March 7th 2022 - The Niagara College Knights men's basketball team fought to a heartbreaking 85-84 loss to the nationally ranked (3rd) Humber Hawks Friday night at home in their final regular season game at the Welland Campus Centre.
Friday night's final home game for the Knights regular season also marked Senior Night celebrations for Reese Radobenko, who graduates from Sport management this April.
The first quarter saw both teams evenly matched through the first 10 minutes and ended the frame deadlocked at 13.
The Knights ended the second quarter with a bit of a lead at 40-37 at the half.
Things looked good for the blue and white through the third quarter that saw them put a seven point lead between them and the undefeated Hawks, finishing the quarter 67-60 to head into the fourth quarter.
Humber began to close in on the Knights lead in the final two minutes of the game pulling within two of the Knights 80-82 lead before Rahim Bardi went to the free-throw line to net two and make it 80-84 with 56 seconds left.
The Hawks went to the foul line to net two of their own, again pulling within two of the Knights lead at 84-82.
Bardi went in for a missed layup that turned the ball over to Humber who made a layup of their own in the final 14 seconds to tie it up at 84-84.
Just when the game looked like it was headed for extra time, Bardi took a foul that sent the Hawks to the free-throw line with .01 seconds left. The Hawk's Raheem Dennis made 1-2, which would be all Humber needed to secure their 9th win and finish with a 9-0 record.
Bardi recorded a season high 29 points in the Knights loss, while Reggie Williams finished with 17.
With the loss to the Hawks, the Knights fell to 4-4 with one game remaining against the Canadore Panthers.
Knights 93 Panthers 60
The Knights hopped the bus Sunday morning for their final game of the regular season against the struggling Panthers (0-8). Sunday's match-up would determine playoff situations for the OCAA men's basketball standings and whether the Knights would finish as a high-seed host for their playoff qualifying game.
Sunday's first quarter of action saw the Knights take a commanding 30-16 lead to end the first quarter. Canadore struggled to get offence going through the second with the Knights outscoring the Panthers 27-9 in the second quarter and end the half with a 63-41 lead.
The Knights went on to cruise to a 93-60 win to finish with a 5-4 record.
Knights first-year player Nick Yioldassis recorded a season high 22 points, going 8-12 from the field and 6-9 from the 3 point arc. Yioldassis finished first in the OCAA 3pt percentage standings with 52.9 %.
Radobenko and Williams each chipped in 17.
Niagara finished 5th in the OCAA West standings which means they will hit the road for their playoff qualifying game against the Redeemer Royals who finished fourth. The winner of Wednesday's OCAA qualifier will advance to the quarterfinals on Saturday March 12th.
For full standings please visit ocaa.com
Playoff Format below.
QUALIFYING GAMES - March 9
Game A: East #8 @ East #1
Game B: West #5 @ West #4
Game C: West #7 @ West #2
Game D: East #6 @ East #3
Game E: West #8 @ West # 1
Game F: East #5 @ East #4
Game G: East #7 @ East #2
Game H: West #6 @ West #3
QUARTER FINALS - March 12 (High Seed Host)
Game 1: Winner Game A vs. Winner Game B
Game 2: Winner Game C vs. Winner Game D
Game 3: Winner Game E vs. Winner Game F
Game 4: Winner Game G vs. Winner Game H
FINAL FOUR @ top seed - March 16-17
Day 1 - March 16
6:00pm - Semi-Final #1: Winner of Quarter-Final #1 vs. Winner of Quarter-Final #2
8:00pm - Semi-Final #2: Winner of Quarter-Final #3 vs. Winner of Quarter-Final #4
Day 2 - March 17
5:00pm - BRONZE MEDAL GAME: Loser Semi-Final #1 vs. Loser Semi-Final #2
7:30pm - GOLD MEDAL GAME: Winner Semi-Final #1 vs. Winner Semi-Final #2
