BY KEVIN SACDALAN
The men and women’s basketball teams saw their first action this season last Saturday at the Sheridan Bruins’ homecoming.
Hitting the floor first were the Lady Bruins, led by head coach Willie Delas. They were taking on the alumni, in what ended up being a dramatic game. Coming into this meeting, the Lady Bruins were treating this as if it were a regular season game.
“It was a regular game for us cause we have a lot of kinks to get out, we have a lot of stuff to work on, and it’s a young inexperienced team,” coach Delas said.
The Lady Bruins held the lead through three quarters, but a 14-2 run by the alumni to start the fourth saw that margin disappear. In the final possession of the game, the alumni found themselves up by two points, but a foul sent the Lady Bruins to the free throw line with the opportunity to put the game into overtime. They made the first shot, but the second shot was left short, as the alumni were able to hold on for the 59-58 comeback victory.
“It was all rookie mistakes,” Delas said. “That’s something we have to polish up on. We’re going to have to work on it, and get it better, and learn how to close out games, and secure the win.”
Although they started their season off with a loss, the Lady Bruins still have some non-conference pre-season games ahead of them before their official regular season starts on Oct. 21.
“We got to work strictly on a lot of rebounding, pressure defence, and at the same time don’t miss a lot of layups,” Delas added.
Following the women’s action, the men would hit the hardwood to take on the men’s alumni team. While the Lady Bruins treated their game as a regular season game, the men’s team had a different mentality going into their alumni game as head coach Jim Flack saw this meeting as an opportunity for all his players to get in on the action and get some serious minutes.
In the early minutes of this game, the Bruins took a commanding lead over the alumni and they never looked back. They had a comfortable 22-point lead after the first quarter and expanded on that lead, as they would dominate the alumni, 115-45.
“I think the team is experienced and doesn’t like losing,” Flack said.
Throughout the game, Flack threw out different types of zone defences at the alumni. For the majority of the game, he had his team in a defence that he likes to call the “spider matchup.”
“On any one possession, it can morph into something different,” Flack said. “Since we switched to FIBA (International Basketball Federation) rules, I’ve put more zone in because we are down to a 24 second clock.”
The Bruins still have a few more non-conference games left on their schedule for the next two weeks, which include two tournaments, the Dawson Tournament in Montreal and the Wayne Allison Fall Showdown at the Davis campus. In those pre-season games, Flack wants nothing but, “complete and unbreakable focus.”
“I don’t enter into seasons with expectations,” Flack said. “I just want them to be the best they can be by the end of the year, and we push them to do just that. Sometimes you win titles, sometimes you don’t.”
The Bruins’ first OCAA game of the season will be against Niagara Oct. 21 at home.