Kajan Thiruthanikasalam (Sports Writer, Colts Athletics)
SCARBOROUGH, ONT.- It was a OCAA East rivalry game as the Centennial Colts headed down to Newnham Sports Centre to play the undefeated Seneca Sting. The resilient Colts kept fighting back every Sting run but ultimately, Seneca's hot shooting and size were too much to overcome.
Behind Khalil Miller's monster performance, the Sting beat the Colts, 90-80, in their closest margin of win at home this season. Seneca remains unbeaten at 8-0 while Centennial had their two game winning streak snapped and fell to 5-3.
Centennial shot poorly from the field, shooting just 36 per cent from the field while Seneca shot 48.7 per cent from the field. The Sting also outpaced the Colts in rebounds (58-44), assists (16-9), and blocks (11-3).
Despite that, however, Centennial stayed in the game by forcing 23 Seneca turnovers and committing 15 steals, leading to 19 points off of turnovers. Their bench also outscored Seneca's bench, 23-15.
"Our bench play is going to be key especially in the second half of the season," Centennial head coach Trevor Challenger said. "Guys coming off the bench just need to be ready; I commend them with their professionalism especially when their minutes are inconsistent. I trust our guys coming off the bench to contribute right away because they practice hard."
Miller, a second year centre, finished with game highs in points (25), rebounds (17), blocks (seven), and steals (three). He had help, as Yusuf Ali scored 22 points and a game high six assists for the Sting while Trevor Hutton dropped 14, including a jaw-dropping dunk midway through the fourth quarter.
"The (three) main areas we got to do a better job when we play GBC (George Brown) and Seneca (are) our rebounding, spacing and containing the opposing teams' top players," Challenger said. "Miller and Ali are tough matchups, so we just have to to do a better job making it difficult for them.
Centennial was led by OCAA Player of the Week Kendell Wilson, who scored 22 points, his third straight game scoring at least 20 points; 13 of them coming in the second half.
"Kendell has been shooting the ball more efficiently since then because he's been putting in the work at practice," Challenger said. "He's been focusing on shooting the ball at the top of his release, and I think that has been working for him."
Three other players scored in double figures for the Colts as Jahshua McFarlane (team high four assists) and Bailey Burton (team high nine rebounds) each had 14 points while Alastair Cole scored 13. Cole and Walshak Yusef (team high two blocks) also led the Colts with three steals each.
Seneca came out of the gate flying, as they went on an 18-7 run in the first five minutes of the game as head coach Trevor Challenger was forced to call a timeout. Miller had nine points during that span. A putback layup from Jordan Anderson put Seneca up 22-10 but Centennial, led by its bench, closed out the quarter on an 8-2 run to trail 24-18 after a quarter of play.
The second quarter began with a pick and roll between Burton and Allister Rivers work to perfection as Rivers fed Burton for a wide open layup, to the fury of Sting head coach Jay McNeilly, who immediately brought in the starters after the basket. Seneca immediately responded, scoring the next five points and was up 33-26 after a pair of free throws from Ali, but Centennial went on a 6-0 run, capped off by a putback layup from Cole to cut the lead to 33-32.
A triple from Miller ended the run and sparked a 12-2 run from the Sting to go up by double digits (45-34) but like the first quarter, Centennial closed off the second quarter strong as they scored the next five points, capped off by a wonderful crosscourt pass from Cole for a Rivers triple, as Seneca led 45-39 heading into intermission.
Miller had 14 points and 11 rebounds on a perfect 6-6 shooting from the field at the half for Seneca while Burton paced Centennial with 12.
To start the second half, Seneca outscored Centennial, 15-9, in the first six minutes to lead 60-48 as Challenger called time to settle his players down. It worked as Centennial closed the quarter on a 13-6 run as they trailed by just five (66-61) heading into the final frame. McFarlane had six points in the quarter while Wilson had five.
In the fourth, Seneca started off strong, with a momentum-changing 17-3 run, capped off by a thunderous dunk from Hutton and an alley-oop dunk from Miller, which sent the Sting crowd into a frenzy, as they took their largest lead of the game at 83-64.
This time, however, Centennial could not reasonably come back from this deficit as they cut it to as little as nine (88-79) but it was too little, too late as there was simply not enough time.
"I think the guys played hard for about (three) quarters but ran out gas as the fourth quarter started. We had a lot of good looks to the basket but couldn't connect," Challenger said. "The next time we play them, we need to do a better job rebounding and executing our sets. Positives to take away from the game was our defensive pressure, pace of the game, and our intensity was good."
UP NEXT: Centennial plays its final home game of the semester against the St. Lawrence Vikings on Saturday Nov. 25 at 3:00 pm.