NORTH BAY, Ont. - The Canadore Panthers men's varsity basketball team defeated the Georgian Grizzlies at their final game of the season in front of a packed home crowd at the Education Centre Gymnasium.
Top scorer for Canadore was Mike Costello with 22 points.
Panthers began the game with five graduating players as their starters including Jevon Marshall, Santo Dak, Eric Plumley, Mark Hillock and Christian Casimier. They were a little slow out of the gate but grew as the game went on, gaining a 10-point lead after a last second basket by Costello at the halfway point. With a few amazing offensive plays, including a dunk by first-year player, Carter Maschi, the Panthers lead grew to a total of 20 points by the end of the game.
Despite today's win, the Panthers finished the season in ninth place in the East Division and will not move on to the crossover games next weekend.
Canadore head coach, Stacy Gallagher, commented on his team this year. "It was nice to finish our season 4-0 at home. Finishing 9-11 as a second year team is quite a feat and the graduating players did a fantastic job in the last four games stepping up and helping put the Canadore basketball program on the map. I'm proud of the team as well as my coaching staff, for a great season. We came together as a team and we played as a team throughout the whole year."
Player of the game, Costello, also said, "It was nice to see the guys finish the season on a win. It would have been nice to see us make playoffs, but either way, I'm still proud of our accomplishments throughout this year."
Source: Canadore College
NORTH BAY, Ont. - Travelling for their final road game of the regular season on Sunday, the Georgian Grizzlies men's basketball team were looking to snap a two-game winless streak when they took on the Canadore Panthers.
Despite getting out to a six point lead early, Georgian fell apart in the second quarter as the Panthers jumped out on a 22-4 run that the Grizzlies could never recover from.
Canadore continued their strong play in the second half of the game leading to a 92-72 victory over Georgian.
Georgian's Justin Mitchell (Newmarket, Ont.) led the team with 17 points while veteran Dylan McKenzie (Bracebridge, Ont.) contributed 15 points in the defeat.
The loss puts the Grizzlies in a tough spot with just one game remaining on the OCAA regular season schedule.
To make the playoffs the Grizzlies will need to defeat the second place team in the East Division, the George Brown Huskies on Tuesday night while also having the Durham Lords be upset by the Fleming Knights on Wednesday.
Game time is scheduled for 8 p.m. on Tuesday night at the Georgian Athletic Centre with the women's game taking place prior at 6 p.m. Fans are encouraged to come out and support the Grizzlies as the senior players will be recognized for their contributions prior to the game.
Source: Georgian College