Forward Raymond Munier battles his way to the Royal’s basket for two of his game high 18 points.
photo by sandy mclachlin
Sports Reporter
Hoping to turn its frustration in last year’s tournament into a championship run, men’s basketball enters the provincial playoffs this weekend on a 15-game winning streak.
“We were all very disappointed with the way things ended last year,” head coach Darrell Glen said of the loss last March to St. Lawrence-Kingston College in the first round of the Ontario Colleges Athletic Association championships.
“We came back wanting to get back to the playoffs and redeem ourselves and I think our team is ready to make that jump,” he said.
The Hawks last won the Ontario title in the 2005-2006 season.
Both coaches and players said they understand hard work is required to be successful at this time of year.
“Every day we’re just going to practice and keeping up the intensity,” said Hawks forward Michael Acheampong. “The coaches know what the playoff environment is like, so they’re getting us prepared as best as possible.”
Leading scorer Akeem Sween, averaging 15.5 points a game, said he is optimistic they’ll achieve their goal if the team continues to play like they’ve done all season.
“We just got to play hard, keep doing what we’re doing and hopefully we’ll get what we want,” said the second year general arts student.
Humber (16-2) ended the regular season with a 78-32 win at home against Redeemer College last week.
The Hawks have a bye to the quarter-finals of the playoffs and will host Fleming College (15-5) this Saturday. A victory would send them to the championship round at Algonquin College in Ottawa on March 6 and 7.
Coach Glenn said he is not assuming his team will win easily because they finished first in their division.
“Regardless of what you have done in the regular season,” he said the games are always tight.”