The Tribune

By RENALDO DORSETT

Sports Reporter

rdorsett@tribunemedia.net

POWERED by its group of Bahamian players, the Holland College Hurricanes have an opportunity to protect homecourt and reach another milestone in the national tournament.

The Hurricanes ended the regular season with their fifth consecutive Atlantic Collegiate Athletic Association conference title in an 81-70 win over the Mount Allison Mounties in Sackville, New Brunswick.

Abel Joseph was named the Player-Of-The-Game and came off the bench to nearly finish with a triple double - a team high 17 points, seven rebounds and seven steals.

Joseph shot 7-13 from the field in his 22 minutes.

Roosevelt Whylly finished with 11 points and six rebounds on 3-4 shooting from three-point range.

The Hurricanes led 20-17 after the first quarter and and 37-36 at the half. Holland separated themselves in the third quarter to take a 65-49 lead and held off an attempted comeback by the Mounties in the fourth quarter.

The Hurricanes won each of their three tournament games by an average margin of 18.3 points per game. They opened with a 96-63 win over Dalhousie and a 76-65 win over Mount Saint Vincent.

Whylly finished second on the team in scoring at 17.4 points per game in his second year with the programme.  He also averaged 7.6 rebounds per game.

In his first year with the program, Joseph relished in a sixth-man role and averaged 13.6 points and 6.1 rebounds per game.

Attention now shifts to the national level when the Hurricanes will host the Canadian Collegiate Athletic Association Men’s Basketball National Championship in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, March 15-18.

They look to improve on last year’s bronze-medal finish.

The Hurricanes will face the SAIT Trojans in the opening round of the tournament at 6pm on Thursday, March 16.

In 2016, the Hurricanes claimed the bronze medal with a 98-68 win over Nomades de Montmorency.

Whylly finished with a double double - 22 points and 13 rebounds - and was named to the all-tournament first team.

Several other Bahamian players competed in conference championships last week. However, none of them advanced to the tournament.

The Niagara Knights finished fourth in the OCAA tournament and did not advance to the National Championship.

The Knights finished the three day event in fourth place after losing in the bronze medal game 82-79 to the Humber Hawks.

The Knights feature a trio of Bahamian players - Van Hutchinson Jr, Jordan Wilson and Kevin Cooper.

They were forced to play without Hutchinson for the duration of the tournament after losing him to an ankle injury.

Hutchinson led the team in scoring at 14.6 points, 10 rebounds and 4.5 assists per game.

Wilson, averaged 6.8 points, 4.8 rebounds and 2.5 assists per game while Cooper averaged 4.4 points per game in limited minutes.

The team finished in second place in the OCAA West Division with a record of 13-3.

The Knights were also ranked No. 4 in the CCAA national rankings for the majority of the second half of the season.

Last year’s defending national champions, Jackson Jacobs and the NAIT Ooks also failed to advance to the national tournament.

The Ooks lost in the semi-final of the ACAC conference tournament and were relegated to the consolation bracket.

At the ACAC championship banquet, Jacob was named to the North 1st All-Conference team after leading the conference with 29 points per game. He also averaged 5.1 rebounds and 3.3 assists per game.