Niagara College Jan. 13 report: Basketball and volleyball
The Niagara College Knights men’s basketball team opened up the second half of the Ontario Colleges Athletic Association season with a 93-84 victory over the Conestoga Condors.
Niagara improved to 4-6 with the victory while Conestoga fell to 4-8.
Head coach Phil Mosley acknowledged it was a big victory for his team heading into the back half of the season.
“This was a gutsy win tonight,” he said. “Our guys stayed together and worked hard on both ends to secure this victory.
“We have had difficulty closing out games and tonight we battled and managed to hold off their second-half surge.”
After ending the first quarter tied at 15-15, the Knights built quarter leads of 36-32 and 60-56.
Top performers for Niagara were: fifth-year guard Lequan Hylton with 29 points on 8-16 shooting from the field and 7-14 accuracy from the three-point arc; Johnnie Richardson (Saint Paul) with 19 points and six rebounds; Sterphone Augustin with 15 points and 17 rebounds; Rahim Bardi (Governor Simcoe) with 12 points; and, Kennon Larmond (Centennial and Ridley College) with nine points and five rebounds
Niagara is at Sheridan (7-3) Tuesday.
WOMEN’S BASKETBALL
The Niagara women’s basketball team fell to 1-8 on the season following a 73-69 loss to the Conestoga Condors.
The Knights started strongly, building quarter leads of 19-11 and 40-28, before Conestoga roared back by outscoring Niagara 26-11 in the third quarter.
First year head coach Chris Rao was frustrated with the loss.
“There were some positive takes from tonight,” he said. “But at the end of the day, we turned the ball over too much and we weren’t good enough to finish and win the game.”
Conestoga improved to 6-5 with the win.
Leading the way for Niagara were: Kaisen MacKinnon with 22 points and five rebounds; Mackenzie Schroeder (Eden) with 19 points; Jessyka Maliksi with 13 points; Terrin Hultink (Smithville Christian) with six points and eight boards; and, Francine Smith (Denis Morris) with four points and nine rebounds.
Former Greater Fort Erie Gryphon and Niagara Juel player Taylor Doyle had eight points and three rebounds in 19 minutes of floor time for the Condors.
Niagara is at Sheridan (5-4) Tuesday,
WOMEN’S VOLLEYBALL
Ranked fifth in Ontario, the Niagara College Knights women’s volleyball squad fell to 6-4 in OCAA action following a 3-1 loss (18-25, 18-25, 26-24, 18-25) to the St. Clair Saints.
Niagara won 3-1 when the teams last met on Dec. 1.
“The first game after the break is always a wild card,” Niagara head coach Steve Dow said. “We need to get back to the form we displayed before the break where we start on time and do our jobs to a high standard.
“St. Clair did a good job jumping on us early and using their strengths to score early and often. We changed our line up in the third set and it sparked a set win but in the fourth we stopped doing our jobs and St. Clair exploited that.”
Second-year setter Montana Taylor (Eden) led Niagara with eight kills, 24 assists and two service aces.
The Knights host Mohawk (8-3) Thursday at 6 p.m.
MEN’S VOLLEYBALL
Niagara’s men’s volleyball team pushed its record to 7-3 with a 3-1 road triumph (25-20, 15-25, 26-24, 25-20) over the Saint Clair Saints (4-6).
Saint Clair won the first meeting 3-2.
Niagara was led by Elijah Bugiardini with 16 points and Sam Otten with 13 points.
Niagara hosts Mohawk College (7-4) Thursday at 8 p.m.
