By: Kajan Thiruthanikasalam
SCARBOROUGH, ONT. - In a second straight game that was critical in terms of the OCAA East standings, Friday night's showdown featured a rivalry battle between Centennial Colts and the Durham Lords at the Athletic and Wellness Centre on January 18.
Although Centennial went into halftime with the lead, their inability to generate any sort of positive momentum on both ends of the floor proved to be costly, falling 78-55 to Durham. With the win, the Lords (8-5) move into a tie for third place in the East along with the Algonquin Thunder while the Colts (7-6) are now fifth in the standings.
The Colts shot just 14.3 per cent in the first quarter (3-21) but found themselves down just four (20-16) on the strength of their foul shooting (9-10).
In the second quarter, both teams struggled to wrestle control of the lead until late in the first half when Khaleel Sutherland made a pair of layups to give Centennial a 35-32 lead. However, Brandon Halliburton's stepback jumper with time running out cut the Colts lead to one heading into intermission.
A putback layup from Dondre Huggins early in the second half gave Durham the lead for good as they forced Centennial to shoot just 11.1 per cent in the quarter (2-18). The Lords, after a layup by Huggins through traffic, led 51-42 heading into the final frame.
Immediately, to start off the fourth quarter, Jesiah Deerr hit a corner triple, in what was a sign of things to come for the Lords. Huggins had 10 in the frame as Durham cruised to victory, outscoring Centennial, 27-13, on a blistering 58.8 per cent from the field (10-17) and 62.5 per cent from behind the arc (5-8).
LEADING SCORERS
In the previous meeting between the two teams, Halliburton dropped 32 points but the rest of the team scored 43 in a 81-75 loss to the Colts. This time, however, would be a different story.
Halliburton had a game high 20 points and six assists while Huggins, fresh off a 28 point performance in the Lords' upset victory over the George Brown Huskies, scored 16 of his 20 points in the second half. Julian Hinckson Jr. finished with 14 points in the Lords' victory.
Carlo Pantaleon and Sutherland led Centennial with nine points each.
INTANGIBLES
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Hinckson Jr., showed off his all-around game against the Colts with six rebounds, three steals, and two blocks along with his 14 points.
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Ian Francis led the Colts with nine rebounds, five assists, and two steals in the loss.
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Centennial shot just 28.1 per cent (18-64) from the field, 16.7 per cent from downtown (3-18), and 55.2 per cent at the line (16-29).
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Durham made 12 more shots and shot 44.1 per cent (30-68) overall.
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The home side committed 12 turnovers, leading to 15 points off of those giveaways for the visitors.
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Centennial did have the edge in second chance points (12-9) as well as bench points (25-15) but were beat in points in the paint (34-22).
HOW THINGS STAND FOR CENTENNIAL
Conference Record: 7-6
Overall Record: 13-12
CATCH OUR NEXT GAME
Centennial does not play until January 25, in which they play the Canadore Panthers in what is the third of their four-game homestand at 7:00pm.