St. Clair Men’s Basketball Endure for Tight Win
The St. Clair College Men’s Basketball team pulled out a tight 88-84 win over Niagara College (Welland) on Saturday night at the SportsPlex to remain undefeated just a few games into their OCAA West Division regular season.
Even with some injured players sitting out the contest the Saints were able to start strong and held a 27-19 lead after the opening quarter. Some more hot shooting in the second and it looked like St. Clair was going to run away with the game after they entered the halftime locker room up 52-36. But Niagara didn’t go quietly and held the Saints to just 25% shooting in the third frame and erased a 20-pont deficit. Early in the final period Niagara moved ahead and led 78-72 with 6:40 to play. The game got very scrappy down the stretch and outside shooting went cold on both sides. St. Clair used a 12-point run to regain the lead and some strong free throw shooting in the final minutes allowed them to outlast the visitors.
The Saints didn’t separate much statistically but were a little more opportunistic scoring 21 points off 19 Niagara turnovers and were able to take advantage of their 33 attempts at the free throw line to make 79% overall including 89% in the fourth quarter. Niagara obliterated St. Clair in second chance points (36-9) and bench scoring (37-13) but only managed to shoot 35% from the field including 22% from distance so their additional 23 shot attempts didn’t turn the tide.
St. Clair’s Shakael Pryce (Pickering, ON) did much of his damage from the charity stripe making 14-of-15 to finish with a game-high 28 points to go with 4 rebounds, 7 assists and 4 steals. 4th year guard Jesiah Deerr (Whitby, ON) notched 24 points and 7 rebounds for the Saints with teammate Miles Hall (Toronto, ON) scoring 13 points off the bench. Terence Williams (Windsor, ON) chipped in with 12 points for St. Clair but registered a double-double grabbing 13 rebounds while Hanani Ujullu (Kitchener, ON) had 11 rebounds and 3 blocks to go with 7 points.
Niagara’s Delroy Grandison (Nassau, Bahamas), Reggie Williams (Toronto, ON) and Kenneth Reckley Jr. (Nassau, Bahamas) each scored 13 points in the loss.
St. Clair will host Canadore College (North Bay) on Nov. 13th in their next regular season game which tips at 2:00pm.
St. Clair Women’s Basketball Top Niagara
The St. Clair College Women’s Basketball team put together a well-earned 80-64 homecourt win over Niagara College (Welland) Saturday evening at the SportsPlex to pull their OCAA West Division record to 1-1.
The teams played even in the early stages, but the Saints were able to move ahead 21-18 after the opening frame as Alyssa Lucier (Wallaceburg, ON) established herself well scoring 13 in the first quarter. Lucier continued her hot hand in the second with 22 first half points and helped her team to a 41-32 advantage heading to the intermission. Niagara made their best push in the third and were within a bucket, but St. Clair maintained a 55-50 lead moving to the final period. The Saints saved their finest for the last extending their lead to as much as 19 points and cruised down the stretch.
Niagara was ahead in many statistical categories, but St. Clair forced 21 turnovers and scored 21 points in response while making five more shots (8-3) from 3-point distance.
Lucier finished with a game high 29 points but added 7 rebounds and 4 assists for the Saints. Grace Smrke (Sudbury, ON) made three triples on her way to 14 points to go with 8 rebounds for St. Clair and was set up on occasion by Shae-Lyn Murphy (Windsor, ON/Holy Names) who recorded 8 assists while scoring 13 points with 8 rebounds. Nyra Brown-Henderson (Windsor, ON/Kennedy) came off the bench to score 12 points and Lauren Overeem (Brantford, ON) fought her way to 10 rebounds for St. Clair.
Jamira Rousseau (Welland, ON) had 12 points for Niagara in a losing effort.
The Saints continue their OCAA West schedule with another home game against Mohawk College (Hamilton) on Sunday at 1:00pm.
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