St. Clair Men’s Basketball in Etobicoke for Provincial Championship

St. Clair Men’s Basketball in Etobicoke for Provincial Championship

The St. Clair College Men’s Basketball team (18-2) is riding an 8-game win streak and have their sights on the top prize at the OCAA Championship which begins with a semi-final game against Durham College (Oshawa) Saturday at 6:00pm. Host Humber Polytechnic meets Georgian College (Barrie) in the earlier semi-final game. The winner of each semi-final game advances to the Gold Medal matchup on Sunday afternoon while the loser of each will play for the Bronze Medal.

The Saints have been one of the top four teams in the province for a fourth straight season and finished second in the West Division this year while currently being ranked 2nd in the province and 4th nationally. St. Clair advanced to the provincial semi-final with a 120-63 win over Fleming in the crossover game and a 103-88 victory against Lambton this past weekend.

The Lords (19-1) were the East Division Champions while sitting 3rd in the OCAA rankings and hold the 8th spot in the CCAA poll with the 4th best offense in the league (86.4ppg) but their defense stood out giving up under 68 points per game which was 2nd in the OCAA. Durham beat Fanshawe 92-70 in the crossover game before topping Mohawk 98-87 last weekend to advance to their second consecutive final four.

Durham had several players recognized by the OCAA including 6’6” forward Mark Stoop (Oshawa, ON) who was named an East Division First Team All-Star, East Division Player of the Year and a CCAA All-Canadian after scoring 11.0ppg to go with 8.5 rebounds per contest (OCAA 6th). 6’3” guard Jasean Elliott (Toronto, ON) was also a First Team All-Star and the Defensive Player of the Year in the East Division for the Lords while former Saint 6’0” guard Miles Hall (Toronto, ON) and 6’5” forward Rashane Smith (Brampton, ON) were part of the East Division Second Team. Smith and 6’3” guard Javade Marne (Etobicoke, ON) made the East Division All-Rookie Team while 6’1” guard Rudy Fakih (Toronto, ON) was the East Division Sixth Man of the Year.

St. Clair tied their 3rd best regular season win total (16) in program history and achieved their 5th highest winning percentage (.889) since the 1980-81 season as the OCAA’s top scoring team while averaging nearly 97 points per game. The Saints also held their opponents to 77.3 points per contest which stood 9th in the league.

In their only meeting this year the Saints beat Durham 82-77 on Oct. 6th at the SportsPlex in a preseason exhibition game. St. Clair will also be looking to avenge their 82-69 loss to Durham in Oshawa last March at the Provincial Championship which deprived the Saints of an OCAA Bronze Medal. This will also be one of the final opportunities this sport season for points in the St. Clair/Durham Sledgehammer Series.

4th year forward Mazin Tiea (Windsor, ON/Kennedy) finished with a 16.1ppg average for the Saints which is 10th in the OCAA but was 2nd in field goal percentage (62%), 5th in rebounding (8.7 per game) and led the league in blocked shots with 46 (2.9 per game) earning him West Division Defensive Player of the Year and West Division First-Team All-Star honours. Tiea also became the 6th CCAA All-Canadian in St. Clair Men’s Basketball history. 4th year transfer guard Jacob Masters (Toronto, ON) was also a West Division First Team All-Star after finishing as the 8th leading scorer in the province topping the Saints with a 17.1ppg average while making the most triples in the league (65) with the 2nd best conversion rate at nearly 42% from deep. St. Clair’s 3rd year transfer guard Kyle Brown-Fazekas (Windsor, ON/Kennedy) was the final West Division First Team All-Star after scoring 13.1ppg while adding 4.9 rebounds per contest. Fellow 3rd year transfer swing player Amari Frye (Ypsilanti, MI) led the province in assists at 5.7 per game and scores 11.6ppg for the Saints adding 4.2 rebounds a game. 5th year swing player Darnelle Peddie (Pickering, ON) rounds out St. Clair’s double-digit scorers with an even 10.0 per game to go with 3.3 assists and 4.4 rebounds per game.

The Gold and Silver medal winners from the Provincial Championship will qualify for the CCAA National Championship March 12-15 which is being hosted by Vanier College in the Montreal borough of Ville St-Laurent, QC.