Men’s basketball: Wolves beat Coyotes 81-70 in Ottawa’s collegiate cross-town rivalry

The Wolves men’s basketball team began their season with an 81-70 victory over the La Cité Coyotes at La Cité’s Main Campus Gym to start their season off on the right foot.

The Wolves came out firing on all cylinders, scoring the first basket of the game and taking an early 12-0 lead. Haven Holder dominated the first quarter, scoring six of the first 12 points. He also picked up two rebounds in just six minutes of play.

“I was out all year last year, so I’ve been waiting for this moment for a long time. I just felt good to get my feet back underneath me, running around, dunk on some people, get some buckets,” said Holder

Facilitating the floor for the Wolves was Shyeem Brown, a returnee from last year’s team, looking to solidify his spot in the rotation this year due to the 12 graduates leaving last year’s roster.

Brown admitted, “It was a shaky game, to be honest. We got a lot of learning to do but we pulled through for the win.”

Entering the second quarter, the Wolves led 25-18 but by the end of the half, the lead had slipped away from the squad. La Cité’s Daniel Ndikumana and Samuel Ilunga put on a shooting clinic during the second quarter.

The duo scored 19 of the Coyotes’ 29 points in the quarter, with Ndikumana scoring 11 points, going 4-5 from the field and 3-4 from three-point range. Ilunga stuffed the stat sheet, going 3-4 from the field, 2-2 from three-point land, with two rebounds and one steal, scoring eight in the quarter.

Going into the half, the Wolves were trailing 47-44.

The second half was dominated by Algonquin’s two big men, Holder and Aydin Gilani. First-year forward Gilani is an Ottawa native and played a major role into the Wolves’ first win of the year.

In the second half was where Gilani really shined, scoring 12 points, going 4-8 from the field, 1-2 from three-point range, eight rebounds, two assists and two steals. His presence was felt on both sides on the floor, finishing the game with 40 minutes played, 21 points, ten rebounds and five assists.

“I just let it come to me. I always pray for this team’s success and by playing aggressive with high energy, we all play good together,” said Gilani

Coach Trevor Costello also praised Gilani’s game.

“Aydin is a great rookie pickup for us to go 21 (points), ten rebounds, five assists, just great numbers. Forty minutes, haven’t had a rookie ever play 40 minutes for me, and he played 40,” said Costello

Holder used his six foot six-foot-six frame to dominate the defensive side of the floor, grabbing five rebounds in the half. On the offensive side of the ball, the Coyotes couldn’t stop him in the paint, fouling him three times in the half while shooting 3-6 from the line.

“Just leaning into the emotions, I was feeling a lot of emotions being back out there and I kind of channelled that, I tried to let that show on the court,” said Holder.

Coming out of the third quarter, the Wolves had tied the game up at 61. The Wolves took the lead early in the fourth quarter and never gave it back. The Wolves closed out the Coyotes by going on a 12-3 scoring run, extending the lead to nine and finishing the game strong.

Costello was satisfied with the win against the Coyotes, but said there is much more to improve on.

“It was good. It was nice that we didn’t play great, but we played good enough to get the win,” said Costello.

“We need to improve on everything, defence, offence, everything. We’ve got to run better offence.”

The Wolves take on the Durham Lords at the Jack Doyle Athletic and Recreation Centre at 8 p.m. on Halloween night, looking to advance their record to 2-0 on the season against the OCAA defending champions.