SUPER FRIDAY AND SATURDAY

The OCAA men's basketball schedule offers up some intriguing match-ups this weekend as the calendar flips from January to February.

On Friday, the two top teams square off for bragging rights in the east region. In Steeltown, winning streaks meet in perhaps the biggest game ever played between crosstown rivals.

On Saturday, an eight-game winning streak is put on the line against a team looking for its 10th win of the season. And a Cinderella squad looks to upend the defending champions to help bolster their post-season ambitions.

There are plenty of appetizers being offered up in OCAA men's basketball before Super Sunday. Let's just hope there are no deflated basketballs.

TOP TWO

The east won't be won this weekend, but the race for first place will come into better focus.

Durham (13-2) visits Georgian (11-4) in a showdown between the top teams in the east region. While a loss won't be a mortal blow to Durham's chances, Georgian will need a victory if it has any designs for winning the regional championship.

In their previous meeting, Georgian won 74-62 at Durham.

With the OCAA championship tournament being hosted by Durham, the Lords are already guaranteed a spot in the final eight. For Georgian, top spot is not as important as staying in the top two. The best team outside of Durham gets the other bye into the championship.

HAMMER TIME

The biggest chapter of their crosstown rivalry is about to be written.

The Redeemer Royals have won nine straight, the longest active winning streak in the OCAA. Standing between them and a perfect 10 is Hamilton, Ont., rival Mohawk, who has won five straight, and a dozen of its last 13 games.

When they last met, the Mountaineers came away with a convincing 104-76 victory in early November. That was the end to Redeemer's losing ways. Now these teams have 21 wins between them, and the post-season in their collective sights.

This is old hat for Mohawk (12-2), who has earned OCAA medals in two of the past three seasons, including a provincial and national championship.

For Redeemer (9-4), it is on the verge of clinching its first post-season berth in the program's history.

THINGS ARE ABOUT TO GET MEDIEVAL

Depending on what happens to Redeemer on Friday, the St. Lawrence Vikings will either hold the longest active winning streak, or second longest in the OCAA.

St. Lawrence-Kingston (10-5) has won eight straight games to move into third place in the OCAA east region. The Vikings will most definitely be keeping tabs on the result of Friday's Durham-Georgian game.

But the Vikings still need to take care of business on their own, which is why Saturday's game against Loyalist (9-6) is just as important. The Lancers can pull even with the Vikings with a victory, creating a logjam near the top of the east standings.

Loyalist would also hold a head-to-head tiebreaker over St. Lawrence if the Lancers defeat the Vikings a second time this season. Loyalist edged St. Lawrence 71-68 on Nov. 12 as second-year forward Jayvon Lake (Brampton, Ont.) earned a double-double with 11 points and 12 rebounds.

St. Lawrence fourth-year guard Andrew Dawkins (Brampton, Ont.) has scored over 20 points in three of his last four games.

NOT-SO COWARDLY LIONS

The Lambton Lions are one win away from surpassing last season's win total of seven.

While this is likely a forgone conclusion, the Lions are also eying their first OCAA playoff berth in quite sometime.

Lambton (7-5) visits two-time defending OCAA champion Sheridan (6-7) on Saturday. By Sheridan's standards, this has been a sub-par season for the Bruins, but coming off back-to-back victories, they still have the playoffs in their sights.

A win by either of these teams on Saturday tightens their grip on a post-season berth, with Lambton and Sheridan currently in fifth and sixth place, respectively, in the west region. And as an added bonus for the Bruins, they host seventh-place St. Clair (4-8) on Sunday, making this a key doubleheader of sorts.

Lambton and St. Clair will also visit first-place Humber (12-1) this weekend.

RECENT RESULTS

UPCOMING GAMES

Source: OCAA Communications