced the Knights to intentionally foul to put the Lancers at the free-throw line with just 4.3 seconds on the clock. With a chance to take a three-point lead, the Lancers made both free throws but were called for a lane violation on the free throw as the shooter stepped inside they key before the ball hit the rim. So with just the one free throw counting, the Knights had the ball with 4.3 seconds and a chance to tie the game. A perfect play call by head coach Phil Mosley gave Lequan Hylton a shot at the basket who came through to send the game into overtime.
The first overtime didn’t solve anything as the most exciting moment came in the final seconds. With the game tied at 89-89, Loyalist stole the ball and drove all the way down the court with a chance at a game winning layup but Van Hutchinson Jr raced all the way down the court and pinned the ball against the backboard to send the game to double overtime. The Knights finally pulled away in overtime and took the 107-98 win to secure their spot in the OCAA championship.
“Today (Saturday), we survived a real scare from a tough loyalist squad,” Mosley said. “We relied on our depth and experience to pull out this victory and move on to play for a provincial title”
Hutchinson Jr. led the Knights with 28 points, 12 rebounds and 10 assists for yet another triple-double. Jordon McDonald was dominant in the paint all game long and added 21 points and 16 rebounds. Hylton had a great game scoring 15 points including the basket to send the game to overtime and a crucial three-pointer in double overtime to put his team up 94-90.
The Knights now head to Georgian College in Barrie for the OCAA Championship. Their first opponent will be the Lambton Lions in the quarter-final at 6 p.m. on Thursday night.
WOMEN’S BASKETBALL
Bridget Atkinson (Welland) was dominant once again as she took over the OCAA crossover game against the George Brown Huskies on Saturday afternoon. After finishing the season as the OCAA West’s sixth place team, the Knights travelled to Toronto to take on the Huskies on the road.
The game didn’t start as planned as the Huskies got out to an early 10-0 lead forcing head coach Mike Beccaria to call a timeout and get his team back in the game mentally. His plan worked nearly perfectly as the Knights exploded out of the timeout going on an 18-3 run to take the lead.
Bridget Atkinson
The Knights outscored the Huskies in the second and the third quarters to extend their lead to 15 points heading into the fourth. The game would ultimately finish 74-59 in favour of the Knights as they punched their ticket into the OCAA championship.
Atkinson finished the game with a game-high 29 points as she also added eight rebounds, three assists and three steals. Rookie guard Alannah Yates also had a strong game once again, finishing with 13 points.
The Knights will now play the Sheridan Bruins in the quarter-final matchup of the OCAA Championship at St. Lawrence College in Kingston Thursday at 8 p.m.
MEN’S VOLLEYBALL
The men’s volleyball program headed to Humber College this past weekend for the Ontario Colleges Athletic Association championship where they lost in the bronze-medal match.
The Knights got off to a terrific start, taking the first set 25-21 and putting the Georgian Grizzlies back on their heels to start off the tournament. After the strong first set, the Knights couldn’t take advantage of their momentum as they allowed the Grizzlies to retake control of the match by winning two straight sets (25-17, 25-18) to take a 2-1 lead. The Knights would force the all-deciding fifth set after winning 25-21 in set four. In the final set, the Knights dominated taking the set 15-8 and winning 3-2 to advance to the semifinal match.
The Knights then faced the Humber Hawks for a chance at an OCAA gold medal. The two teams had faced off twice already in the regular season with the Hawks winning both matchups 3-0, but this time the Knights won the first set 25-22. Humber would come out and win three straight sets to eliminate the Knights from their chance at a championship and relegating them to the bronze medal match.
In the bronze-medal match, the Knights took on the Redeemer Royals. The Royals would finally pull ahead late in the fifth set and win the race to the finish line to earn the bronze medal with a 3-2 victory (21-25, 25-20, 23-25, 25-23, 10-15).
Libero Robert Zalewski saved his best volleyball of the season for the OCAA championship as the second-year defensive specialist was terrific all tournament long. Starting right from the get-go in the quarter-finals match, Zalewski had 16 digs. He finished the tournament with 39 digs and won the Player of the Game Award in the semifinal match as he did a great job receiving attack attempts from a strong Humber offence.
Jaydon Milne had a great tournament as well. The second year outside hitter had his best match of the tournament in the bronze medal game as he finished with 19 kills. Over the course of the three matches, he had 40 kills and 22 digs.
Ben Fillmore, who played his last volleyball match with the Knights after five seasons, went out on a high note as the setter had 112 assists in the tournament including 51 in the five-set bronze medal match.
WOMEN’S VOLLEYBALL
For the second straight season, the Niagara Knights women’s volleyball program are OCAA silver medalists after a terrific tournament at Cambrian College in Sudbury.
The Knights, who entered the tournament after a win on the road against the Algonquin Thunder, faced a tough St. Clair Saints team in the OCAA quarterfinals. The Saints and Knights played two extremely close matches in the regular season with St. Clair winning both of them 3-2.
In this match, the Knights took a strong 2-0 lead against their opponents and looked like they were going to walk right into the semifinal matchup. However, in their last match against one another the Knights also had a 2-0 lead before losing the match 3-2. Needing just one more set win, St. Clair was able to win the next two once again and force a fifth set between the two teams for the third time this season. The Knights were able to finally pull off the win in the fifth set. Niagara won 3-2 (25-18, 25-23, 25-27, 20-25, 15-13) and cemented themselves in the OCAA semifinals.
In the semifinals, the Knights had a tough task against the undefeated OCAA East Champion from Durham. The Knights proved how strong of a division the OCAA West is as they took down the Lords in four sets (25-18, 22-25, 25-17, 25-18) to advance to the gold-medal match for the second straight year.
Taking on the Fanshawe Falcons with gold on the line, the Knights couldn’t get past the OCAA West’s No. 1 seed. The match would finish 3-0 and the Niagara Knights would be awarded second straight silver medal and their fifth medal at the OCAA Championship in the past five years.
Jordan Koslowski and Madelyn Berg (St. Catharines) were named tournament all-stars. Berg, the Knights’ rookie Libero, took home the Player of the Game Award in the first match against the Saints. She finished the match with 21 digs, which led both teams. Berg finished the tournament with 39 digs.
Koslowski, the Player of the Game Award winner for the Knights in the gold-medal match, finished the tournament with 28 kills, six service aces and 21 digs.
Olivia Burnie had a terrific match against the Lords in the semifinals, winning Player of the Game for Niagara with 12 kills and six digs. She finished the tournament with 23 kills.
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