Kajan Thiruthanikasalam (Sports Writer, Colts Athletics)

SCARBOROUGH, ONT.- After a spirited effort in a loss to the Seneca Sting on Thursday night, the Centennial Colts men's basketball team looked to bounce back with a win at home against the St. Lawrence Vikings.

Although it was a hard-fought affair, the Colts (6-3) managed to come out on top with a 81-75 win over the Vikings (3-6) at the Athletic and Wellness Centre.

Centennial was led by Alastair Cole, who shot an efficient 62.5 per cent from the field (10-16) and had a game high 24 points, along with a game high two blocks, including a huge three point play with less than three minutes to go that put the Colts up for good.

"Myself and the coaches have been working on him to be more patient (and) to let the game come to him," Colts head coach Trevor Challenger said. "There are times where he is too anxious."

Jahshua McFarlane had a game to remember as he scored nine points, had a game high five steals.... and dished out a game high 14 assists, with no turnovers.

"What I learned from the Seneca game is just to play hard from the jump and play hard defense," McFarlane said about the Seneca game. "I felt like we did that tonight."

McFarlane, after the game, found it hard to believe about his statline.

"This is crazy," McFarlane said in shock. "I had how many assists?"

"Jahshua is such (an) unselfish team player. He enjoys distributing the ball so much he holds back on scoring," Challenger said. "There will be games we will need Josh to be more of a scoring threat. But right now he's playing good ball."

Three other players scored in double figures as Kendell Wilson scored 12 points on three made triples while Jason Dennis and Burton each had 10 points and six rebounds. Dennis, in particular, was instrumental in the final two minutes of the game as he scored six straight points to keep St. Lawrence at bay with two putback layups and a contested reverse layup.

"Playing with the starters makes it easy," Dennis said. "When I do what I'm supposed to do and be in a position to score, guys like Kendell, Bailey, and Josh find people really easily; they have a better IQ than most players in the OCAA."

"The coaching staff have been working with Jason the last few months on being more positive and comfortable on the court," Challenger said. "Often times players get into a funk when things don't go as planned. Last season, Jason struggled with his shooting, (so) we've been working on his mechanics lately to assist him with his shot."

Taylor Reddick shot 81.8 per cent from the field and led the Vikings with 20 points in the loss.

"Reddick is a veteran player that took advantage of us by over playing him," Challenger said. "Based on previous games, he's a knock(down) shooter that you can't leave open. Our goal was for him to put the ball on the floor and force him into a ball-handler rather than a shooter."

Despite allowing St. Lawrence to shoot 50.8 per cent from the field, Centennial had the Vikings beat in rebounding (46-31), assists (19-5), and bench points (26-18). The Colts also shot 45.3 per cent from the field.

"Our rebounding has been consistent as we look to send all five guys to the glass," Challenger said.

Centennial was up 5-4 early before both teams exchanged 9-0 runs as the Colts were up 14-13 with 2:43 left in the quarter. However, the Vikings' Kadrae Wright had five points in a 7-2 run to end the quarter as St. Lawrence was up 20-16 after one.

Wright continued the momentum that he had from the end of the first quarter as he hit a layup and a triple early on in the second quarter as the Vikings took their largest lead of the game at 32-24. But the Colts bounced back, scoring the next seven points, capped off by a coast to coast layup from Cole. 

Burton hit a layup late in the quarter to cut the Vikings' lead to two (40-38) heading into halftime. Cole had eight of his 15 first half points in the second quarter while McFarlane had nine assists at the half.

Both teams exchanged leads in the third quarter as McFarlane had three assists in the quarter and Wilson had five points in the third as the game was tied at 56 heading into the fourth quarter.

Once again, both teams traded back-and-forth barbs as every time the Colts scored, the Vikings did as well. After Tom Withey hit a three to put St. Lawrence up one (70-69), Cole somehow made a layup while falling down out of the post and get fouled, making the free throw, to give the Colts a 72-70 lead.

A steal from McFarlane led to a layup before the Vikings responded with a three point play, which was followed by two putback layups from Dennis. Reddick made another layup but Dennis once again came up huge, hitting a reverse layup in traffic, to the delight of his teammates, to ice the game.

"My team had a lot of confidence in me throughout the season even though I wasn't playing to my full potential. They believed in me when I really didn't believe in me," Dennis said. "That showed in the last two minutes of the game; they put me at a position where they knew I would succeed and tonight, it counted."

Dennis says the trust between teammates is at an all-time high right now.

"I feel like throughout the games so far, there's more trust within our teammates as opposed to playing as individuals," Dennis said. "We're starting to flow better and build that chemistry."

 Centennial heads on the road to play its final game of 2017 as they head to Barrie to play the Georgian Grizzlies on Wednesday Nov. 29 at 8:00 pm.