Brock can’t be beat
Brock wrestlers win gold in 16 or 19 weight classes at Ontario university wrestling championships
Brock was the happiest of hosts Sunday in St. Catharines, winning gold medals in 16 of 19 weight classes at the Ontario university wrestling championships.
Brock finished nearly 40 points ahead of McMaster, 104-63, to top the men’s team standings in the nine-school field. Guelph, with 55 points, York, 40, and Lakehead, Western, 39 each, rounded out the top five.
In the women’s team standings, Brock set the pace with 78 points. Lakehead, 42; Guelph, 33; Western, 26; and McMaster, 20; also finished the one-day competition in the top five.
Brock won gold in all but two of the 11 weight classes in the men’s division: Sam Jagas, 57 kilogram; Lingrit Sadiku, 61 kg; Mizam Tamardze, 65 kg; Matt Jagas, 68 kg; Cruiz Manning, 72 kg; Tyler Rowe, 76 kg; Ty Bridgewater, 82 kg; Clayton Pye, 90 kg; Richard Deschatelets, 120 kg.
Pinning down gold for Brock on the women’s side were Samantha Romano, 48 kg; Kristina McLaren, 51 kg; Emily Schaefer, 55 kg; Hannah Taylor, 59 kg; Jessica Brouillette, 63 kg; Indira Moorees, 67 kg; and Skylar Grote, 72 kg.
Taylor received an Ontario University Athletics (OUA) outstanding wrestler award as did Guelph’s Job Reinhart.
Romano and McMaster’s Vidran Thaarajah were selected as the rookies of the year by the OUA.
McMaster’s Cleo Ncube was named men’s wrestling coach of the year and Brock’s Marty Calder received women’s coach of the year honours for the 10th time in his career.
The 2018 Canadian university wrestling championships are taking place Feb. 23 and 24 at Algoma University in Sault Ste. Marie.
Memorable farewell
Dani Elgadi had seniority on the scoresheet on Senior Night.
So did the Brock Badgers. Brock’s lone graduating senior tied teammate Cassidy Ryan with a game-high 18 points and had nine rebounds as the Badgers defeated the Lakehead Thunderwolves 8962 in men’s university basketball Saturday night in St. Catharines.
Tyler Brown, with 15 points; Johneil Simpson and Daniel Cayer, 14 points; also scored in double digits for Brock in the second of backto-back games against the visitors from Thunder Bay.
Ryan, 26 points; Simpson, 22; Brown, 12; Elgadi, 10; and Cayer, 9; were key contributors in a 9187 victory over the Thunderwolves the night before at Bob Davis Gymnasium.
Elgadi came into the final regular-season home game in his five-year playing career at Brock 12th all-time in OUA scoring, with 1,656 points; fourth all-time in rebounds, 950.
With 2,670 points, the Waterloo native is fifth in career scoring at Brock. His 1,463 rebounds are third all-time in team history.
Saturday night’s victory was Brock’s 11th in a row improving the team’s record to 20-2 with two games remaining in the Ontario University Athletics regular season.
Charles Kissi won his 20th conference game of the season surpassing the Brock single-season mark of 19 set in 2004-05 during Ken Murray’s second stint as head coach.
Unlike Friday, the Badgers didn’t have to come from behind Saturday to end the night in the win column. After leading 33-26 at the half, they went on a 14-1 run to go up 40-27 three minutes into the third quarter.
Brock took a 53-34 lead in halftime in the opening game of the season series versus Lakehead, but needed a 9-1 run to clinch the victory after trailing 84-82 with a little more than two minutes remaining in regulation.
The Badgers, ranked second nationally to the 21-0 Carleton Ravens, close out the season with road games against the Western Mustangs Wednesday and versus the Windsor Lancers Saturday.
Back-to-back losses
Brooms got a workout on the weekend at Brock University where the visiting Lakehead Thunderwolves swept the Badgers in women’s basketball.
Brock fell to 6-16 in league play with two games remaining in the regular season with a 67-59 loss Saturday and 63-59 setback the night before.
Brock lost its fourth in a row on Senior Night despite 14 points each from rookies Miranda Smith and Kristin Gallant and 11 from Courtney McPherson.
All but two of Smith’s points came beyond the three-point arc.
Gallant, Ana Caldeira Rua and Stephanie Finley netted 19, 11 and 10 points, respectively, for Brock in Friday’s night loss.
The Badgers honoured fifthyear guard Brooke-Lyn Murdoch, their only senior player, at the conclusion of the Senior Night game Saturday.
Season-ending win
The Brock Badgers hope momentum from two wins on the final weekend of the men’s university hockey regular season will carry them into the playoffs.
Alex Brooks-Potts made 34 saves for the shutout backstopping Brock to a 3-0 victory over the Ryerson Rams Saturday night in Toronto.
Cosimo Fontana netted two goals and Chris Maniccia as Brock ended league play fifth in the West Division with a 14-9-5 record.
Brock tripled Toronto Varsity Blues 3-1 Friday night at Seymour-Hannah Sports and Entertainment Centre to close out the home half of the regular-season schedule.
Mitch Nardi, Ayden MacDonald and Mack Lemmon found the back of the net for the Badgers. Clint Windsor earned the victory between the pipes stopping 39 of 40 shots.
Brock opens the playoffs 7:07 p.m. Wednesday in Waterloo against the fourth-place Laurier Golden Hawks, 15-10-3.
Game 2 in the best-of-three quarter-final is 7:15 p.m. Friday at Seymour-Hannah Sports and Entertainment Centre.
A third game, if necessary, will be played Sunday in Waterloo, also starting at 7:07 p.m.
Brock split the season series with Laurier losing a 5-4 shootout on the road Nov. 10 and taking a 3-2 decision in overtime in St. Catharines a week later.