By RENALDODORSETT

Tribune Sports Reporter

rdorsett@tribunemedia.net

THE Niagara College Knights, with several Bahamian players on their roster, were back on the floor for the preseason as they prepare to contend in the Ontario Colleges Athletic Association.

Van Hutchinson Jr, Kevin Cooper, Stephone Augustine, Livingstone Bromwell and the Knights have gone 3-1 thus far, including the gold medal at the St Lawrence Invitational Tournament. They began with a 68-63 loss to the Centennial Colts.

Hutchinson finished with 11 points and 11 rebounds, Cooper added 10 points and 10 rebounds, while Augustine made his debut with four points and eight rebounds.

Game one of the SLC Invitational was a 78-67 win over the Algonquin Thunder. Hutchinson had 23 points, seven rebounds and four assists, Cooper scored 15 and Augustine finished with 12 points and 10 rebounds.

In game two, the Knights won 99-78 over the Vanier Cheetahs. Hutchinson went off for 28 points, eight rebounds and four assists, Cooper had eight points and nine rebounds and Bromwell scored 17 with seven rebounds.

In the gold medal game, Niagara won 80-74 over St Lawrence. Hutchinson again stuffed the stat sheet with 15 points, seven rebounds, four assists and three blocks while Cooper had five points and three rebounds.

Hutchinson, who played much of last season recovering from an ankle injury, will be looking to lead the Knights back to the playoffs in his third season.

Despite the injury setback, the 6'5" guard averaged 16.9 points, 10.9 rebounds and 4.6 assists per game and led the Knights in several statistical categories. "If I was able to put those numbers up injured, I'm excited for what I can do now because this is by far the best I've felt since I stepped foot in Canada so the expectations are very high this year," he said. "From what I've seen at workouts and tryouts we have a group of guys coming in hungry and as a team we look forward to making some noise."

Last season, they concluded the OCAA Championship with an 89-83 win over the Lambton Lions in the tournament's consolation final and did not qualify for the OCAA Championships.

In 2016, the Knights finished fourth in the OCAA tournament and did not advance to the National Championship.

They finished the three-day event in fourth place after losing in the bronze-medal game and were forced to play without Hutchinson for the duration of the tournament after losing him to an ankle injury. That season, he led the team in scoring at 14.6 points, 10 rebounds and 4.5 assists per game.

The team finished in second place in the OCAA West and were also ranked No. 4 in the OCAA national rankings for the majority of the second half of the season.

"Every year has been a growing process," Hutchinson said. "Last year was different because I had that injury at the end of year one and I dealt with that all year. I'm healthy now so I'm really looking forward to big things from myself and from my team.

The Knights are a combined 38-16 over the last three seasons.

Hutchinson and Cooper are a part of a strong Bahamian connection at Niagara that last season also included Jordan Wilson and Jarrad Richardson. This year the team welcomed incoming players and fellow Noble Preparatory Alumni, Bromwell and Augustine.

"We head to Canada as a brotherhood and that's the way we keep it," Hutchinson said. "We basically treat it like fraternity brothers. We're family, so with us together we're even more excited for the season as a unit. I'm ready, everyone's ready and we're just excited to get it going right now."

In July, Phil Mosley was announced as the new head coach of the Niagara Knights men's basketball programme.

Mosley is the 12th head coach in Knights men's basketball history. Most recently he spent 2017-18 as the first chair assistant under interim head coach Mike Hurley.

"The programme itself, every year I've had a different head coach, different system, so it was a constant learning process. We also had a new athletic director so the whole department had changes."

The Knights begin the season October 19 against the Redeemer Royals.