All five starters hit double-digits as the George Brown Huskies men's basketball team defeated the Centennial Colts 94-76 at home to advance to the quarter-finals on Wednesday night.
NOTABLE STATS: The Huskies came out flying from the opening tip. They hit six of their first nine shots to jump out to a quick 14-0 lead. They used that start to go up 30-21 after the first quarter. In the second quarter, second-year forward Russel Kalyango Jr. posted six points, four rebounds and a block to help the Huskies go into the half leading 50-38.
The Colts came out with a ton of energy in the third quarter. Covaun Armstrong dropped 14 of his game-high 34 points in the frame to get Centennial within seven points of George Brown late in the third, but that was as close as they got. Fourth-year guard Robert Ocampo sealed the deal in the fourth quarter, going 4-of-5 from the field for 10 points.
Ocampo had arguably his best all-around performance dropping a team-high 25 points, 12 rebounds, four assists, three steals and a block in the victory. First-year guard Jacob Masters got the start and didn't look fazed in his first career playoff game. He went 4-of-9 from deep for 15 points while adding three rebounds and three assists. Fellow guard Teshayn Gayle chipped in with 13 points, seven rebounds, six assists and a steal.
Third-year forward Darnell Richards was just shy of a double-double with 12 points, eight rebounds and two steals, while fellow big Kalyango Jr., put up 10 points, nine rebounds, a steal and a block in the victory.
"The pressure was definitely there for the first round going from the regular season to playoffs," head coach Jason Dawkins explained. "I think overall, we got through the first game, and that's the most important thing. A win is a win, but we're going to continue to tweak and get better moving forward."
UP NEXT: The Huskies will host the Redeemer Royals in the quarter-finals on Saturday at Casa Loma Athletic Centre. The last time these two faced off in the playoffs was in 2020 when George Brown beat Redeemer 79-70 in the semifinals. Tip off is scheduled for 2:00 pm.
Dawkins knows the challenges that come with facing Redeemer.
"I think we need to stay together and play our game. It's going to be a physical match game and we need to match their intensity, compete with them and compete together," he said. "They're going to try to do some things to pull us a part, we need to make sure to stay the course, play together and good things happen when we do that."
