The Sheridan Bruins took to the court this past weekend in St. Lambert, Quebec as the third seed and high hopes of winning a national medal.

In the opening round, the Sheridan Bruins defeated the home town Champlain’s Cavaliers 80-75 to earn their birth in the CCAA CN National Championship semi-final where they will face off against Mount St. Vincent University.

The Bruins (3rd seed) started off the first quarter against the Cavaliers with a small but steady lead thanks to big shots like Jelani Matthew’s long three ball. But not willing to roll over infront of the home town crowd, the Cavaliers came back to gain a 10-point lead by the end of the first. Sheridan shut out the cavaliers for the whole first six minutes of the second quarter, but the Cavs woke up and it was 36-35 for the home team at the half. The Bruins started the second half off with two long threes from Shane Cox and their relentless play caused Champlain to find themselves in foul trouble allowing the Bruins to come back from a six point deficit and gain a four point advantage. Although Sheridan managed to lead by 13 point lead in the fourth quarter, the Cavs managed to narrowed the gap to five, but it wasn’t enough as the Bruins marched into the next round.

With the winner moving on to the gold medal final, the Bruins squared off against Mount Saint Vincent. MSVU began the game with a 7-0 run and set a tone the Bruins could not match immediately out of the gate. Sheridan’s Jelani Matthew and Nigel Johnson-Tyghter led the Bruins offensive run with several three pointers and offensive rebounds, but on the defense Sheridan was unable to provide an answer for MSVU’s Damian Gay and Mark Brien who ended the first half with 32 points between the pair. The second half finished with a score of 42-24 for MSVU.

The third quarter was dominated by strong defense on both sides of the ball however, both teams struggled offensively and found themselves in foul trouble. Sheridan’s hope of upsetting the second seed were still flickering in the fourth quarter as Maurice Smith posted 11 points to lead the Sheridan comeback. It was not enough thought as MSVU had built enough of a lead to whether the storm and win the game. For the second consecutive game the Shane Reece was honoured for his play as he was named the Sheridan Player of the Game. MSVU’s player of the game was Damian Gay.

In their bronze medal semi final, the third seeded Bruins ousted the eight seeded Lakeland Rustlers 99-71. The Bruins got off to a slow start, with the Rustlers hitting big shots making the score at the end of the first quarter 27-17 for Lakeland. However, Brampton native, Niegl Johnson-Tyghter, had the two most memorable blocks of the tournament in the game which continued to ignite the Bruins game.

In the second quarter, Sheridan continued to build momentum and take the lead, with the score 47-42 at the half. Maurice Smith had a memorable performance in the first half scoring all six of the teams three pointers in the first half.

In the second half, Sheridan was the dominant force, maintaining the lead throughout the duration of the half. Sheridan reverted back to what got them to the CCAA Championship and used their physical game to dwarf the Lakeland team who could not overcome the pressure due to obvious fatigue.

The Player of the Game for Sheridan was 5’10 guard Maurice Smith, with 23 points, while Lakeland’s Michael Leiffers scored15 with points and collected his team’s honour.

In the bronze medal final the Bruins found themselves in the unenviable position of playing their opening round opponent for the second time in the tournament and to make the climb even steeper, they played the tournament host Champlain Cavaliers who would certainly have the home town crown on their side.

Despite defeating the Cavs in the opening round game, Champlain came out firing in front of their sold out crowd. The Cavs Eric Williams was solid under the basket collecting the host team some key rebounds and put backs helping Champlain gain a 10-point lead, but Sheridan’s Maurice Smith kept the Ontario invaders in the game with several quick threes. Adam Chmielewski (Cavs) found an answer to the long ball and answered by closing the half with a long buzzer beater three, leaving the score 42 - 35 in favour of the host team.

Both teams opened the second half exchanging baskets and the Bruins closed the gap with back-to-back threes by Maurice Smith. A quick basket at the end of the quarter by Bruins Richardo Dunkley left the score at 64-58. The fourth quarter was a roller-coaster ride for the two teams, but the Cavs Nico Cochran carried his team during the quarter knocking in 10 points. As the quarter wound down, the Bruins were unable to change the games momentum and the Cavs Randy Dézouvre sealed the game with a steal and two free-throws winning 81-75

The Sheridan Bruins Player of the Game was Tab Donaldson who scored a team-high 15 points. The Champlain Cavaliers honored Eric Williams with Player of the Game after he finished the game with 18 points.