The Niagara College men's basketball program traveled to Sudbury this weekend for a pair of games against the Cambrian Golden Shield. The Knights earned an 85-72 victory on Saturday night, before falling 72-57 on Sunday afternoon.
Leading the way for the Knights on Saturday's scoresheet were a pair of first-year Mississauga natives in Ty Rogers and Mark Lemos. From the small forward position Rogers gave the Knights 17 points and 13 rebounds, while the point-guard Lemos finished with 17 points and six assists.
After the game Niagara College men's basketball head coach Steve Atkin commented "We were down by five points after three quarters of play. Tonight was a real character win, outscoring Cambrian by 18 in the last quarter."
The difference in the game proved to be the gritty and hard-nosed play of veteran forward Lawrence McNeil. The six-foot-four St. Catharines native finished with 11 points, including nine in the second half, and 12 rebounds.
The second game saw the two teams meet again less than 24 hours later, and the Knights failed to find any rhythm throughout the contest.
Coach Atkin felt his team "was outplayed in every aspect of the game." He highlighted the Knights 'turnovers' and lack of rebounding, and questionable 'shot selection' as the primary factors in the game.
The loss drops the young Knights to 3-14 on the season. The team has just one game remaining, a Friday, February 14th matchup versus the top ranked Humber Hawks.
The Friday night matchup will serve as part of the Niagara College Knights winter sports Grad Night, where 11 graduating students-athletes will be recognized for the academic performance prior to tip-off of the 6:00pm women's game.
