Aiming for their fourth straight victory the Niagara Knights men's basketball program (10-4, 4th OCAA West) heads to London for a Thursday night matchup with the Fanshawe Falcons (1-13, 10th OCAA West).
With one game in hand, the Knights enter play on Thursday trailing both the Sheridan Bruins (12-3, 2nd OCAA West) and Humber Hawks (12-3, 2nd OCAA West) by four points apiece in the OCAA West division standings. With four games remaining in the regular season, including a date with Humber to close out the schedule, the Knights have their sights set on second place. Finishing in second would net the Knights an all-important bye directly into the OCAA Championships at Humber on March 3rd to 5th.
Having won four of their past five games to open the 2016 portion of the regular season, Niagara will look to keep it rolling against the Falcons. Fanshawe is flying high after coming off their first victory of the regular season on January 30 and will surely be looking to earn their second. Defensively the Knights and Falcons are fairly evenly matched, with Fanshawe only allowing five more points per game than Niagara.
The key for victory for the Knights, however, will be leveraging their balanced offensive attack. Lequan Hylton (Mississauga), who became the Knights all-time assists leader on January 31st, will be leaned upon for his strong ball distribution skills. Niagara's offence features four players averaging double digit points this season. Marako Lundy (Nassau, Bahamas), Jordon McDonald (Mississauga), Delroy Grandison (Kingston, Jamaica), and Alex Elliott (Welland) are all averaging 10 points or more thus season. If the trend continues Niagara will have a strong chance of returning to Welland on Thursday night with a victory.
