Humber And Mohawk Advance To OCAA Championship: Humber Looking To Defend Title For 4th Time

NPH TOP PERFORMER

Centennial 

• Theon Reefer – 28 points

OTTAWA, ON– Day 2 of the OCAA men’s basketball championship began with the two backdoor games, a new format for the men’s championship where the four losing teams from day 1 face off against each other and the winners of those games will play the losers from the semifinal games. These games will determine the bronze medal winner. The night games had the surprise Georgian Grizzlies against the Mohawk Mountaineers and in the second game of the evening, the Algoma Thunderbirds went up against the Humber Hawks.

The first game of the day pegged the Sheridan Bruins matched up versus the Centennial Colts.  This was a very physical game from start to finish since both teams came out well knowing that their tournament lives were at stake and it showed. Sheridan began the game with a 17 to 8 run but Centennial would slowly chip away using their superior rebounding to get back in the game. The Colts would retake the lead  clinging on to a one point lead at half time. The Colts were once again led by forward Theon Reefer who had a game high 28 points imposing his will on offense and on the defensive end.  Both teams would trade baskets the entire second half with no team holding more than a 4 point lead. Centennial would battle tough and prevail with the win fighting the entire game, though looking sped up at times with the Bruins pressure they would take advantage of scoring opportunities and nonetheless they would maintain their composure and come out with the victory by a score of 72-67. The loss for Sheridan marks the end of their season in which the Bruins could not really find there groove come playoff time and it showed in both there losses. For Centennial they move to the semifinals of the bronze round and will face the loser of the Humber Algoma game.

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FANSHAWE

• Boyd Vassell
• Jordan Dixon

Early in the second half Fanshawe would begin to pull away capitalizing on a number of Thunder turnovers, the Falcons would build their lead to 15 points only to have to Thunder make a run and cut it to 4, but the Thunder just ran out of gas and could never regain the lead Fanshawe would win by a score of 66 to 57. Algonquin guard Nehemiah Campbell had another strong performance in the losing cause, this lost marks the end of the season for Algonquin who could not take advantage of opportunities in both their losses that eventually led to their demise.  The Falcons on the other hand will move on in the bronze medal round and play the loser of the Georgian Mohawk game.

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MOHAWK

• Amino Bello
• Manny Campbell

In the first of the two semifinal games of the night the Mohawk Mountaineers played the surprise Georgia Grizzlies, Georgian was unable to rekindle the magic that led them to the win last night and there run to the title has now fell short, the Grizzlies were thoroughly trounced by the Mohawk Mountaineers in tonight’s games.  From start to finish Mohawk dominated the Grizzlies; Mohawk jumped out to a 25-10 lead after the first quarter and never looked back.  Mohawk used their superior speed and pressure to create turnovers; the Mountaineers were able to get scoring from every facet of their team, inside, outside it did not matter on this night Mohawk was not going to be beat.  Mohawk was led by first and second team all stars Amino Bello and Manny Campbell who scored at will in the open court with not much resistance at all. Georgian was led by all-star forward Shane Rowe who has been a force all year for the Grizzlies but was unable to get any help from his supporting cast, Rowe battled from beginning to end but it was just not enough. With the win Mohawk has booked themselves a ticket in the finals the first time since the 1984-1985 season.

NPH TOP PERFORMERS

HUMBER

• Daviau Rodney – 17 points

The last game of the day had the three time defending champions Humber Hawks versus the Algoma Thunderbirds, on this day Humber played like the defending champions and Algoma struggled to keep pace with the Hawks from beginning to end.  From the beginning of the game Humber looked intent on shutting down OCAA player of the year Jovain Wilson, they made it very difficult for him to get comfortable and find any type rhythm from start to end.

Humber began the game on an 11 to 2 run and never looked back they used there great ball movement and were able to systematically break the Thunderbirds down.  Humber took a 44-28 lead into the half and would never relinquish the lead they maintained their stellar play for the entire game and never allowed Algoma to get back in the game.  Humber won by a final score of 82-61. Humber was led by guard Daviau Rodney who had a game high 17 points, Algoma was led by forward Dele Oworu who had 12 points in the losing cause. Algoma fought hard in this game but was just out matched by the Hawks who came in intent on running their game plan to a t and it showed, they were able to shut down a very well coached Thunderbird team that has a lot success thought the year. Algoma will now play in the semifinals of the bronze medal game versus the Centennial Colts while the Hawks will look towards obtaining their fourth straight OCAA championship when they face Mohawk in the gold medal game.

Saturday, March 3rd

Final Game

Game #9 – 9:00 am            Georgian Grizzlies vs. Fanshawe Falcons

Game #10 – 11:00 am        Algoma Thunderbirds vs. Centennial Colts

Bronze Medal Game – 4:00 pm     Winner of Game #9 vs. Winner of Game #10

Gold Medal Game – 6:00 pm          Humber Hawks vs. Mohawk Mountaineers