It was always going to be a tall order for the Redeemer Royals Men's Basketball team. They earned a trip to their first OCAA Men's Basketball Championship in program history after defeating the Algonquin Thunder on the road on Saturday. Their reward....a first round Championship Quarterfinal matchup against the #1 team in the country.
The game, the first game of the 2017 Belairdirect OCAA (Ontario Colleges Athletic Association) Men's Basketball Championship was a battle between West Division foes as the fourth seeded Royals played the top seeded Sheridan Bruins.
The Royals entered the match led by fourth year guard and OCAA Men's Basketball Player of the Year Rayvon Higdon (#15), who led the province in scoring with 26.3 points per game. Higdon is also a CCAA All-Canadian and a First Team All Star.
For Sheridan, they were currently ranked first not only in the OCAA, but also in the CCAA (Canadian Colleges Athletic Association) as well. The Bruins rolled through the competition in the OCAA West Division as they were unbeaten, winning all 16 games.
In a game that was closer than the final score would indicate, the Bruins pulled out a 100-85 win over the Royals.
The Royals threw everything they had at the Bruins. They went 13-31 from behind the arc and moved the ball extremely well, piling up 28 assists, compared to the Bruins' 18.
Both teams were trying to get used to the early 1:00 pm start in the first quarter as generating offense was a struggle with a lot of missed shots and turnovers. However, Sheridan, because of its full court defense, was up 20-14 after one quarter.
The second quarter was an offensive showcase as both teams scored 28 points each. Redeemer continued their hot shooting from three point range and led 38-35 with 4:12 remaining in the second.
However, Sheridan closed out the quarter on a 13-4 run. Despite hitting seven threes in the frame, Redeemer turned over the ball 11 times to allow the Bruins to head into halftime with the lead.
Higdon was picking apart the Bruins defense and was on triple double alert with 15 points, eight assists, and five rebounds at the half. Periana led Sheridan with 13 points and five assists while Choliy was the other Bruin in double figures with 10 points.
Foul trouble was a major issue for the Royals as Higdon picked up his fourth foul midway and the Bruins took their biggest lead of the game at the time (11). Sheridan outrebounded Redeemer 13-7 and had seven more shot attempts in the quarter.
With Higdon on the bench, though, the Royals scored five straight points to end the quarter as Sheridan was up 74-68 heading into the final stanza.
The final quarter started off chippy as Sheridan scored the first five points of the quarter and Jemol Edwards from the Bruins was called for a flagrant foul. The flagrant seemed to spark energy into the Royals as they went on 11-4 run (83-79) right after and were down six (91-85) with three minutes left.
Sheridan, however, was not to be denied of the victory as they scored the final nine points of the game to pull away from Redeemer.
Five players scored in double figures for the Bruins. Periana was incredible for Sheridan, scoring 27 points and dishing out seven dimes in the victory. Owusu had 22 points while Choliy and centre Paul Williams (#42) had 14 points each. Williams also had 14 rebounds while guard Nick Campbell (#6) rounded out the double digit scoring with 11 points.
For Redeemer, Higdon was once again in top form, almost having a triple double with 31 points, 10 rebounds, and nine assists. Forward Spencer Kerssies (#22) had 18 points and nine rebounds while guard Nicholas Green (#5) had 12 points, hitting four threes.
Periana was named the Player of the Game for the Bruins while Higdon was named Player of the Game for the Royals.
With the loss, the Royals will now face the Seneca Sting tomorrow at 1:00pm in the Championship Consolation Semi-Final.
Source: Centennial College with files from Redeemer Athletics
