BARRIE, Ont. - After a great start to the season the Georgian Grizzlies men's basketball team had a big test Saturday afternoon at the Georgian Athletic Centre when they hosted the Algonquin Thunder.
The Grizzlies controlled the majority of the play for the first three quarters of the game and held a 14-point lead heading into what was supposed to be the game's final frame.
The wheels fell off for the Grizzlies as they were outscored 20-8 in the fourth quarter by the Thunder who tied the game up with less than four minutes remaining.
The teams played each other tight the rest of the way sending the game to overtime.
In overtime both teams continued to trade baskets and when Georgian's Ivan Ivic (Barrie, Ont.) hit a clutch fade away jumper to put the Grizzlies up 78-75 with 18 seconds remaining, Georgian hoped that would be it.
But the Thunder had more left in them as Patrick Lumumba promptly went right down the court and hit a three pointer to tie the game and send it to a second overtime tied 78-78.
The second overtime was more of the same with each team pouring out all of their energy but this time the Grizzlies were able to just sneak ahead at the end. Georgian's Mark Brown (Toronto) hit both his free throws as part of his 24 points on the afternoon to put the game out of reach, giving the Grizzlies the 93-87 victory.
Tequilan Zwarych was a force yet again for the Grizzlies. The second year forward out of Whitby scored 27 points and 18 rebounds for his fifth double-double game of the season.
Murphy Beya and Kristian Charette led the Thunder in scoring with 23 points each.
Georgian have now won five straight and hold a 5-1 record which is tied for second best in the east division just behind the undefeated 6-0 Durham Lords who the Grizzlies will travel to face this coming Friday in Oshawa, Ont.
Earlier in the day the two women's teams faced each other with the Thunder showing why they are the four time defending OCAA champions.
The Thunder dominated play from start to finish on their way to an 82-39 victory.
Algonquin had four players with double digit point totals including Amoney Abakar (Hamilton, Ont.) who led the team with 17 points.
Hannah Pearsall (Barrie, Ont.) led the Grizzlies in scoring with nine points on the afternoon.
The Grizzlies men's team is back in action on Sunday afternoon when they host the La Cité Coyotes at 1 p.m. at the Georgian Athletic Centre.
Source: Georgian College