Mohawk men’s basketball team advances to OCAA tournament
Aminu Bello (23) scored a game-high 32 points in an 87-86 win over Humber on Feb. 22//Photo by Elia Koolsbergen
Mohawk’s varsity men’s basketball team hosted a playoff crossover game on Saturday (Feb. 25) to determine if they would advance to the Ontario Colleges’ Athletic Association (OCAA) Championships in Ottawa from March 1-3.
The Mountaineers sealed their ticket with a 90-65 win over the Durham Lords of Oshawa. Mohawk (13-5) will now matchup against the OCAA’s East Division top-ranked Centennial Colts (18-2) of Scarborough on Thursday at tournament host Algonquin College.
Mohawk has played great basketball of late, handing the top team in their division (Humber) their third loss of the season when the Hawks visited the Fennell Gym on Wednesday (Feb. 22).
After looking outmatched by a fast-paced Humber team that was able to step into their shots on the fast break and around screens, the Mountaineers climbed back with great defence and rebounding to take a first half lead.
The Mountaineers led for most of the second half when, leading by five coming out of a timeout, Humber’s Daviau Rodney stole an in bounds pass and knocked down a three point shot to make the score 83-81.
The game then turned into a battle at the free-throw line with Humber taking an 87-86 lead with only a few seconds remaining.
Mohawk had to advance the ball up-court quickly and Jeff Hunt found himself with the ball and the game in his hands.
“It was a big win for us,” said Hunt who made two free throws to win the game 87-86. “Coach hasn’t beat Humber in the last three years and it’s been close games so it was a big win for us.”
After catching a pass, Hunt drove to the net hard and was fouled with 0.8 seconds left in the game and stepped to the foul line with zero points on 0-for-five shooting thus far.
Hunt said he was nervous before his game tying and game-winning shots but all that was going through his head was that he “just wanted to win – that’s it.”
With no timeouts left, the Hawks were forced to in bound the ball underneath their own basket and Mohawk’s center, Taylor Dowhaniuk, was able to intercept the pass causing his team to rush the floor and surround Hunt as the buzzer sounded.
