It was a play-call first year Head Coach
Troy Stevenson (Oakville/St. Ignatius of Loyola) probably did not expect he would have to make. Up 20 heading into the final quarter, the Warriors looked like they were going to cruise to their first win of the season over the York Lions. The Lions had other ideas, outscoring the Warriors 32-13 in the final quarter but it was the last second heroics of
Nedim Hodzic (Waterloo/Sir John A. Macdonald Secondary) who saved the game and secured the first OUA win for Stevenson.
"The guys played with lots of effort defensively tonight. Our shots weren't falling in the first half but we were able to go on a run in the 3rd because of this defensive effort," said Stevenson.
"York made a run at the start of the 4th and were making shots. We all tightened up a bit and before we knew it we were down 1 with 4 seconds left. Out of the timeout Nedim got to his spot made a great play and we were able to walk out with a win."
Jayden Grewal (Oakville/Kings Christian Collegiate) tossed in an aggressive and accurate inbound to Hodzic who took over from there, doing his best Kawhi Leonard impression, hitting the fade-away jumper to give his Warriors the 70-69 victory.
"I understand how hard it is to win in this league, and I am thankful I got to share it with this group of guys."
Hodzic finished with 19 points, going 7-for-17 from the field while knocking down five of eight free throw attempts. He also had a game high 11 boards in the win.
Grewal was as good with 19 of his own while
Simon Petrov (Waterloo/Sir John A. Macdonald Secondary) was also in double digits at 15 points.
The Warriors played two quarters of sound defence holding the Lions to under 10 points in both the second and third quarters while putting up an impressive 44 of their own. The Lions however took over in the fourth finding their 3-point range, taking a 69-68 lead with just 13 seconds left but Hodzic put the Warriors on his shoulders and took care of business.
Hodzic finished the weekend with 40 points, putting up 21 on Friday in Thunder Bay against Lakehead while Petrov led the way with 24 points in a 79-68 loss to Lakehead.
The 1-4 Warriors will now happily return to the PAC for three straight home games, starting with Laurentian this Friday at 8pm. The game can be seen live on OUA.tv.
