Kajan Thiruthanikasalam (Sports Writer, Colts Athletics)
SCARBOROUGH, ONT.- After a gut wrenching loss to the top seeded Seneca Sting in the OCAA last Saturday, the Centennial Colts were looking to bounce back Wednesday night against the Fleming Knights. It did not look that way early on with Fleming up by double digits.
But their offense finally got going and the Colts are back in the win column.
Centennial (10-5) overcame a 14-point first half deficit and beat Fleming (2-11), 81-73, to wrap up their three-game homestand at the Athletic and Wellness Centre.
Although the Colts shot just 32.3 per cent from the field and allowed the Knights to shot just under 41 per cent from downtown while being outscored 27-6 from behind the arc, Centennial won big in the rebounding category (58-43) and on second chance points (24-8).
"I tell our guys to attack the glass all the time," Challenger said. "Look for areas where the ball will drop to; continuous pressure on the defense will create second chance shots."
Centennial also won in assists (19-14), free throws (17-10), steals (17-9), and forced Fleming into 31 turnovers.
Bailey Burton finished with a team high 21 points, with 14 of them coming in the first half, and also finished with a game high 13 rebounds, seven of them coming on the offensive glass.
"Bailey has been providing us with low post scoring from day one," Challenger said. "(He) is a double double guy that is reliable every game."
"Bailey always gets buckets," Jahshua McFarlane said. "That's what he does."
"He gets buckets off of putbacks," Walshak Yusef said. "He's at the right place at the right time. Strong guy."
McFarlane had a stat line to remember tonight as he flirted with a quadruple-double with 13 points, 11 assists, eight rebounds, and seven steals. Kendell Wilson finished with 15 points. Meanwhile, Yusef finished with 10 points and a game high five blocks.
For Fleming, only two players finished scoring in double figures. Akim Ruot finished with a game high 24 points and had 10 rebounds while Lavar Williams scored 23.
Burton scored eight in the first quarter but behind Ruot's eight and Fleming's three triples, the Knights had a 20-13 lead after the first quarter. In the second quarter, back to back threes from Williams and Ruot gave Fleming a 28-14 lead but Burton had six in the second quarter as Centennial went into halftime only down by 10 (39-29).
In the third quarter, a layup from Williams gave Fleming a 49-37 lead, forcing Colts head coach Trevor Challenger to call a timeout with 6:08 left. From there on out, the Colts closed out the third on a 22-10 run as the game was tied at 59 heading into the final frame. Wilson had seven in the quarter while Yusef had six and Burton had five.
The game was tied at 65 when Burton split a pair of free throws to give the Colts the lead for good but the game was still anyone's to win as it was 74-71 with 1:33 left in the game. But Centennial scored the next seven points, capped off by a contact layup from Dennis, to put away Fleming for good.
Heading into next weekend's back-to back on the road against the Algonquin Thunder and La Cite Coyotes, Challenger says there are three keys in order to win both games.
"I think, in order for us to be victorious this weekend, we just need to be disciplined, execute our game plan and play together," Challenger said.
UP NEXT: Centennial heads out on the road for a weekend back-to-back in Ottawa, as they face the Thunder on Saturday Feb. 3 at 8:00 pm before facing the Coyotes at 2:00 pm the next day.