OCAA Men’s Basketball Week Two Review

Week two is officially in the books across the OCAA men’s basketball east and west divisions, and it is time to check in on how our GTA colleges performed.

There have been some shocking developments for some programs like Sheridan and a near upset for nationally ranked Humber. It all goes to show you just how unpredictable the OCAA can be. What else went down on the east side of the city for teams like Centennial and Seneca?

Let’s find out!

Humber College 

The no. 2 nationally ranked Humber Hawks got quite the scare in their two-game road trip over the weekend, nearly falling to Windsor’s St. Clair College Saints 61-58. Despite a shaky performance against an unranked team, the Hawks rebounded nicely the following day with a 91-75 win against Sarnia’s Lambton College, keeping their perfect OCAA record intact at 6-0.

Posting a whopping 35 turnovers and a sub-par shooting percentage of 38% from the field in the St. Clair game, Humber pretty much kept their opponents in the game, as their rebounding dominance (Humber out-rebounded their opponents 52-27) was overshadowed by a flurry of mistakes.

Tyrone Dickson had a double-double for the Hawks with 13 points and 16 rebounds in the win.

The game in Lambton was a little more predictable, with Humber leading start to finish and never really having much trouble finding the basket and open looks, putting up 91 points.

Rebounding continues to be Humber’s biggest strength so far this season, and it is to be expected with the amount of size and athleticism on this roster.

Despite their perfect record, the game in Windsor clearly shows this team is going to need a little more time to learn to play together and make the right decisions on the court, before they can be taken seriously come March during the nationals.

Their biggest test so far this season is up next for them, as they get set to face the 3-2 Sheridan Bruins this Saturday at North Campus in Etobicoke at 8pm.

Sheridan College

The Sheridan Bruins played just one game this past week, and it showed.

In what most people familiar with the OCAA are calling a minor upset, the Bruins fell 116-103 to the Mohawk Mountaineers of Hamilton yesterday evening in one of the highest scoring games in OCAA history.

Despite 29 steals by the Bruins and badly outscoring the Mountaineers off turnovers 34-17, the Mountaineers put up an impressive shooting display behind the arc, dropping 15 of 35 three’s, good enough for 43%. Meanwhile Sheridan struggled, shooting a dismal 17.1% (6-35) from long distance.

Three players from Mohawk College scored at least 30 points, with Brian Hyrski dropping 44 ponts, while Andrew Cicuttini put together a stat line to remember: 17 points and a whopping 28 rebounds!

Now five games in and the Bruins have nearly matched their entire loss total of three games during the OCAA regular season last year, with two so far.

The Bruins will now have to lick their wounds and prepare themselves for the n0. 2 ranked Humber this Saturday to try and avoid falling to .500.

We are only two weeks in and this deep-rooted rivalry already has some interesting ramifications involved!

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Seneca College

The Seneca Sting built on their first win of the season during week one, taking to the road and turning it into a three game winning streak during week two, with victories over Loyalist (1-3) and St. Lawrence (1-3).

The game against Loyalist was a gutsy 73-70 victory against another scrappy squad trying to keep themselves afloat in the east.

Despite being out performed in nearly every team statistic by Loyalist and trailing 31-24 at the half, the Sting responded with a great 3^rd quarter, outscoring the Lancers 25-17, and were able to make good on 43% shooting to Loyalists 34% overall in the game.

The game against St. Lawrence saw the sting walk away with an 81-73 victory. Points off turnovers (22-11) and another great shooting performance from the field (52.5%-43.3%) was the difference that allowed the Sting to get above .500 for the first time this season.

Akeem Small nearly recorded a double-double against St. Lawrence with 16 points and 9 rebounds, but it has been Felix Adjei that has continued to bear the weight of the scoring load this season, averaging 18.8 ppg this season.

Now that this team has strung together a few wins, it will be interesting to see where they go from here when the face first place Durham (5-0) this Friday at their home court in Scarborough.

 George Brown

A 70-57 loss to Georgian College (4-1) over the weekend ended the Huskies perfect season, but a bounce back 80-67 win on the Sunday against Canadore (1-4) has kept them firmly at second in the OCAA east division behind the 5-0 Durham Lords.

The Saturday loss was in part to a poor shooting performance from Kevin Mascoe and Kasey Morris who went a combined 4-25 from the field. Akai Nettey dropped 24 points, but nobody else on Seneca scored double digits.

Georgian also managed to badly out rebound the Huskies 60-33, and when you combine poor shooting from your top players and bad spacing in the paint, it’s tough to win any game no matter who you face.

The good news is George Brown re-focused and responded well the very next night with a much more balanced scoring approach from Mascoe, Morris, and Netty.

In total, five different Huskies scored 10 points or more, and outshot the Canadore Panthers in every percentage category en route to the win.

George Brown travels to Cobourg this Friday to take on the 0-5 Fleming College Knights.

Centennial College

We knew Centennial (3-1) had yet to face a tough opponent in the OCAA east, and they got it last Wednesday in an 81-71 loss to the Georgian Grizzlies (4-1) in Barrie.

But just like George Brown, the Colts took their loss in stride and responded with a 97-87 win at Canadore (1-4).

It was Georgian’s home opener last Wednesday and a riled up crowd seemed to spur on Georgian’s momentum for most of the game. The Grizzlies led by as much as 20 at one point, and a 38.9% shooting effort from the Colts kept them from making any real charge in the game.

Centennial still managed some bright spots, using their athleticism to record 21 points off turnovers to Georgian’s 12.

The next night was a much friendlier outcome for the Colts, who saw four different players score double-digit points, including 29 from Alex Hagoriles, while Ian Francis recorded a double-double with 21 points and 13 rebounds.

Out of all the OCAA Toronto teams, Centennial will likely be the most interesting to watch offensively, as they have scored less than 80 points only once so far this season.

Their next game is this Friday against Algonquin at their home floor in Scarborough.