Friday night saw the nation’s top ranked Seneca Sting advance to this year’s OCAA Men’s Basketball Championship gold medal game with a thrilling 89-81 overtime victory over the reigning OCAA Gold medal winning Sheridan Bruins. Seneca will advance to the gold medal game of this year’s provincial tournament for the first since 1993.
From start to finish, both programs exchanged exciting moments throughout the game, keeping it exciting through all four quarters. In an exciting back and forth affair, both programs kept the game extremely close until the final minutes of the fourth quarter, keeping the fans on the edges of their seats. The roar of the crowd grew louder with every basket made, setting up one of the most exciting moments of the Tournament.
Down 73-70 with 10 seconds left in the fourth quarter, Seneca’s Yusuf Ali dropped one of the most important threes of his career tying the game at 73. Sheridan would force the ball down the court, but a big block from Kahlil Miller (Scarborough, Ont.) would force the game to overtime.
In the extra frame, Seneca’s Trevor Hutton (Toronto, Ont.) helped seal his program’s victory collecting 9 of his team’s 16 total points all from shots beyond the arc. For his late game heroics efforts, Hutton was also named Seneca’s player of the game. The 1st year guard finished with 20 points, 5 rebounds and 6 assists.
Sheridan’s offence was led by 2nd year guard Jemol Edwards (Brampton, Ont.) and 3rd year guard Nick Campbell (Brampton, Ont.). The duo led their program with 20 points respectively. In addition to Campbell and Edwards, Bruins’ 2nd year forward Navdeep Deol (Brampton, Ont.) was named their program’s player of the match posting 19 points and 9 rebounds in the losing effort.
With the loss, the Bruins now face the Redeemer Royals in this year’s OCAA Men’s Basketball Championship Bronze medal match. Tip off is scheduled for 5pm.
The gold medal game is now determined setting the stage for an absolute thriller between the game winning Seneca Sting and the Humber Hawks. Tip off at the Welland Campus Athletic Centre is scheduled for 7pm.
