DURHAM UPSETS #1-RANKED ALGONQUIN

DURHAM, ON–A confident and determined basketball team showed up on Friday night at Durham College, but to the surprise of many, it was not the nation’s top team, the Algonquin Thunder as they were upset by the Durham Lords 84-76 in OCAA men’s basketball action.

The loss for the Thunder marked their first of the season, after beginning on a 17 game
winning streak. After ending the first half with momentum and a 12 point lead (44-32) it looked as
though the Thunder would cruise to another victory.

A slow start to the second half by the Thunder saw them on the wrong end of an 11-0 run, which gave the Lords the momentum they needed behind the healthy and raucous crowd that was on hand.

Durham swingman, Courtney Small scored his 1000th career point in the win. The Co-Captain of
the Lords who began the game 15 points away from hitting the 1000 point mark bounced back from a forgettable two point, three turnover first half.

Small registered a game-high 21 points to lead the Lords.

Eric Smith, OCAA leading scorer and rebounder chipped in with a near triple double posting 19 points, 11 rebounds and 8 assists.

Smith and Small are ranked  two and three respectively in Durham College all-time scoring with 1,121 and 1,006 career points.

Former Durham College star, Anthony Batchelor is the CCAA’s all-time leading scorer
with 1,833 career points.

One of the nation’s top point guards Njuguna Waiganjo was held to just two points in the second half by the suffocating Durham defense.

The Thunder entered the game as the highest scoring team in the province but were held to just 36% shooting in the second half.

With the massive victory, Durham jumps into second place in the OCAA east region with a 12-5 record.

 St. Lawrence (11-5) trails Durham by just two points. Algonquin falls to 17-1 with the loss, but have already clinched the number one seed and a first round bye the OCAA playoffs.

Durham will head to Peterborough on Wednesday, February 16th against the east division’s fourth
place Fleming Knights (10-7).

Thunder have a quick turnaround as they head to Belleville to take on Loyalist College (6-11) on Saturday February 12th.

OCAA- EAST