Aminu Bello's 24 points per game ranks second in the OCAA//Photo by Elia Koolsbergen

There are currently 10 players shooting 50 per cent or better in the Ontario Colleges’ Athletic Association (OCAA) basketball standings and two of those players play guard for Mohawk.

Manny Campbell and Aminu Bello rank fourth (55.2) and tenth (50.5) respectively in the OCAA standings for field goal percentage.

“I’m feeling confident,” said Bello who ranks second in the OCAA in scoring with 24 points per game. “I mean, we’ve always been confident from the beginning of the season but now we’re gelling as a team—because we know it’s getting to the end stretch where we need to be playing better.”

Not that the Mountaineers need the confidence boost, but a big win over the Redeemer Royals should have the Mountaineers feeling good about their defence and high-powered transition offence.

“We added some pressure at the beginning,” said Bello who scored a game-high 37 points in only three quarters of playing time. “So, we were able to get on them early and get easy buckets.”

In their matchup in the Fennell Gymnasium on Feb. 18, Mohawk started with a full-court press defence that held the Royals to nine first quarter points. The stifling style of defence created turnovers that allowed the home team to gain a 36-9 first quarter lead.

Mohawk’s coach, Brian Jonker, was able to utilize his bench in the fourth quarter and give a lot of players that don’t see much playing time. The Mountaineers were able to relax on defence in the second half as Mohawk coasted to a 97-58 victory.

The Mountaineers have one regular season game remaining against Humber before they will host a playoff game to determine if they will advance to the OCAA Championship tournament. The game against Humber does not mean anything in regards to the standings. Jonker said the team will spend their upcoming practices preparing for next weeks (Feb.25) game against an Eastern Division team that is yet to be determined.