By: Kajan Thiruthanikasalam

ANCASTER, ONT. - With the 2019 OCAA Provincial Championship on the line, The Centennial Colts men's basketball team travelled west to Ancaster, Ont., to face off against the Redeemer Royals in front of a packed house at the Royals Gymnasium.

Unfortunately, the visitors never really got it going and their season ended as they fell to Redeemer, 78-54, in their crossover match.

TAKEAWAYS FROM THIS GAME

Heading into this game, the turnover and the rebounding battles were going to be key in determining who wins. And it was Redeemer who had the emphatic edge in both of those categories; they outrebounded Centennial, 42-36, and scored 19 points off of 16 Colts turnovers. Meanwhile, Centennial only scored two points off of 10 Royals turnovers.

The Royals made 13 more field goals (31-18), hit three more triples (8-5) and also held the edge in assists (24-10) as well as second chance points (12-5).

LEADING SCORERS

Khaleel Sutherland, in what was his final game as a Colt, led Centennial with 10 points; he was the only player to score in double figures for the visitors. Kyrin Henlin, despite struggling offensively, led the Colts with 10 rebounds along with a game high four blocks.

Four players scored in double figures for the Royals, led by centre player Spencer Kerssies' 16 points and 14 rebounds; he also dished out four assists and had two steals. Foster Brown stuffed the stat sheet with 12 points, seven rebounds and a game high nine assists while Elijah Lostracco scored 11 and Armeen Fazelipour had 10 off of the bench for Redeemer.

GAME PLAY-BY-PLAY

Sutherland had five points in the first quarter as his two free throws gave Centennial a 16-14 lead with 2:37 to go in what was a back-and-forth start to the game. But Redeemer, in what was a sign of things to come, closed out the quarter on an 8-0 run as they took a 22-16 lead after one.

Carlo Pantaleon hit a pair of triples in the second quarter, including one to cut the lead to two at 27-25 as Centennial was on the cusp of taking the lead. Redeemer, however, closed out a quarter strong once again as they outscored the Colts, 11-2, to end the first half up 38-27.

Seven straight points to start off the second half for the Royals forced a frustrated Trevor Challenger, Colts head coach, to call an early timeout to get his team settled down. The timeout seemed to spark the young squad and they cut the lead to as little as nine after a corner triple from Tristan Quarry.

But the Royals scored the last six points of the quarter to take a 57-42 lead, heading into the final frame. Kerssies had seven in the quarter for Redeemer while Colts centre Dieu Merci Betoukoumessou had six in the frame.

Buoyed by the crowd, the Royals extended their run scoring the first nine points of the quarter and eventually led by as many as 26 with 4:23 to go. Both teams then emptied their benches with the game no longer in doubt as the Royals sent their fans home jubilated.