(London, Ontario) – The Fanshawe Falcons Men's Basketball team concluded their 2021-22 campaign on Wednesday evening in an OCAA first round playoff matchup.
The Falcons Men's Basketball squad (5-5, 6th in West) travelled to Sarnia to face Lambton (7-3, 3rd in West) and narrowly fell by a score of 74-69.
Fanshawe jumped out to a 6-0 lead with layups from Faris Adamou (Mississauga, ON) and Aldin Malkic (London, ON). Strong defense from the Falcons held the Lions to only 20% from the field in the first quarter as the Birds held a 17-11 lead. Malkic had six second quarter points for Fanshawe, as he continued to be strong in the paint. But Lambton chipped away and cut Fanshawe's lead to two at half time, 31-29.
Triples from Fanshawe rookies Dante Richards (Oakville, ON) and Aidan Whalen (Cambridge, ON) had the Falcons shooting well in the third quarter, however they then ran into serious foul trouble and Lambton capitalized by shooting 13/17 from the free throw line in the frame. Going into the final quarter the score was 51-47 for the Lions. The teams traded points throughout the final ten minutes of play. Ali Traore (Toronto, ON) was strong on the glass for the Falcons, grabbing seven boards in the frame and adding six points. The Falcons left it all on the floor, however could not complete the upset and fell 74-69.
Traore finished with a team-high 20 points and 14 boards, and Malkic added 14 points. Fanshawe outrebounded the Lions 53-40 and had a huge points in the paint advantage 42-22, however the Lions recorded 24/36 from the charity stripe to Fanshawe's 13/19. During the regular season, the promising young Falcons were second in the league in both rebound margin and opponents field goal percentage.
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