DURHAM 82, GEORGIAN 67

OSHAWA, Ont. - On a night where Durham College honoured Anthony Batchelor, the all-time leading scorer in OCAA men's basketball history, the Lords were able to pick up an 82-67 victory over the Georgian Grizzlies.

"It was a pretty special night," said Batchelor, who had his No. 32 officially retired. "I am actually still a little overwhelmed. Durham provided me an opportunity to achieve a lot of my goals on the court while setting me up for my professional career and I am really grateful for that. I met a lot of great people at college that I now consider part of my family, so it was pretty special to have them here with me tonight."

Batchelor joined former Lords No. 3 Ken Upshaw (1982-86), No. 40 Augusto Duquesne (1994-97) and No. 5 Bill Crowdis (1996-99) to have their jerseys retired at Durham in the sport of men's basketball.

Batchelor finished his five-year career as the all-time leading scorer with 1,833 points, smashing the previous record of 1,434 held by Emilio Rocca of Fanshawe College for over 22 years. He won a number of provincial and national awards throughout his collegiate career, including being named a CCAA-All-Canadian, the OCAA Player of the Year and a 4-time OCAA All-Star.

At Durham College, he was a five-time men's basketball MVP and was named the overall athlete of the year in 2006-07 and 2007-08. He also broke the Durham College single game all-time record (previously held by Augusto Duquesne, 40 points), pouring in 58 points against the La Cite Coyotes on his home court. Academics were also a priority for Batchelor as he won a number of OCAA All-Academic awards and was a CCAA Academic All-Canadian. He was also the Durham College Dr. Gary Polonsky leadership award winner in 2006-07.

In Friday's game against the Grizzlies, freshman Anthony Ottley (Brampton, Ont.) gave fans a flashback to Batchelor's playing days as he drained 34 points and added 19 rebounds in the win. Ottley is averaging 27.1 points per game to all OCAA scorers.

Following the special pregame ceremony, the Lords opened the game with a 10-0 run, holding the Grizzlies scoreless until just under the two-minute mark in the first quarter. In the second quarter, Georgian attempted to rally back, but a shot clock buzzer beater by centre Josh Kennedy took away any momentum the Grizzlies had.

Ottley (Brampton, Ont.) continued to show a soft touch around the rim, leading all players with 17 points and 11 rebounds in the first half. Durham would go into the half leading 36-21 behind their strong team defence which limited the Grizzlies shooting to just 21 percent from the field.

In the second half, Georgian was never able to battle back and eventually fell 82-67 in defeat. The Lords shot 45 percent from the field, including 7-for-17 from the 3 point line and 15-for-22 from the charity stripe. Meanwhile, the Lords were able to hold the Grizzlies to just 34 percent shooting overall.

Despite committing 23 turnovers, the Lords were able to make the most of their own second chance opportunities by winning the rebound margin 52 to 43.

Other contributors for Durham featured first year guard Leke Bankole (Bowmanville, Ont.) who had 17 points on 50 percent shooting and scrappy third year guard Christoff Pierre (Brampton, Ont.) who added 15 points in the win.

In the loss, Georgian guard Stefan Rudic contributed with 20 points including 5-for-10 from behind the three point line.

Durham improves to 2-5 on the year, one game behind Loyalist for the final playoff spot in the OCAA east region. Georgian falls to 1-5 on the year.

The Lords will now host Seneca (7-1) on Tuesday, November 27 at 8 p.m.

Source: Durham College