The Niagara Knights men's basketball program (3-1, 4th OCAA West) got back on track this past Saturday when they travelled to Mohawk College to take on the Mohawk Mountaineers (1-3, 9th OCAA West).
Coming into the game off of their only loss of the season, a 94-81 loss to the Humber Hawks at home last week, the Knights we're looking to get right back into business and keep themselves from sliding down the OCAA West standings.
Niagara got off to a great start, outscoring the Mountaineers 21-14 in the first quarter. The Knights would keep up their momentum, matching Mohawk's 21 points in the second quarter to head to the break with a 42-35 lead. The second half was extremely tight as both teams fought neck and neck to the finish, with the Knights ultimately coming away with the 105-90 victory.
It was a great all-around performance for the Knights who shot 46.7% (42-90) from the field, an improvement over the second-half of the game against the Hawks when they went into a cold spell and shot just 32.4% (12-37). It was the performance that head coach Phil Mosley was looking for after he saw his team come out on the losing end of their last match.
"Tonight, our team played a consistent four quarters," said Mosley. "We defended hard and scored in transition and were able to leave Hamilton with a tough win."
Leading the way for the Knights in this one was third-year guard Alex Elliott (Welland) who had a season high 18 points to go along with 3 assists. Jordon McDonald (Mississauga) had a strong game as well, scoring 17 points and adding 7 rebounds.
Livingston Bromwell (Nassau, Bahamas) was also a solid contributor, coming off the bench to score 18 points and adding 7 rebounds in just 19 minutes. The six-foot-four forward was efficient, shooting 54.5% (6-11). Bromwell continued his impressive rookie season, as he is averaging 15.5 points and 8.8 rebounds per game through the Knights' first four games.
In total, the Knights had seven double-digit scorers, including all five of their starters – Elliott with 18, McDonald with 17, Johnnie Richardson (Niagara Falls) and Kevin Cooper (Nassau, Bahamas) with 14, and Van Hutchinson Jr. (Nassau, Bahamas) with 11. Along with Bromwell, the Knights also had a double-digit bench scorer in Keveshan Padachey (Markham) who scored 11 points, including 9 points from long-range.
After getting back into the win column, the Knights will look ahead to their next matchup against the U of T Mississauga Eagles (2-2, 6th OCAA West) who they will host on Thursday, November 8th. The game is scheduled to start at 8pm at the Niagara College Welland Campus Athletic Centre.
