By: Kajan Thiruthanikasalam
SCARBOROUGH, ONT. - After a tough loss to the Durham Lords last Friday night, the Centennial Colts continued their four game homestand with a matchup against the Canadore Panthers, looking to stay in the fight for third place in the OCAA East.
They used a hot shooting second half to pull away from Canadore in an 82-54 win at the Athletic and Wellness Centre, improving to 8-6 on the season. It was also the Colts' biggest margin of victory this season.
Both teams started off slow with each team shooting under 40 per cent in the first quarter. However, led by Daniel Smalling's 10 first quarter points, the Panthers were up 16-14 after one.
In the second quarter, Centennial put the clamps down on Canadore, forcing them to shoot just three of 14 from the field (21.4 per cent) for just nine points. Carlo Pantaleon hit a pair of triples in the second for the Colts as they headed into halftime up 31-25.
Pantaleon continued his hot streak from three point range as he hit back to back triples to begin the second half; he had eight in the quarter for Centennial. The Colts outscored the Panthers, 23-15 in the third as they took a 54-40 lead heading into the final frame.
In the fourth, the Colts exploded offensively with 28 points, shooting 57.9 per cent from the field (11-19) and 40 per cent from downtown (4-10). A notable highlight came from Kyrin Henlin, who got the Colts fans off of their feet early in the quarter by going up for a putback jam out of absolutely nowhere.
Quentin Herbert (eight) and Parker Brooks (seven) led the scoring charge for Centennial in the quarter as they put it on cruise control for the easy win.
PLAYER NOTES
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Brooks led the way for Centennial with 16 points and five assists off of the bench as his playmaking was a key for them in their second half explosion offensively.
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Three other players aside from Brooks scored in double figures for the Colts. Pantaleon scored 14 points on four made triples while Herbert had 12 off of the bench and Ian Francis chipped in with 10.
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Darnell Richards finished with a game high three blocks in just 17 minutes while Isaiah Adeboboye and Henlin each had a team high seven rebounds.
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Jake Rae scored 10 of his game high 20 points for Canadore in the fourth quarter while Caldre Campbell had a game high five steals in the loss.
GAME NOTES
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This marks the first game in which Centennial hit the double digit mark in made triples as they hit 10 of 29 from behind the arc and shot 45.3 per cent overall.
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The reserves came to play today as they outscored Canadore's bench, 44-19.
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Lost in their offensive explosion was the work that the home team did defensively as they limited the Panthers to just 28.3 per cent shooting overall. Smalling went 1-11 for just three points after the first quarter.
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The Colts scored 20 points off of 18 Panthers turnovers and moved the ball crisply with 17 assists. They also had the edge over Canadore in rebounding (37-34), second chance points (12-10) and points in the paint (28-26).
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Canadore was only called for seven fouls in total and went to the line 28 times, making 17.
HOW THINGS STAND FOR CENTENNIAL
Conference Record: 8-6
Overall Record: 14-12
CATCH OUR NEXT GAME
Centennial concludes its four game homestand tomorrow afternoon at 3:00 pm against the St. Lawrence Vikings in which the men will be wearing shirts in tribute to Bell Let's Talk.