Wolves men’s basketball team wins a thriller in first contest of the new year

The Algonquin Wolves men’s basketball team began the new year in style with a 78-75 win over divisional opponents the Centennial Colts on Jan. 11 at the Jack Doyle Athletics and Recreation Centre.
The Wolves started guards Jansen Balmacedal and Albert Opena with forwards Ted Braden, Christ Lachapelle and Tesloch Luk.
The Wolves started strong with Braden winning the tip-off and the team taking an early 5-0 lead.
It didn’t take long for the Colts to shake off the post-holiday rust and score seven straight points, taking a 7-5 lead.
The Wolves showed resilience. During the second quarter, they were down by 10 points with four minutes left until halftime.
Wolves head coach Trevor Costello was heard shouting from the sideline between quarters. The shouts were motivational and positive.
Whatever was said worked, as the Wolves and Colts went back and forth with Algonquin trailing by one point entering halftime.
The third quarter was the closest by far. The teams each scored 19 points and the Colts led at the end of the quarter 60-59. If the Wolves had a victory up their sleeve, they would have to pull out all the stops to secure this one.
The Wolves got their first lead since the first quarter, 62-60 with a three-pointer sunk by Simon Desta. A foul saw Devonte Brooks make both his free throws improving the lead by four.
Desta did not stop sinking shots, making another three-pointer to pull the Wolves ahead by seven points. Desta is shooting 42.7 per cent behind the three-point line this season and earned 14 total points this match against the Colts.

A 9-0 run by the Wolves to begin the fourth quarter provoked a timeout by the Colts to discuss what went wrong so quickly.
The Colts clawed at the lead, bringing it to a 70-69 score, until the Colts head coach became furious, screaming at the officials for what he believed was a missed foul call.
Two technical fouls in quick succession would see the Colts’ head coach ejected from the match. Applause broke out in the stands as the Colts head coach made his way to the locker rooms.

The assistant coach of the Colts took over the head coach’s responsibilities for the rest of the match.
The drama would affect the Colts, seemingly distracted, until the final few minutes, when they began a scoring rampage. Despite this final push, the Wolves were able to hit some clutch shots and secure the win.
The win lifted the Wolves to 8-3 on the season and third place in the OCAA East Conference.