Evenly split

Men’s basketball first split review

By Davie Wong, Sports Editor

It’s been a pretty balanced start for the Douglas College Royals men’s basketball team. The men are off to a 3–3 start to the season, and have put in some good performances to close out the year.

It was a bumpy start for the team, no one can argue that. A tough loss in their home opener against the Capilano Blues left a sour taste in the mouth of the players. They tried their best to bounce back against the VIU Mariners, but fell short of overtaking them. It wasn’t until the next game that the men tasted victory. A 72–68 win over the Camosun Chargers gave the team their first win of the season and gave them a much needed shot in the arm.

The adrenaline from the game against the Chargers carried over to their next game against the Columbia Bible College (CBC) Bearcats. It was a scrappy game, but the Royals came out on top to push themselves to .500. They faced off against yet another top talent PACWEST rival in the Langara Falcons the week after. The Falcons were flying too high for the Royals to catch, and they were handed a tough 88–60 loss.

For their last game of the semester, the team faced off against the Quest Kermodes, who were about on par with the Royals. In their most convincing game yet, they thrashed the Kermodes in a 79–64 win. The win brought them back to the elusive .500, and brought their record to 3–3.

Highlighting the Royals line-up has to be their captains, Grant Campbell and Malcolm Mensah. Let’s start with Campbell. Grant has been phenomenal for the Royals. His actual numbers may be a tad inflated because he’s only played five out of the six games for the Royals (he missed a game due to an undisclosed reason), but his averages all match out. Campbell averages 20 points per game (5th best in PACWEST), and 3 blocks (10th best in the PACWEST), 6.3 rebounds a game (11th best in PACWEST), and averages 32.8 minutes a game for the Royals (4th highest in the PACWEST). A scoring threat from anywhere on the court, Grant Campbell is one player that the team has really relied on to be a workhorse.

The other player the team has relied on has been Malcolm Mensah. Mensah has been a staple in the Royals’ defensive line. He is averaging 7.2 rebounds a game (5th best in PACWEST), and has 6 blocks on the year (2nd best in PACWEST). Mensah is also a key offensive piece for the Royals, who get 14.8 points (10th best in PACWEST) out of their big man.

A player that has been a somewhat surprise for the team this year is Lambert Pajayon. The rookie has managed to put up some pretty big points for the Royals—14.8 points a game type points. That’s as good as Malcolm, with about five minutes less game time on average.

Overall, the team has some fantastic pieces, and it’s no surprise that they’ve gotten to where they have to end the semester. Their current record of 3–3 is a huge improvement on last year’s 1–5. If the team continues improving, it’s a wonder where they will be when the playoffs come around.