2024 St. Clair College Men’s Basketball Take West Division
The St. Clair College Men’s Basketball team won their second consecutive West Division title for the first time since 1970 with two wins to close out regular season this past weekend. The Saints defeated Conestoga College (Kitchener) 93-75 Friday night and then topped Redeemer University (Ancaster) 76-70 Saturday afternoon. St. Clair will carry a 15-3 record into the post-season when they host an OCAA Crossover Playoff game on Saturday at 7:30pm.
A slow start Friday saw the Saints with only a 16-14 lead headed to the second quarter, but they hit six triples before halftime for a 54-26 advantage at the break. A 33-21 third quarter put the game out of reach as St. Clair was up by 32 points early in the fourth. The Saints shot over 44% from distance (15-of-34) in the contest and cleared the glass 14 more times than the home team.
Chad Vincent-Simon (Scarborough, ON) and Jesiah Deerr (Whitby, ON) each scored 13 points for St. Clair with William Buffong (Cambridge, ON) and Galdo Tutu (Windsor, ON/Kennedy) coming off the bench for 12 points apiece.
On Saturday St. Clair’s Mazin Tiea (Windsor, ON) scored 14 points to lead his team in a comeback win over Redeemer in the low scoring affair. Trailing 39-34 at halftime the Saints held the Royals to just eight points in the third quarter before securing the fourth frame 28-23 to complete the come from behind performance. St. Clair only made four triples in the game and needed to win the paint outscoring Redeemer 48-26 around the basket while enjoying a +14 gap in points off the bench.
St. Clair Women’s Basketball Finish Regular Season 13-3
The St. Clair College Women’s Basketball team finished their OCAA West Division regular season alone in 2nd Place with a 13-3 record after a pair of road wins this weekend. The Saints defeated Conestoga College (Kitchener) Friday night by a score of 75-52 and followed it up with a 77-61 victory over Redeemer University (Ancaster) Saturday afternoon. St. Clair will host an OCAA Crossover Playoff game versus the East Division’s 7th seed on Saturday at the SportsPlex which will tip at 5:00pm.
In the Conestoga win on Friday the Saints started well building a 21-11 lead after the first quarter and never looked back amassing a 31-point lead in the late stages of the fourth quarter. St. Clair scored 20 points off 19 Condor turnovers and won the rebound war 58-47 while converting 11 triples in the contest.
Shae-lyn Murphy (Windsor, ON/Holy Names) had her best output of the season for the Saints scoring a game high 31 points and filled the stat sheet with 8 rebounds, 4 assists and 5 steals. Kaitlyn Overeem (Brantford, ON) had an impressive night also registering a double-double that included 26 points and 14 rebounds to go with 6 assists and 2 steals for St. Clair.
On Saturday the Saints had one of their best shooting performances of the season making over 40% of their attempts which was enough to carry them to the win. A 17-14 advantage after the first quarter grew to 41-30 by halftime and St. Clair bumped that up to a 19-point gap down the stretch.
Murphy led four Saints in double figures with 19 points adding 7 rebounds followed by Ania Buklarewicz (Mississauga, ON) who notched 18 points as both players hit four triples. Ava Willoughby (Tecumseh, ON/St. Anne) had a season high 17 points as Kaitlyn Overeem chipped in with 13 points and a team high 8 assists.