Bouncing into break
Niagara College wraps up first half of basketball season hosting Fanshawe in twin-bill
Before they can begin thinking about turkey at Christmas dinner, the Niagara College men’s and women’s basketball teams first have to deal with another bird.
The Fanshawe Falcons provide the opposition in a doubleheader Wednesday at the Athletic Centre at the college’s main campus in Welland. Action tips off with the women’s game at 6 p.m. The men take the court two hours later.
Head coach Mike Hurley’s men’s team and Mike Beccaria’s women’s squad come into their final game before the between-semesters break with different goals. Niagara College’s top scorers in men’s and women’s basketball are also the top athletes for the week ending Sunday at the region’s community college.
Van Hutchinson Jr. had a game-high 36 points and 12 rebounds as the men’s team clipped the Humber Hawks 102-97, while Mary Ingribelli had 15 points as the women’s team dropped a 102-50 decision to Humber.
“Van has been great for us all season,” head coach Mike Hurley said. “His ability to come up big in games like these show how crucial his success for us heading into the OCAA championships in 2018.”
The Knights are guaranteed a berth in the elite eight as hosts of the Ontario Colleges Athletic Association men’s basketball championships taking place March 1-3 in Welland.
Ingribelli is Niagara’s top female athlete for the second week in a row. The St. Catharines native and Governor Simcoe graduate is sixth in the province in scoring averaging 17.9 points per game.
While the men want to win their second in a row, the women want to head into the holidays on a winning note after snapping a five-game winning streak.
Beccaria’s sixth-ranked Knights were no match for the Humber Hawks, the No. 1 team in the province and the three-time defending Ontario Colleges Athletic Association (OCAA) champions.
“The score, 102-50 in favour of Humber, speaks for itself,” Beccaria said after Friday night’s loss at home.
“Saying it was not a good night would be a dramatic understatement.
“We need to collect ourselves and be better against Fanshawe.”
Humber showed no signs of a letdown after setting the OCAA record for consecutive wins in women’s basketball two nights earlier. The Hawks had the hotter shooting hand from the floor, 40for-95, 42 per cent; compared to 18-for-55, 32.7, for Niagara, as well as from beyond the three-point arc, 13-for-30, 43.3 per cent; compared to 5-for-17, 29.4 per cent.
Humber won the battle of the boards, 55 rebounds to 32, and dominated the game when it came to converting turnovers into points, 52-7.
St. Catharines native and Governor Simcoe graduate Mary Ingribelli topped the Knights in scoring with 15 points as well as in rebounding, seven.
Niagara, which was ranked sixth in the province last week, fell to 6-3. Fanshawe, No. 3 in the top 10, visits from London, Ont., with an 8-2 record.
Humber’s 95-54 victory over the University of Toronto-Mississauga Eagles last Wednesday was the Hawks’ 68th win in a row in regular-season and post-season play.
The previous mark of 67 was held by the Algonquin Thunder, who went undefeated from November 2011 until January 2015.
Humber hasn’t lost a game in women’s basketball since losing on the road to the St. Clair Saints on Nov. 8, 2014.
Knights ground Hawks
Three players recorded a doubledouble, and Niagara needed every one of those points and rebounds — and then some sum — to beat Humber in men’s college basketball.
“As much as it was nice to beat an always tough Humber team, we didn’t play to the best of our abilities as we need to play better team defence and on offence have a better assist-to-turnover ratio as well as improve our foul shooting,” Hurley said after the eighthranked Knights knocked off the fifth-ranked Hawks 102-97.
“We did shoot the ball well from the floor and had a great rebounding game, which ended up being the difference.”
Niagara shot 60.5 per cent from the floor, 46-for-47; compared to 46.3 per cent, 38-for-83, for Humber.
The Knights won the rebounding battle by a wide margin, 56 to 21.
Key contributors for Niagara in the win were Van Hutchinson, 36 points, 12 rebounds; Jordon McDonald, 24 points, 10 rebounds; Jordan Wilson, 21 points, 13 rebounds; and Levi Mukuna, 13 points, eight rebounds.
The win in the opening game of a home-and-home series with Humber improved the Knights to 6-3 lifting them into fourth place in the West Division.
The Fanshawe Falcons, 6-4, Lambton Lions, 6-4, and Mohawk Mountaineers, 6-5, also have 12 points, but Niagara has a game in hand on Fanshawe and Lambton and two on Mohawk.
The Knights volleyball teams have already wrapped up the first half of the season and won’t resume league play until Saturday, Jan. 13, when they host the Conestoga Condors in a doubleheader.
At the break the Niagara women, 6-2, and the Niagara men, 4-4, are ranked third and seventh, respectively, in the province.
The score, 102-50 in favour of Humber, speaks for itself. Saying it was not a good night would be a dramatic understatement. We need to collect ourselves and be better against Fanshawe.”
Mike Beccaria