SHERIDAN 102, LAMBTON 46 (FINAL)
BRAMPTON, Ont. - For a second consecutive weekend the Sheridan Bruins men's basketball team (13-5, 5-2 OCAA) were forced to play a pair of games in less than 24 hours and they emerged with a pair of wins - 85-43 over St. Clair and 102-46 over Lambton - where they built big leads early and the outcome was never in doubt.
"I thought we played well but both teams were overmatched," head coach Jim Flack said. "Like many people say, there's no good coaches, only good recruiters. I don't know whether it's recruiting or just the area we're in, but obviously we have a lot of great players and it's not as easy for people in Windsor and Sarnia to field a team. I was proud of the way we played today - maybe not so much last night - but we were able to learn some things and prep for what we're going to need to do the last two games [before the holiday break] and into the second semester."
Against Lambton the Bruins opened with a 23-0 run over the first three minutes and didn't concede any points until the 4:47 mark of the frame.
Lambton closed the first quarter on a 10-2 run to trail 32-15, but the double-blue blew the game wide open with a 27-2 scoreline in the second quarter which included a 25-0 run to start the quarter.
Khalid Abdel-Gabar scored a game-high 25 points - 13 of which came in that first quarter - Denmark McDonald (19), Anthony Burnett (12) and Andrew Stephenson (10) were all in double figures.
In their first game of the weekend, Sheridan led St. Clair 21-17 at the end of the first and used a 15-4 run to close the second quarter to lead 41-25 at the half.
In the second half, St. Clair scored the first three points but the double-blue responded with a 19-2 run that built a 30-point edge.
Abdel-Gabar once again paced the club with 26 points, while McDonald (16), Dylan Periana (14) and Alan Anderson (10) were also in double-figures.
The Bruins will now hit the road to take on West-leading Niagara (6-1) on November 30.
With both of their conference losses coming on the road - by a combined 42 points - Flack was very direct about how his club needed to approach the game.
"They just have to man up," he said. "It's not a tactical approach, it's just an attitudinal approach. If they're tough and if they compete like they should and answer the bell when Niagara does something good then we'll be fine. It's not really even necessarily about winning or losing, it's just about competing at this point and learning to fight on the road rather than just collapse."
Source: Sheridan I.T.
