North Bay, ON. The Redeemer University men's basketball team returned to action Friday for their first OCAA away contest of 2024 against Canadore Panthers and earned a hard-fought 93-74 victory.
The Royals would jump out to an early lead on the back of two free throws by third-year Adam Pavlik and continue to push the Panthers all night with an uptempo performance that has become the DNA of the young Royals team. Pavlik pushed the Royals lead to 12-2 minutes later and would lead the Royals all night after a long winter break.
The Royals would see twelve players on the scoreboard, and Coach Hopkins could go deep into the bench for a team win in the first of two games on the road to kick off the winter semester of competition.
Pavlik led all Royals in scoring on a monster night for the Grimsby, ON native with 18 points while adding two assists. Alex Naovarath (15 points) and Armeen Fazelipour(15 points) would finish the game in double digits and lead the Royals in rebounds. Jeremiah Della Foresta, a second-year from Almonte, Ontario, led the bench with 6 points and two boards in just 5 minutes of action.
"We knew we needed to be focused tonight. It was a long trip to North Bay, and I was proud of the team and the preparation they brought to the floor from the opening tip. They followed the game plan, executed the offense and had high energy on the defensive end. We had a few boys step up for us tonight, and what a great performance by Pavlik, who was a real leader for us on both ends," commented first-year head coach Steven Hopkins, who earned his official second win of the season.
The Royals shot 42% (34-81) from the floor, 26.7% (8-30) from three-point land and 70.8% (17-24) at the line to improve to 2-10 on the season in conference play.
Up Next
The Royals will return to action for an away match-up against OCAA powerhouse Humber College on Saturday, Jan 13, starting at 3:00 P.M.Â
Catch all the action on OCAA Live HERE
