TYLER VANESSEN EARNS MEN’S BASKETBALL FIRST TEAM ALL-STAR

Georgian Grizzlies men's basketball player Tyler Vanessen was recognized for his tremendous season at the year-end awards banquet as part of the 2020 OCAA Men's Basketball Championship hosted by Lambton College in Sarnia, ON.

Vanessen was named an OCAA east division first-team all-star.

The native of Whitby had another strong season for Georgian leading the team in scoring, averaging 18.4 points-per-game in 18 games played this season.

He also led the Grizzlies in minutes played (636), field goal percentage (47.7%) and rebounds (164) while also being second on the team in assists (54), steals (30) and blocks (11).

Vanessen was 14^th overall in the OCAA in points-per-game, second in minutes per-game (35.3) and was 10^th in the league averaging 9.1 rebounds per-game.

In his five-year collegiate career with the Grizzlies (2014-15, 2016-2020), Vanessen is one of only two men's basketball players in school history to score over 1,000 career points.

Vanessen will finish his career at Georgian having played in 78 regular season contests scoring a total of 1,138 points. The only player ahead of him on Georgian's all-time scoring list is JP Amaral (2005-10) who had 1,526 in 88 career games.

While the year-end awards are being handed out, Georgian's season is very much not over.

The Grizzlies have qualified for the 2020 OCAA Men's Basketball Championships and will face the Humber Hawks in the quarter-finals on Friday, Mar. 6 at 1 p.m. at the Lambton College Athletics & Fitness Complex.

This will be the second straight season the Grizzlies face the Hawks in the quarter-final round of the provincial championship, with Humber getting the edge in last year's contest.

You can find more information about the 2020 OCAA Men's Basketball Championship at the event website. Fans can watch the quarter-final game live by visiting GeorgianGrizzlies.ca/WatchLive.