WELLAND, Ont. - In a battle of two of the top three ranked teams in the country, the top ranked Sheridan Bruins men's basketball team (25-3, 10-0 OCAA) out-scored third ranked Niagara 51-41 in the second half to pick up a 105-96 victory.

"I thought it was a well played game and both teams competed hard," assistant coach Leroy Cassanova said. "I was happy with the way we prepared all week [and] I had a really good feeling coming into the game, just with the way we practiced the last couple nights. They're a really good team, but I can only worry about how we perform, so this was a good win."

It was a quick pace throughout the first two periods, as the Double-Blue led 27-20 after one but would trail by a point at the break, after Niagara drilled a jumper at the horn to lead 55-54.

The tide began to turn for Sheridan in the third quarter, who led 83-77 going into the final period where they managed to hold off all Niagara comeback attempts. 

Nick Campbell scored a team high 19 points, while Brian Owusu (18), Paul Williams (14 to go with 10 boards), Dylan Periana (14), Ostap Choliy (10) and Navdeep Deol (10) also hit double figures. 

The team now has a week to prepare for a home date with their rivals from Humber (February 4, 6pm) and Cassanova says it will be business as usual leading up to the game.

"We're just going to stay within our routine and do what we normally do," he said. "Humber is always a big game for us, but we don't do anything special to prepare. We just do what we do and work on the things that we excel at."

Noticeably absent from the bench was veteran head coach Jim Flack, who is out on an indefinite medical leave.