ST. LAWRENCE (K) 87, GEORGIAN 83

KINGSTON, Ont. - Having gone 4-9 in the pre-season, and losing to Georgian College just two weeks ago, the St. Lawrence Vikings men's basketball team rallied in the second half in their first Ontario Colleges Athletics Association (OCAA) regular season game to win 87-83 over the Grizzlies.

"This was a big win for us," said St. Lawrence head coach Barry Smith. "We gave up the lead a few times in the first half but hit big shots in the second that allowed us to come back, and eventually pull away."

It was a strong start to the first quarter with great ball movement by SLC. But the Vikings quickly got into foul trouble as a result of Georgian exploiting SLC under the net. The strategy allowed Georgian to take an early 21-16 lead after the first quarter. After a fairly even second quarter, the Vikings did bring the score within reach and were behind 40-38 at halftime.

Despite the foul trouble in the third quarter, the Vikings were able to hit clutch shots as a result of their great ball movement, to regain the lead towards the end of the quarter. In the fourth, the Vikings continued their strong offensive play while trying to manage with the Georgian size and strength in the key.

In the end, the Vikings were able to hang on come away with an important 87-83 victory, snapping their eight game pre-season losing streak.

Second year player, and team captain, Andrew Dawkins finished with a team-high 24 points, with rookie Jaz Bains recording 19 points in his first OCAA game. As a team, the Vikings recorded an impressive 22 assists, largely in part to their strong ball movement in the second half.

SLC will hit the road for their next game, facing the Durham College Lords on Friday, Oct. 31 in Oshawa, Ont., at 8 p.m.

Source: St. Lawrence College

KINGSTON, Ont. - The Georgian Grizzlies men's and women's basketball teams opened up their 2014 OCAA regular season's on Saturday afternoon when they travelled to Kingston, Ont., to face the St. Lawrence Vikings.

Despite the closeness between the men's teams in the standings the last number of years the Grizzlies have had no luck in Kingston.

In fact, the last Grizzlies win at the St. Lawrence-Kingston campus came back on Feb. 3, 2008, a streak of six straight losses. Unfortunately for Georgian, Saturday was the seventh.

The teams traded baskets throughout the game but the sixth and final lead change came midway in the third quarter to the advantage of the Vikings. The Grizzlies kept crawling but couldn't catch the Vikings falling 87-83.

Georgian's male rookie of the year Teq Zwarych (Whitby, Ont.) picked up right where he left off last season by scoring 22 points and matching a career-high with 20 rebounds. Veteran Mark Brown (Toronto) also had a solid game scoring 19 points.

On the women's side the Grizzlies ran into a familiar face in Lacey Knox (Kingston, Ont.) for the Vikings. Knox is the reigning two-time west division scoring champion and did it again against Georgian scoring a team-high 19 points leading her team to an 85-48 victory.

Despite the score a bright spot for the Grizzlies was the play of freshman Hannah Pearsall (Guelph, Ont.) who scored a team-high 15 points and five rebounds in her OCAA debut.

The Grizzlies won't have to think long about their opening losses as they will be right back in action Sunday afternoon in Belleville, Ont., when they take on the Loyalist Lancers.

Source: Georgian College