Men’s basketball: Wolves cap Senior Night with an emphatic win
The Algonquin Wolves men’s basketball team overpowered the George Brown Huskies 74-58 at the Jack Doyle Athletics and Recreation Centre on Jan. 31.
It was Senior Night, a time for the Wolves to celebrate their graduating varsity athletes.
This also happened to be the final home game for the Wolves’ regular season, meaning it would be the final regular season home contest ever. CJ Gallaza, Jansen Balmaceda, Simon Desta, Ted Braden, Gezim Pjetergjokaj, Matteo Mongroo and Chris Lachapelle are within their final year of eligibility for OCAA basketball.
Before the match and player introductions, Wolves head coach Trevor Costello addressed the crowd and players, celebrating the graduating Wolves with personalized gifts and a few words for each of the senior athletes.
The Wolves made sure to celebrate Senior Night by exclusively starting senior players. Algonquin started guards Simon Desta and Jansen Balmaceda with forwards Ted Braden, Chris Lachapelle and Matteo Mongroo.
The party started with Braden winning the tip off. The Wolves took an early lead thanks to Desta’s three-point shot, followed by another three-pointer by Balmaceda.
Braden made sure to finish his career at the ARC in style, with two slam dunks in short succession that brought the crowd and Wolves bench to their feet. Desta had assists on both.
The Wolves kept their foot on the gas pedal, finishing the first half up by 10 points.
The second half was a textbook performance from the Wolves, continuing the pressure against the Huskies, and forcing multiple fouls.
The Wolves entered a flow state as they kept the offence scoring at incredible rates, blocking shots routinely.
Huskies’ guard Raheem Roberts received a technical foul after taunting the audience after draining a three-pointer. This made Roberts enemy number one in the ARC for the rest of the match.
Roberts was benched for a minute, with Huskies coach Jason Dawkins having a quick one-on-one with Roberts on the sideline. This resulted in one of the loudest roars of the night, only to be rivalled by Braden’s two slam dunks.
Roberts headed back onto the court and was visibly frustrated. He was not able to find his groove again and seemed affected by the crowd, missing passes and ultimately sitting for the rest of the match.
The Wolves were relentless, separating the lead margin even further thanks to a three-pointer from Albert Opena and players from the bench.
The Wolves eventually took home the win in front of friends, family and a fantastic student crowd to improve to a 10-6 record this season. They have two regular season games left on their schedule, one against Loyalist at the Kente Building Gymnasium in Belleville and their final contest against St. Lawrence at the Kingston Campus Gymnasium.
