LAVAL, QUE. – The Holland College Hurricanes gold-medal quest is over.
The top-ranked Seneca Sting defeated the Hurricanes 90-86 in the Canadian Collegiate Athletic Association men’s basketball championship semifinal Friday in Laval, Que.
“You look back at that game and wish it would have worked out differently,” head coach Josh Whitty said. “It’s pretty crushing. It was a matter of a couple of possessions. Had the ball . . . went in for us and not in for them, we win the game.”
The Sting was dialed in from downtown in the victory, hitting 41 per cent of its 44 three-point shots. Khalil Miller had six treys as part of his team-leading 20 points while Trevor Hutton hit four from behind the arc en route to 18 points and Yusuf Ali scored 17 points, 15 on threes.
Chase Bowden scored 26 points and hauled in eight rebounds while Jace Colley had 19 points and 10 boards. Roosevelt (Chicken) Whyley chipped in 12 points.
The ’Canes also were even sharper from three-point land, hitting 48 per cent of their shots, but taking 23 fewer treys than the Sting.
Holland College led 28-25 after the first quarter, but trailed 47-40 at the half. They responded with a 27-19 third quarter to take a 67-66 lead to the fourth.
The Hurricanes will play the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology (SAIT) Trojans in the bronze medal semifinal today at 11 a.m. Atlantic. A win puts them in the bronze medal match at 7 p.m.
“Tomorrow is a tough turnaround,” Whitty said. “We’ll take tonight to sort of (regroup) and get out there tomorrow morning and give them hell. With our group, there’s so much roster turnover, that this is last time this team gets to play together, so we want to go out with two wins.”
