Saints Basketball Weekend Update December 1 2024
St. Clair College Women’s Basketball Finish Semester with Victory at Sheridan
The St. Clair College Women’s Basketball team finished their first semester schedule with 74-64 victory over Sheridan College Sunday afternoon at their Davis Campus Gymnasium in Brampton. The Saints enter the holiday break with a 4-5 record which places them 6th in the OCAA’s tough West Division.
St. Clair had to come from behind in this contest and were down 16-13 after the first quarter as Sheridan worked their way to a 6-point lead (19-13) a minute into the second quarter. The teams were tied eight times and shared the lead on five occasions until the Saints went ahead for good with just over three minutes to play before halftime. St. Clair held a 34-29 advantage at the break and increased the difference to 56-45 entering the fourth quarter. The Saints had their biggest lead at 63-47 a few minutes into the final frame and Sheridan was only able to come within six points down the stretch.
St. Clair shot over 38% from the field in the game which was their 2nd highest percentage so far this season. The teams were statistically comparable in the game, but the Saints were able to score 21 points off 18 Sheridan turnovers which was enough to create the separation.
Once again Kaelyn Batten (LaSalle, ON/St. Thomas of Villanova) led the Saints finishing with 17 points and added 5 rebounds along with 3 steals. Ava Proskos (Pickering, ON) had her finest output of the regular season making four from beyond the arc for St. Clair which was part of her 15 points off the bench in addition to 3 assists and 3 steals. Fiona Lukassen (Windsor, ON/Holy Names) also reached double figures for the Saints with 10 points in reserve time go with 5 rebounds.
The Saints will wait until January 3-4 for exhibition games at Georgian College (Barrie) before resuming league play at home Jan. 11th against Sheridan College.
St. Clair College Men’s Basketball Escape Sheridan with Win
The St. Clair College Men’s Basketball team salvaged their GTA weekend road trip with a hard fought 81-78 win over Sheridan College at their David Campus Gymnasium in Brampton Sunday afternoon. After splitting the difficult Toronto swing the Saints (9-1) now sit 2nd in the OCAA’s West Division distancing themselves from 3rd Place Sheridan (7-3).
In the relatively low scoring affair St. Clair was able to move ahead 17-14 after the first quarter but Sheridan was able to keep the contest close and were in front by a possession at times during the second quarter. The Saints kept the pressure on using a 9-2 run that sent them into the halftime locker room up 37-32. St. Clair created some breathing room in the third quarter with a 10-point cushion with under four minutes to go in the frame. Sheridan battled back and were only down 60-55 entering the fourth which set the stage for a very competitive stretch run as the teams shared the lead several times. The Saints erased a 3-point deficit with a few minutes to go on a pair of triples on consecutive possessions. St. Clair made enough free throws in the final minute but still had to defend against a game-tying 3-point attempt by Sheridan was time expired which fell off the mark preventing overtime.
The Saints dominated the paint with 44 points around the basket shooting 40% overall in the contest while Sheridan made a living from the line converting 26-of-33 (78.8%) from the charity stripe. Sheridan also forced 21 St. Clair turnovers and generated 20 points in response while the Saints overcame a 31-15 shortfall in bench production. Neither team shot particularly well from distance and the teams only combined for 11 triples in the game.
All five St. Clair starters reached double digits led by Mazin Tiea (Windsor, ON/Kennedy) who had another monster outing scoring a game high 18 points to go with 17 rebounds and 3 blocked shots. Jacob Masters (Toronto, ON) had 14 points and 4 rebounds with Amari Frye (Ypsilanti, MI) equaling his scoring average at 13 points while adding 5 assists for the Saints. Kyle Brown-Fazekas (Windsor, ON/Kennedy) and Darnelle Peddie (Pickering, ON) chipped in with 11 and 10 points respectively to round out the St. Clair top scorers.
The Saints are not in action again until January 3-4 when they will be participating in the George Brown College exhibition tournament in Toronto. They resume their regular season schedule January 11-12 when they host Sheridan and Humber on consecutive days.