Saints Basketball Finish 4th in OCAA Finals
St. Clair Women’s Basketball Finish 4th at Provincials
The St. Clair College Women’s Basketball team ended their season Sunday afternoon in Sarnia with a 67-52 loss in the Bronze Medal game at the OCAA Final Four Provincial Championship that was hosted by Lambton College.
The Saints had a brief 4-point lead in the early stages but then fell behind 17-12 by the end of the first quarter. Niagara then held St. Clair to just three field goals in the second quarter and increased their margin to 35-21 by halftime. The Saints started to claw their way back in the third and only trailed by eight points at one stage but entered the fourth down 46-37. Niagara put the contest out of reach down the stretch widening the gap to 18 points by the final minute.
A poor shooting performance by the Saints saw them register below 20% overall from the floor and were outscored 32-4 in the paint. St. Clair did force 23 Niagara turnovers which resulted in 19 points in response. But Niagara outrebounded the Saints 62-47 so staying within striking distance was an uphill battle for St. Clair even though they recorded 14 more shot attempts.
Ania Buklarewicz (Mississauga, ON) was named Player of the Game for St. Clair after scoring 14 points to go with 5 rebounds but no other Saints joined her in double figures. Kaitlyn Overeem (Brantford, ON) scored 9 points in her last post-secondary game for the Saints adding 7 rebounds, 4 assists, 6 steals along with a blocked shot. Janae Smith (Warren, MI) had another good effort which filled the stat sheet with 8 points, 9 rebounds and 2 assists. Rookies Lily Collins (Windsor, ON/Holy Names) and Chelsea Crep (Belle River, ON/St. Anne) each chipped in with 8 points apiece off the bench.
St. Clair Women finished with a 19-9 overall record this past season which included a 13-3 regular season conference mark that led to a fourth-place finish in the OCAA.
St. Clair College Men’s Basketball Miss Medal Opportunity
A rough first half proved too much for the St. Clair College Men’s Basketball team Sunday afternoon in Oshawa and ultimately lost 82-69 to host Durham College at the OCAA Provincial Championship in the Bronze Medal game.
The Saints allowed Durham to shoot over 63% from the field in the first quarter giving up 32 points which resulted in a 14-point deficit by the start of the second. Durham kept the pedal down and with a minute to go in the first half held a 26-point lead. The Saints trailed 53-31 by the halftime intermission and after some soul searching regrouped to cut the margin to eleven points midway through the third quarter. Durham bumped it to 65-49 by the fourth quarter but St. Clair managed to shrink the margin to 10 points with just over a minute to go in the contest. But that was as close as it got down the stretch as Durham claimed the OCAA Bronze Medal on their homecourt.
The Saints finished the game shooting 50% from the floor but an uncharacteristic 29 turnovers led to 27 Durham points. St. Clair could only muster 6 made triples in the game while Durham converted 10 and outscored the Saints 12-2 off the bench. To make things more difficult St. Clair could not gain any ground at the free throw line where they were outshined 16-5.
Andrew Loyuk (Windsor, ON/Kennedy) was St. Clair’s Player of the Game recipient after scoring a team high 24 points while dishing out 7 assists to go with 3 rebounds. A near double-double was achieved by Mazin Tiea (Windsor, ON/Kennedy) who netted 16 points and gathered 9 rebounds for the Saints. St. Clair’s Galdo Tutu (Windsor, ON/Kennedy) also reached double figures with 15 points and helped on the defensive end with 4 steals.
The St. Clair Men finished the season 24-8 record and won their second consecutive West Division title with a 15-3 mark which led to a fourth-place finish in the province.