The Niagara College Knights came to Sault Ste. Marie with hopes of picking up some wins and hanging on to top spot in the men's division of the OCAA while keeping pace with the St. Clair Saints on the women's side.
After beating Sault College on Friday night, both teams walked into the George Leach Centre and walked out with two more wins as they swept the Algoma University teams on Saturday to cap off a strong Ontario Colleges Athletic Association basketball weekend in Sault Ste. Marie.
On the women's side, Niagara used a strong performance in the first half, along with some strong free throw shooting at key times, in a 56-47 win over Algoma.
In a game which saw Niagara leading 28-19 at halftime, Algoma kept pace with the Knights in the second half with Algoma picking up 28 points to match the 28 second half points put up by Niagara.
Rookie Roberta Reid led the way for Algoma with 12 points in the contest while Jessica King picked up nine. Tasha Dolinski was the offensive catalyst for Niagara picking up 24 points in the win.
Algoma coach Dave Bourgeault was pleased with his team's efforts although he wasn't happy with his team's inability to stay away from foul trouble. Bourgeault did say that he thought it was a game his team could possibly have won.
He was also happy with the fact that his team played hard despite the loss they suffered when the two team's met in Welland back on Nov. 28, a game that Niagara won 82-49.
"That's the best overall effort that we've had this year," Bourgeault said. "We kept sending them to the line in the second half though. At halftime we talked about not fouling in the second half. (Niagara's) definitely beatable. Our defense is still improving. We've got to box out and not foul though. We played hard, which is good, when we could have rolled over and died."
On the men's side, Algoma gave the Knights a scare in the second half, outscoring Niagara 38-31 in the half but they couldn't overcome a 50-30 score after the opening half in an 81-66 loss.
Niagara received a strong effort from forward Eliran Kikos, who picked up 29 points in the win to lead all Niagara scorers. Of those 29 points, 12 came off the four three-pointers he sank over the course of the afternoon. Jason Trinier led all scorers in the game with 30 points for Algoma.
Algoma coach Enzo Torcaso summed up Algoma's loss by saying, "We have to focus on playing 40 minutes, I think that was the problem."
At times Algoma seemed poised to battle back in the game but couldn't sustain enough pressure on the Knights to do so.
Both Algoma teams now prepare to head out on the road next weekend. The women's team is set to face St. Clair on Friday night, while the men's team will face St. Clair on Friday before they take on Lambton on Saturday afternoon.
Next home action for both clubs will be on Feb. 7th against Redeemer University.