by: Kajan Thiruthanikasalam
Saturday afternoon’s preseason opener for the Centennial Colts men’s basketball team was a disaster on both sides on the floor as they were defeated, 112-75, by the St. Clair Saints.
Tuesday night’s affair against the Niagara Knights was a much different story.
Despite nearly blowing a 17 point second half lead, the Colts managed to hold on for a 90-89 victory over the Knights, denying Niagara a doubleheader sweep in front of a raucous crowd at the Athletic and Wellness Centre.
Isaiah Cromwell-Wright led five Centennial scorers in double figures with a team high 22 points, including 11 in the first quarter as well as two four point plays. Henlin and Josh Sales each had 13 while Carlo Pantaleon had 12 and Nathan Collins had 10 off of the bench.
For Niagara, Jordon McDonald had 21 of his 24 points in the second half to lead all scorers while Daniel Lokole dropped 15 points on five made triples and Kennon Larmand had 15 off the bench.
The pace was fast to start off for both sides as points were put up on the board but things began to settle down. But behind Cromwell-Wright’s 11 and Collins’ eight in the first quarter, the Colts held a slim 21-20 lead after one.
Centennial extended their lead to 11 after scoring the first ten points of the quarter as Pantaleon highlighted that run with consecutive triples. They managed to keep that double digit margin as they went up 49-39 at the half; Sales had five in the quarter.
After Niagara cut the lead to seven at 56-49, Centennial then scored 11 of the next 12 points as this game was threatening to slip away from the visitors. McDonald’s 10 in the third quarter led a 9-2 run from the Knights to close out the quarter as they cut the deficit to a more manageable ten (69-59) heading into the fourth quarter.
Niagara then began to chip away at the Colts’ lead in the fourth quarter, even cutting the lead down to two (76-74) after a layup from McDonald off of some sloppy ball handling from Centennial. But the Colts extended the lead back to eight (84-76), capped off by Cromwell-Wright’s second four point play of the game.
But the never-say-die Knights kept battling back, taking advantage of more sloppy play as they cut the lead to one (90-89) with 30 seconds to go after a layup from Larmand.
Despite nearly losing the ball on multiple occasions during their next offensive possession, Centennial managed to run the clock down before Cromwell-Wright attempted a triple.
It missed, however, and Knights forward Rahim Bardi had a chance to win the game for Niagara as he raced down the floor and pulled up for a baseline jumper. But Kyrin Henlin sent the ball right back at him with a monstrous block as time ran out.
The Colts will be back in home action at the Athletic and Wellness Centre on Wednesday, October 9, when they face off against the Mohawk Mountaineers. Tip off is at 8:00pm.