Sixth straight victory
Brock men sweep Guelph in season series, Niagara tops Conestoga in men’s, women’s hoops
Wednesday was a good night for hometown hoops.
Brock University and Niagara College men’s and women’s basketball teams combined to go 3-1 in doubleheaders at Brock University and Niagara College.
Only a 72-44 loss to Guelph in women’s university basketball prevented post-secondary teams from the region from sweeping the competition.
Dani Elgadi scored 16 and grabbed a game-high 11 rebounds to lead the Brock men past Guelph 93-80 to complete a sweep in a home-andhome series with the Gryphons.
Fellow starters Tyler Brown, who paced all players in points with 19, and Cassidy Ryan, 14, also scored in double digits for the Badgers, as did reserve Noah Lapierre, collecting 10 in the win.
Brock, which tipped off head-tohead play against the Gryphons with a 98-88 victory last week in Guelph, shot 47.8 per cent from the floor, 33for-69, 33.3 per cent from beyond the 3-point arc, 7-for-21, and 95.2 per cent from the free-throw line, 20-for-21.
The hosts outrebounded Guelph 46-37 and won the turnover battle, 20 to 16.
The Badgers, who entered the week second only to 16-0 Carleton in the national rankings, improved to a West Division-leading 15-2 with their sixth win in a row.
Guelph dropped to 3-14 in league play.
Brock returns to the court Saturday hosting Laurier. Game time at Bob Davis Gymnasium is 8 p.m.
In women’s action at Brock, Brooke-Lyn Murdoch and Baelie Campell netted 15 and 13 points, respectively, as the Badgers lost their third straight to fall to 5-12 on the season. Injury-depleted Brock was only able to dress seven players, while the Gryphons had that many on the bench alone.
Guelph improved to 8-9 and completed a sweep of the Badgers in head-to-head play. The Gryphons took a 76-44 decision in the series opener on their home court.
Knights ground Condors
At Welland, host Niagara scored convincing victories over Conestoga in both ends of a college basketball twin bill.
Mike Beccaria’s women’s team won its second in a row, and third in four games, to improve to 9-5.
With the 75-41 win, the Knights swept the season series with the league’s newest team despite difficulty draining their scoring attempts from the floor and free-throw line.
“At times this season we have struggled to score and tonight was a prime example,” Beccaria said. “Certainly 36.5 per cent with the quality of shots we’re getting is not ideal and 55 per cent from the free-throw line is uncharacteristic.
“But if the D is good, things generally go our way.”
Niagara had 29 steals and forced 47 turnovers in Wednesday night’s early game at the Athletic Centre.
Mary Ingribelli led the Knights and all scorers with 26 points. The Governor Simcoe graduate also had six steals.
Courtney Kilyk, 15 points, four steals, seven assists; Lauren Frasca, six rebounds, and Hannah Baker, six steals, also were standouts for Niagara.
The Knights entered the week ranked seventh in Ontario, down from sixth the week before.
Their next game is 6 p.m. Wednesday against visiting Sheridan.
In their game against the Condors, the Niagara men won the battle of the boards, 49 rebounds to 37, and forced 25 turnovers on their way to an 89-69 victory.
The Knights were up 31-27 at halftime and took off after a slow start to the game.
“The team dug in defensively in the third quarter, which sparked several runs throughout the third and fourth quarter,” Niagara head coach Mike Hurley said.
The sixth-ranked Knights improved to 10-4 thanks to doubledigit scoring from Van Hutchinson Jr., with 20 points, Levi Mukuna, 17, and Johnnie Richardson, 14.
Hutchinson was Niagara’s top rebounder with 11.