Humber’s men’s basketball team kept top spot after defeating the Lambton Lions in a convincing 100-62 win on Jan. 24.
The reigning national champions remain undefeated at home so far this season, and have only lost one game, a tough away loss to second-ranked St. Clair.
Lambton sits seventh in the Ontario Colleges Athletic Association (OCAA) western conference, tied with Niagara with a 5-8 record.
The Lions defeated the Knights on Jan. 17, a crucial game to aid them in their hopes to make the playoffs.
Lambton head coach James Grant said the win solidified their chances and having won a playoff game last year, hopes something similar can happen again this year.
“[We] had a win in the playoffs last year with a young group, and this is a pretty young group as well,” he said.
For Hawks head coach Omar Miles, he said the biggest thing is to respect their opponent, no matter the talent, or the record.
“We respect all our opponents, and we make sure that we know who their guys are, and prepare to slow them down,” he said.
It has been Lambton’s focus to get the ball in the hands of their superstar guard, Tyrelle Miller, who averages the third most points per game in the OCAA.
Grant said he knows the Hawks will focus on containing Miller.
“I know Humber's not going to make it easy to get it to him. We put in a few looks for today that I think will help him out,” he said. “As long as we can execute some of these new things to make it a little more of a hidden way to get him the ball, I think we'll be okay.”
The game started with Miller being the focal point of the Lions, playing all 10 minutes in the quarter, and scoring seven.
Humber started the game aggressively on the defensive end, forcing five turnovers from Miller and grabbing seven steals, but also drawing six team fouls.
Hawks superstar guard Malik Grant went back and forth with Miller, scoring basket after basket.
But in the second quarter, Humber found its tempo, moving the basketball around the three-point line, and only taking high-percentage shots, compared to the first quarter, where the team shot 10-22.
First-year guard Nathan Savage was a key player for the Hawks in the second quarter, joining Malik Grant as the only player to play all 10 minutes, while scoring eight points.
Savage said his good performance was thanks to his teammates and coaches giving him the opportunity.
“Huge thank you to my teammates obviously for spacing the court and stuff so I could get to my spots,” he said. “It's all up to them. They hit big shots for me.”
Savage took home player of the game, finishing with 11 points and three assists.
Going into halftime, Humber found themselves with a 19-point lead, with Malik Grant leading the way with 18 points, while Miller had 13 of Lambton’s 32.
In the third, it was another dominant quarter for the reigning champions, scoring 30 points to the Lions’ eleven.
Malik Grant added another nine points to bring his game tally up to 27, where he would finish, as Miles rested the starters for the fourth.
He said the guys coming off the bench got an opportunity because of the efforts from the starters.
“I think because our starters did their job, those guys had a great opportunity to also show and showcase what they can do,” Miles said. “Especially, you never know, if one of these guys go down, another person has to step up.”
This win for the Hawks was their ninth win of double digits this season; they had 11 in the regular season last year.
James Grant said one of the issues the team needs to improve on is being ready to run up and down the court all game.
“Overall, you know, it's a tough game to come into and Humber's a great team, very well coached, and we just asked them specific things of our guys, and hey, they tried their best,” he said.
James Grant said he’s optimistic after seeing some bright spots from the guys who don’t play valuable minutes.
“I saw some really good things from guys that historically don't play a lot for us,” he said. “They went out there and they battled, they tried to get rebounds, and I think that in terms of up and down the roster, one through 14, there's probably some more confidence at the bottom end.”
Both teams now wait for the OCAA to announce the rescheduled dates for their next games.
The Lions travel to Sheridan to face the Bruins, while Humber rematches the St. Clair Saints in the battle for the No. 1 seed in the OCAA at home.
