Knights have tougher armour

By Jeff Lloyd

lloy0059@algonquincollege.com

This was a battle of the heavyweights.

The Thunder men’s basketball team fell to the Knights in a high scoring affair, 116-108 at home on Nov. 21.

Algonquin, who went into the game undefeated at 6-0 and sitting at the top of the eastern conference, experienced their first loss of the regular season to a highly skilled Fleming College squad who sit in second place.

It seemed whatever the Thunder did, the Knights did it better, as they led most of the game. Algonquin had no quit in their game, but it just wasn’t enough overtake the lead.

Thunder point guard Charly Spurr had an impressive outing, helping his team with 38 points, including six three-pointers.

However, the Knights came away with the last laugh, and for them, it left them with a good feeling, knowing they beat one of the better teams.

This was evident in Fleming head coach Bill Crowdis’ smile after the game.

“We played pretty good. We kept the tempo up,” said Crowdis. “We kind of started off the season pretty slow. We are trying a few different philosophies.”

Thunder player Anthony Hinds cited poor defense as a big reason for the loss.

“We played alright, but we didn’t ‘d’ up, that was the biggest thing,” said Hinds. “If we actually played defense, I think we could beat that team anytime.”

Nonetheless, Hinds was also quick to point out the positives.

“We shot the ball well and scored over 100 points,” he said. “So you know what, if your offense is shooting the ball that well and if you step up your defense a bit better, teams like that are not going to beat you.”

Algonquin still holds onto first place but Fleming is now on their tail with a 6-2 record.

“Today we came in with a little bit of a different look,” said Crowdis. “It seemed to work because we wanted to push tempo and get the score into the hundreds, which is what happened today."