By Caio Miari and Marcus Rebelo
WOMEN’S BASKETBALL RECAP
Highlighted by a 30-point third quarter, the Centennial Colts pulled off a 70-65 victory over the UTM Eagles on Tuesday evening at Progress Campus.
The Colts (6-9) reached back-to-back wins for the first time this season — and snapped the Eagles’ (10-5) three-game winning streak — despite a to-be-forgotten first half.
“We were waking up. It was a waking up moment,” forward Keyanna Hyatt said, post-game. “By the second quarter we realized this is game time, it’s not play time. We woke up and started going hard.”
After scoring only 11 points in the first quarter and converting its first three-point shot with three minutes remaining in the second period, Centennial featured a strong second half to clinch the win.
It wasn’t without late emotions, though.
Cori Browne converted two free throws with the Colts leading by three to make it a two-possession game with 5.7 seconds remaining after a late effort by the Eagles.
“After the first quarter I thought we were pretty steady,” head coach Justin Bobb said. “There was a point in the fourth where we weren’t steady again but in between all that I thought we were steady.”
Browne topped Centennial in scoring, with 22 points. She also added nine rebounds and five assists.
“She’s an elite scorer,” Bobb said about Browne. “I think she’s at her best when she gets to the rim and the free-throw line and attacking the basket … She played 40 minutes tonight and did really well on both sides of the ball.”
Hyatt perhaps had an even more impressive performance, grabbing a double-double with 20 points and 13 rebounds coming from the bench. The first-year player finished the game 4-for-6 from the three-point line.
“I know my compete level and I know I play hard,” Hyatt said. “I just have a tendency to give up on myself when I make a mistake. I ignored that for the whole game today and that’s what helped me out today.”
Hyatt was the biggest factor of the Colts’ bench outscoring the Eagles’ 22-5.
Avery Torok finished with a game-high 24 points. Jade Addai (17) and Akashia Moore (10) were the other players to reach double figures for UTM, which had a dominant game inside the paint.
“They has 32 offensive rebounds but that’s a credit to them,” Bobb said. “We did a good job as the game went on of not allowing that and when they did get second chance shots we didn’t let them score off of them.”
Overall, UTM out-rebounded Centennial 56 to 51.
The Colts will close the regular season with their Senior’s Day matchup against the Seneca Sting on Friday, Feb. 21 (6 p.m.).
MEN’S BASKETBALL RECAP
Kyrin Henlin put up another strong all-around performance, but it wasn’t enough to save the Centennial Colts from an 89-85 loss to the UTM Eagles at Progress Campus on Tuesday night.
Zamam Khan dragged a long three-pointer with 32.5 seconds that helped the Eagles (8-11) snap their two-game losing streak entering the contest.
Henlin added 25 points, 10 rebounds, eight assists, six steals, and one block, shooting 10-of-24 from the field.
The second-year star, however, thinks that he can still improve his game in aspects that could’ve helped the Colts (10-9) against the Eagles.
“I feel like everything is coming together right now but there’s still some things I could work on,” Henlin said, after the game. “I shouldn’t miss my free throws. There’s a lot of things I can improve on. Missing some easy buckets as well.”
Centennial converted just one of its three free-throw attempts in the final 30 seconds with the game on the line.
UTM’s surprising triumph was aided by a late run.
The Colts led each of the first three quarters and entered the fourth period leading 58-52. While both teams kept it a close battle in the final period, Centennial wasn’t able to keep up the pace in the last minutes of the action.
A no-look assist by Dieu Merci Betoukoumessou to Quentin Herbert gave the home side a three-point lead with two minutes remaining, which was quickly erased after Keaton Thornton’s three-point shot with 1:16 left.
Coming from the bench, Thornton was a major factor for UTM’s late run as he amassed two three-pointers and converting both free throws that kept the visitor’s lead to two possessions within the final 30 seconds.
“(With) the threes at the end, I just feel like they broke down our defence too easy,” Henlin said. “They were just driving and kicking out and every single time they did that, their guys were open.”
Thornton added a game-high 26 points, along with four assists and three rebounds. Andreas Jankovic and Zamam Khan contributed with 18 points each for the Eagles.
Carlo Pantaleon scored his second-best tally of the season — 19 points — all of them in the first half.
Quentin Herbert (16) was the other Colt in double-figures.
The Colts had 22 turnovers, against the Eagles’ 16. Besides that, UTM took better advantage of those takeaways, outscoring Centennial 25-11 in points off turnovers.
The Colts’ next challenge will be the Seneca Sting at home Friday, Feb. 21 (8 p.m.), in their Senior’s Day matchup. It will be Centennial’s final game ahead of the playoffs as the team tries to overcome its first home loss of the season.
“It sucks, because obviously we lost at home,” Henlin said. “If we come out on Friday and get a good win against Seneca, then we should go into playoffs with a good attitude.”