It was a mixture of ups and downs this past weekend as the men's basketball team opened up their 2011-2012 campaigns with home games on Friday and Saturday night. The team split games by beating the Sault Cougars on Friday night 68-65 in overtime and then loosing on Saturday night to the Algoma Thunderbirds 87-33.

Friday's season opener saw the men's team grab the victory in thrilling fashion against Sault College in a game that highlighted 11 lead changes and 12 ties throughout the contest. The Royals entered halftime with a narrow lead of 31-30 led by Redeemer's Benn Ibrahim (Windsor, ON) 13 points. In the second half, every time the Royals looked like they might start to pull away, Sault came storming back and matched them point for point. The teams entered the 4th quarter with the same 1 point lead for the Royals at 44-43. With the Royals leading by 4 points (58-54) in the final 30 seconds the game looked to be over but a few costly mistakes gave Sault a 5-0 run and a 1 point lead with just seconds to play. However, not willing to let it slip away, a late foul sent Royals Paul Hart to the line sinking 1 of 2 free throws and bringing the game into overtime. Redeemer took a late lead of 67-63 and were able to hold on for the 68-65 win to start the season with a victory in dramatic fashion.

Benn Ibrahim had a team high 19 points for the Royals and added 8 rebounds and 2 assists. Paul Hart also hit double figures with 16 points. Odane Ferguson of Sault had a game high 23 points.

Saturday's game against Algoma University saw a different Royals team show up as they feel behind early and entered halftime down 42-15. Redeemer shot just 18.5% from the field in the half compared to 46.2% the night before against Sault. Unfortunately the Royals shooting struggles continued in the second half putting up just 18 points for the 87-33 loss. 1st year Ali Askarov (Hamilton, ON) led the team with 8 second half points. Mark Wortham had a game high 18 points for the Thunderbirds.

The men's team currently sits in 3rd place in the OCAA West with 6 other teams all tied with 1 win and 1 loss. The Royals hit the road on Friday November 11th for their first away games when they travel to Humber College to battle the Hawks.