Kajan Thiruthanikasalam (Sports Writer, Colts Athletics)
SCARBOROUGH, ONT.- Sunday afternoon's crossover game between the Centennial Colts and the Lambton Lions was a do-or-die situation. A win would set up a date in the quarterfinals of the 2018 belairdirect OCAA Men's Basketball Championships against the top seeded Redeemer Royals from the OCAA West on Thursday March 1 at 1:00pm at Niagara College. A loss, however, and you get eliminated.
In the end, it was the Lions, who advanced to provincials with an 83-74 road win against the Colts at the Athletic and Wellness Centre. Lambton used a 20-0 run from the end of the first quarter to halfway through the second quarter to break the game open and despite Centennial cutting it to two, the visitors held on for the victory.
It marks the second straight crossover match in which Centennial has lost at home and ultimately had their season ended by Lambton. The first one ended, 97-70, in favour of the Lions during the 2014-15 season.
Daniel Humphrey, in his final game as a Centennial Colt, scored a career high 18 points on 50 per cent shooting from the field. Also playing the final game of his Colts career, Bailey Burton chipped in with 17 points.
Kendell Wilson had 13 while Jahshua McFarlane finished one point shy of a triple double, with nine points, 14 rebounds, and a game high 10 assists; he also had a game high three steals. Jason Dennis provided a nice spark off of the bench, with nine points and a game high two blocks.
Branden Padgett led four Lambton players in double figures with 18 points and a team high six assists despite battling foul trouble while Jaquan Barrett-Smith had 17. Tyvell Peters came off of the bench to score 11 points while Jason Watts also chipped in with 11 before getting ejected in the third quarter. Xavier Edwards finished with a game high 14 rebounds.
Centennial went off to a quick start, going up 10-6, before Lambton clawed their way back, going on a late 6-0 run to take a 20-17 lead. After Wilson hit a triple, Padgett hit a three of his own as the Lions went up 23-20 after a quarter.
Padgett's triple to end the first quarter sparked the Lions on a momentum-changing 20-0 run as Centennial was forced to take two timeouts to try to stop the bleeding and their frustrations boiled over, as McFarlane was called for a technical foul. A three point play from Humphrey midway through gave the Colts their first points of the second quarter and started a 9-0 run to cut the deficit to 11 (40-29).
The Lions took a 47-32 lead at the half on the strength of Padgett (12 points) and Watts' (11 points) offense. Meanwhile, Wilson and Burton led Centennial with nine points but foul trouble hurt the hosts, as Dennis and Walshak Yusef had three fouls.
A triple from Barrett-Smith gave Lambton their largest lead of the game (50-34) before Centennial went on a 22-8 run to cut the lead to just two (58-56) as Dennis and Humphrey came alive in the third quarter, scoring nine and seven points, respectively. This time, it was the Lions whose frustrations got the best of them as Padgett had to sit early in the quarter with four fouls while Watts was ejected after hitting Humphrey with an elbow.
The Colts had multiple opportunities to tie or take the lead but could not convert as a pair of layups from Lambton ended the quarter, 62-56, in favour of the visiting team, and they then scored the first eight points of the fourth quarter to extend the lead back to double digits. Despite a pair of triples from Humphrey and 10 fourth quarter points from Burton, Centennial only got as close to seven for the rest of the game.
HIGHLIGHTS/GAME NOTES
The difference that matched the margin for the game came from behind the arc where the Lions outscored the Colts, 18-9. Lambton also had the edge in assists (16-13), bench points (24-11) and shot 46.3 per cent (31-67) from the field overall. Despite Centennial shooting 30.7 per cent overall (27-88), they outrebounded the Lions, 54-50, including a 30-15 lead on the offensive glass, and had a 20-7 edge in second chance points.
Centennial ended the regular season with a 13-7 record, which was good enough for fourth in the OCAA East.