The Durham Lords men’s basketball team has won their first Ontario Colleges Athletic Association (OCAA) championship since 1997. Led by long tenured head coach Desmond Rowley, the Lords have now set their sights on the Canadian Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) National Championship in Montreal.
Rowley, who has been with the program since 2008, reflected on the long journey that led to his first championship with the team.
“When I first got hired here in ’08, that was kind of the plan. It took a little longer than I thought but we’re here,” Rowley said. “It feels really good, and I’m really happy for these young men that worked hard, they deserve it.”
The Lords’ success this season has come largely from their commitment to the defensive side of the ball. Rowley emphasized that their ability to pressure opponents has been their defining characteristic.
“We’re at our best when we defend, and we did that over the weekend. We just get in people’s faces and make it tough for them,” he said. “That’s our calling card, defend, defend, defend, and we’re going to take the same game plan going into CCAA’s in Montreal.”
Point guard Miles Hall, a local player, spoke about the significance of bringing home the OCAA title as someone who grew up in Durham.
“I think it’s really big for us,” Hall said. “We’ve been working toward it all year. We’re in here almost every day putting in the work to try to get to that spot and just to be able to do it and bring it back to Durham.”
The road to the championship came with its challenges. Hall noted that sticking together as a team was a key factor in their success.
“The biggest challenge was honestly just sticking together, making sure that everybody’s on the same page,” he said. “For a lot of this season, we talked about the fact that we knew how good we were and what we could accomplish. It was all about us staying together and doing what we had to do rather than worrying about outside factors.”
With the national championship in their sights, the preparation for the upcoming tournament has begun. The Lords are studying their opponents’ film in order to fine tune their own game plan.
“We’ve been looking at tapes of our opponents. We know what they do, and we’re figuring out how we counter what they do,” Rowley said. “We’re just practicing, reviewing our offence so it gets a little more precise.”
Hall echoed the team’s commitment to preparation, noting that they wasted no time getting back to work after winning the OCAA title.
“We took Monday off, but we’re back in the gym, working on our stuff, trying to get used to these different basketballs we have to use,” Hall said. “The biggest thing for us is making sure that everybody’s bodies are well and everybody’s healthy for the tournament.”
A potential national title would help Durham climb the rankings in Canada’s top collegiate programs, and would provide a major boost to the recruiting for the program’s future.
“It’ll definitely help with recruiting because when this program’s winning and they see that continued success, people are going to want to come here,” Rowley said. “It helps with getting people into school, it helps with getting fans in the seats, it’s a win-win for the program.”
For Hall and his teammates, winning the CCAA title would be the ultimate validation of their hard work.
“For the team, it’ll be huge because we’ve been working towards this all year,” Hall said. “For me personally, it’ll be really big because that’s the only gold medal that I don’t have.”
As the Durham Lords prepare to take on Canada’s best in Montreal, one thing is clear, they are ready for the challenge and determined to bring home another championship.
The team returns to action on March 12, in a quarterfinal game against the University of New Brunswick Saint John Seawolves.