BY KEVIN SACDALAN
The Sheridan men’s basketball team protected home court last weekend, going undefeated en route to winning the Wayne Allison Fall Showdown.
Prior to the opening tip-off, Sheridan officially changed the name of the tournament from the “Bruins Bash” to the “Wayne Allison Fall Showdown.” Jim Flack, now head coach of the men’s basketball team, was an assistant coach to Wayne Allison during his tenure with the Bruins.
“Wayne’s contributions to Sheridan basketball, and to the OCAA (Ontario Colleges Athletic Association) and CCAA (Canadian Collegiate Athletic Association) are incredible,” Flack said. “It’s the very least we could do.”
The tournament took place at the Davis Campus, where the Bruins played four games in two days. Dylan Periana, one of the team’s captains, knows these tournaments can take a toll on the body.
“I just make sure I get enough sleep and I drink a lot of water,” Periana said about playing in tournaments.
Periana and the Bruins went a perfect 4-0 in the two-day tournament. They cruised through the first day, defeating the Canadore Panthers by 23 points and La Cite Coyotes by 21 points. It was more of the same on the second day, opening with a victory over the Georgian Grizzlies, booking their ticket to the finals where they had a rematch with the Panthers.
“Our coach mentioned that there’s been occasions where his team has lost after beating a team badly in the same tournament, so we took his advice and made sure we were ready to play,” Periana said on the final matchup with the Panthers.
Similar to their first meeting, the Bruins took the lead early and ran away with it. At halftime, they held a 20-point lead and continued to build on that lead in the second half, extending the margin to 25 points by the final buzzer with the final score of 83-58.
Brian Owusu, a third-year Bruin, takes pride in wearing the double blue and wanted to do his best to protect their home floor.
“It’s always important to defend home court and we take pride in winning our tournament every year,” Owusu said.
Periana and Ostap Choily were named tournament all-stars and Paul Williams was named Most Valuable Player.
“I was actually shocked,” Williams said after receiving the MVP award. “Thought there was more people that deserved it, but I’m glad the work I put in was valued.”
This season is Williams’ fourth and last as a member of the Bruins.
“Paul is tremendously important to our program,” Flack said. “He is a great player and presence in the key, but more importantly, he is a great leader and has the personality that attracts people to his circle. He is a captain and you can’t duplicate his type of unselfishness.”
With this tournament sweep, the Bruins move to an 8-2 record.
“I’m seeing out identity begin to form,” Flack said about his team’s play so far. “We are getting better and better at our pressure systems defensively. Guelph is the only team to make it to 80 on us, and we scored 94 on that day. So our defence is getting better every day.”
The Bruins will be back in action on Oct. 21 at home against the Niagara Knights in their first OCAA game of the season.