The Niagara College Knights Men's Basketball teams defeated the Sault College Cougars on Saturday evening before losing the next day by the Algoma University Thunderbirds in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario.
The Knights would have no problem getting past the Sault College Cougars on Saturday winning 98-70. First-year guard Alex Campbell (Brampton, ON) had a game-high 26 points for the Knights who jumped out to a 23-8 lead in the first quarter and never looked back. Jimmy Bilenga (Hamilton, ON) and Ashton Stephenson (Brampton, ON) had 15 and 13 points for the Knights. Niagara would shoot 45-for-72 (62.5%) from the field and 4-for-10 from behind the arc.
On Sunday afternoon, Jovain Wilson (Pickering, ON) led the Algoma University Thunderbirds men's basketball team to an 82-62 win over the Niagara College Knights on Sunday at the George Leach Centre.
Wilson racked up 25 points, 16 of them in the fourth quarter.
Algoma struck early, posting an 11-point lead by the end of the first quarter. The Thunderbirds held onto a 37-29 lead at the halfway point, and were up 13 points over Niagara going into the fourth.
Wilson said going into the fourth quarter he couldn't help but be reminded of Nov. 6, the last time he and his teammates faced Niagara.
Algoma was leading 67-51 after three quarters that day, but the Knights made a dramatic comeback in the fourth, tying the game 77-77 and then dominating in overtime to beat the Thunderbirds 87-81.
It was a "tough loss," that the six-foot-two forward did not soon forget.
"I watched the game film a couple times," said Wilson.
He said he and his teammates believe they have since fixed the problems that led to that early loss, having faced down a similar situation against Sheridan later that month. He said he was determined not to make the same mistakes on Sunday.
"We just kept the energy up on defence and we played hard, we played all 40 minutes today, and it was a big win for us," he said.
Alex Campbell (Brampton, ON) was the only player to reach double-digits in scoring for Niagara. He scored 18 points in the loss with 15 of the points coming in the second half.
With the loss the Knights record is now 8-3, which puts them in a four-way tie for first place in the OCAA West Region along with Humber, Algoma, and Fanshawe.
The Knights, who are 4-0 at home this season, will take on the three-time defending OCAA Champions, the Humber College Hawks on Wednesday evening at the Welland Campus new athletic centre. Niagara will look to avenge a 80-50 loss to the Hawks back on December 2 at Humber.
Game time is 8pm with admission proceeds going to the Niagara College United Way Campaign.
