PREVIEW: Game 2 sees quarter-final action between the Hawks and the Huskies

Posted: Feb 28, 2018

The second game of the OCAA Men's Championship baskeball tournament will see the west division Humber Hawks take on the east division George Brown Huskies. Both programs brought home provincial hardware in last year’s OCAA Championship tournament with Humber bringing home the bronze medal and George Brown taking home the silver. The programs did not compete against each other in regular season action.

After placing 3rd in the OCAA West Division with a regular season record of 15-5, the Humber Hawks hope to build on last year’s OCAA Bronze medal victory over the Niagara Knights.

If the Hawks hope to find success Thursday afternoon against the Huskies, they will need a strong performance from 3^rd year power forward Kenny Ejim. The Toronto, Ontario native led his program in scoring through the regular season with 22.1 points per game.

Humber was awarded a spot in this year’s Final 8 after defeating St. Lawrence (K) in crossover action 97-68.

The George Brown Huskies look to build on their success from last year’s tournament after losing the gold medal match to the Sheridan Bruins. The Huskies went 18-2 during the regular season, losing only to the OCAA East Division champion Seneca Sting.

“We got to take one game at a time,“ said Huskies’ head coach Jonathan Smith. “Our only focus heading into this weekend’s tournament is how to prepare for a historic program like Humber.”

The Huskies enter this year’s tournament with a dangerous one-two punch in 5^th year guard DJ (Dejazmatch) James and 2^nd year guard Alex Petronis. The duo averaged 16.4 points and 16.1 points respectively during the regular season.

“The key to our success is continuing to talk on defense,” said guard DJ James. “We need to keep our energy up if we hope to find success throughout the tournament.”

The Huskies clinched their spot in the provincial tournament after defeating the Mohawk Mountaineers 86-76 in each program’s crossover matchup.

Both programs have the expectation to medal once again, but only one will get chance to.

Tip off is scheduled for 3pm.