Durham College Men's Basketball Highlights vs. Georgian College

Ajax natives Smith and McGarrity lead DC to victory

Men's Basketball: Durham defeated Georgian 105-98 (Box Score Attached)

OSHAWA, Ont. -- The Durham Lords held off a furious late charge by the Georgian Grizzlies in men's OCAA basketball action for a 105-98 win on Wednesday night.

The No. 8 nationally ranked Lords are now 5-1 in the OCAA east region, behind only 6-0 Algonquin who is ranked first in the nation. The Grizzlies fall to 1-4.

Ajax natives Eric Smith and Tyler McGarrity were huge for the high-scoring Lords, netting 37 and 34 points respectively. Smith pulled down 18 rebounds, too. Courtney Small (Oshawa, Ont.) scored 14 and Tyler Pelley (Ajax, Ont.) 10 for Durham.

The Lords led by 18 points 90-72 at the 12:40 mark of the second half. The Grizzlies responded with a big comeback to cut the margin to 92-88 on a Joshua Ross lay-up four minutes from the buzzer.

"We kind of relaxed late in the game," said Durham coach Desmond Rowley, adding that their winning record puts them in the crosshairs of other teams who want to knock off one of the OCAA's top teams.

He praised Georgian for outworking them during the big second half run.

Georgian's Justin Mitchell hit a three to make it 95-93 Durham. Then Smith uncharacteristically missed two free throws, then threw away an ill-advised behind the back pass on a choppy breakaway.

Georgian's Ben Dance hit a three-pointer from long range with 1:29 left. And then Small responded by nailing a short jumper for a 99-96 Durham lead.

Ross sank two free throws to make it 99-98 with 48 seconds left, but that was where the Grizzlies' fast break sputtered.

Four of Christoff Pierre's six points for Durham came in the final minute with the game on the line.

In the end, the difference was "we got focused and made some big stops," said Rowley, crediting his team for delivering at crunch time.

As they look ahead and target the national basketball championships, which Durham is hosting (and has an automatic berth) in March, Rowley said he wants to see more consistency from his team.

"We're up and down right now," he said.

Dance led Georgian with 24 points. His teammates scoring in double figures were: Mitchell (18), Tevin Goodridge (17), Ross (15 points, and 14 rebounds) and Jesse Amaral (11).

Durham jumped out fast to a big lead early, before Georgian battled back to close the deficit to 56-51 Durham by halftime.

Next home action for the Lords is Tuesday, November 23 at home to Seneca. Tip-off at the CRWC is at 8 p.m.

A QUICK LOOK AT THE LORDS
Overall Record: 12-1
Conference Record: 5-1

Next Home Game: Tue. Nov 23 vs. Seneca (8 p.m.) - 30 -




FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Scott Dennis
Sports Information and Marketing Coordinator
Durham College and UOIT Athletics
905.721.2000 Ext. 2784
scott.dennis@dc-uoit.ca

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