Niagara College Nov. 11 report

Jordon McDonald had 24 points, six assists and 11 rebounds to lead Niagara men’s basketball team to a 77-55 victory over the Mohawk Mountaineers in Ontario Colleges Athletic Association play.

Niagara built quarter leads of 18-8, 40-19 and 56-40 to improve to 2-3 on the season. Niagara hosts Humber (1-4) Thursday at 8 p.m.

Also helping Niagara record the victory were: Kevin Cooper, 15 points, eight blocks and 15 rebounds; Lequan Hylton, 13 points, eight rebounds and five assists; and, Johnnie Richardson (Saint Paul), 11 points.

“This was an outstanding team defensive performance,” Niagara head coach Phil Mosley said. “Once again, our veterans (Jordon, Lequan and Kevin) had solid games and controlled the tempo on both ends.

“If we can continue to defend like tonight, we will put ourselves in a position to be successful moving forward.”

NIAGARA WOMEN STILL WINLESS

Niagara’s women’s basketball team fell to 0-5 in OCAA action with a 68-55 loss to the Mohawk Mountaineers.

Leading the way for Niagara were: Kaisen MacKinnon, 14 points; Jessyka Maliksi, 10 points; Mackenzie Schroeder (Eden), nine points and six rebound; Veronica George-Brown, six points and four boards; and, Leanne Dekorte (Heritage Christian), four points and five rebounds.

Niagara hosts Humber (4-0) Thursday at 6 p.m.

WOMEN’S VOLLEYBALL RALLY FALLS SHORT

The Niagara women’s volleyball team rallied from a 2-0 deficit before falling 3-2 to Mohawk.

Niagara opened with 25-19 and 25-18 losses before evening up the match with 25-19 and 25-21 victories. The Knights lost the fifth and deciding set 15-10.

“Tonight,  we genuinely got outplayed for a majority of the match,” Niagara head coach Steve Dow said. “Mohawk showed up on time and put us behind early in the first two sets.

“We showed a lot of resilience fighting back to win set three and four but it ultimately came down to the team that played more consistently for longer stretches of time.”

Performing well for Niagara were second-year libero Madelyn Berg (St. Catharines) with 35 digs and third-year hitter Natasha Desjardins (Welland) with 17 kills and 20 digs.

Niagara fell to 3-2 with the loss and Dow knows there’s plenty of room for improvement.

“We are still making too many errors and especially at the wrong times but (it’s) with a young team under a new coach with a new system,” he said. “I remind myself it’s still early in the year and there are a ton of positives to be excited about moving forward.”

Niagara hosts Sheridan (1-3) Friday.

“One thing I do know is we will have a good week of practice and use our home court-advantage with our great fans and give Sheridan a tough match on Friday,” Dow said.

The weekend’s games will be part of the Niagara College Athletics and Recreation’s United Way campaign. Proceeds from ticket sales will go to the United Way.

KNIGHTS MEN RALLY PAST MOHAWK

Niagara’s men’s volleyball team improved to 4-1 on the season with a 3-2 come-from-behind victory over Mohawk.

After dropping the first two sets 25-21 and 25-22, the Knights rallied to win the next three 25-19, 25-17 and 15-12.

Preforming well for Niagara were: Samuel Otten and Colin Prelaz with 13 kills; Elijah Bujiardini and Ashton Fehr with 13 points each; and, Robbie Zalewski with 38 assists and nine digs.

Niagara hosts Sheridan (4-0) Friday.

“Tonight wasn’t our best game and we have to battle our own inconsistencies as well as a very tough Mohawk team,” Niagara head coach Tommy Sloan said. “We struggled in serve receive and Mohawk blocked very well and it put pressure on our offence that we hadn’t experienced up to this point in the season.”

He liked his team’s response to adversity.

“I was pleased with how we maintained a positive mentality throughout the match and we were able to trust our abilities late in the third, fourth and fifth sets,” Sloan said. “It’s great to face some adversity early in the season and to be able to come out of it on top feels pretty good.”

Niagara hosts Sheridan (4-0) Friday.

ATHLETES OF WEEK NOV 3-8

A pair of volleyball players were named Niagara’s top athletes for the week of Nov. 3-8.

Earning top female honours was Kristen Oudman from Wainfleet. In Niagara’s home opener versus Conestoga, the rookie had 14 kills, two stuffed blocks and an ace to total 17 points.

 

Fifth-year player Sam Otten of Toronto was the men’s winner. Against Conestoga, he had 18 kills, nine service aces for a total of 29 points. He is a transfer from Fanshawe College, where he captured Canadian Colleges Athletic Association gold last season.