Saints Fall in Men’s Basketball National Semi-Final Heartbreaker

The St. Clair College Men’s Basketball team will have to regroup at the Canadian Collegiate Athletic Association National Championship after losing on a buzzer beater to Dawson College (Montreal, QC) by a score of 83-81 at the University of Calgary Jack Simpson Gymnasium Friday night. The loss dashes hope for their first CCAA gold medal as St. Clair now faces Capilano University (North Vancouver, BC) in a bronze semi-final at 3:00pm (MST) on Saturday.

In a very competitive and physical contest Dawson was able to shut down the St. Clair transition game which set the tone throughout. The teams played tight in the early minutes until Dawson moved ahead with some strong outside shooting that they managed to maintain for most of the contest. The Saints dug themselves out for only a 20-19 deficit heading to the second quarter. Dawson made four triples in opening frame while St. Clair could not find the range. Dawson moved ahead further before halftime until the Saints potted their first make from distance but only closed to a 40-37 deficit by the intermission.

In what turned out to be the decisive third Dawson pulled ahead to their largest lead of the game (54-45) about five minutes into the quarter. Dawson closed the third well outscoring St. Clair 27-23 overall in the period before creating a 9-point cushion (69-60) early int the fourth. St. Clair did not fold and used some great defensive plays and some timely makes to pull even erasing the difference at 69-69 with 6:29 remaining in the game.

The teams went scoreless for almost the next two minutes as more desperate play ensued on either side of the floor before the Saints moved in front briefly at 72-69 on a triple. Dawson responded as the teams traded the lead several times down the stretch setting the stage for the frantic final seconds. Dawson split a pair of free throws with 10.8 seconds remaining to make it 81-79 and after a dead ball out of bounds the Saints took timeout to advance the ball into the frontcourt. St. Clair elected to drive to the basket to force overtime and a Shakael Pryce (Pickering, ON) layup tied the game at 81-81 with 1.1 left to play. Dawson advanced the ball a frontcourt inbounds and struggled to find an open player until they threw it towards the basket. Unfortunately for the Saints the second tip in attempt banked off the glass for the buzzer beating basket.

Chad Vincent-Simon (Scarborough, ON) found his shooting touch in the second half making five triples on his way to a game high 29 points to go with 7 rebounds. Jalen Harmon (Ypsilanti, MI) was named St. Clair’s Player of the Game who was all over the floor defensively taking several charges but contributed at key moments offensively for 21 points including 10-of-11 at the stripe while adding 5 rebounds. Pryce was limited in minutes due to foul trouble but still scored 15 points and added 5 rebounds along with 4 assists.

Dawson finished with game shooting 50% from the field while the Saints only converted an uncharacteristic 37% from the field which included a dismal 19% from beyond the arc. Dawson needed only 21 attempts from 3-point land to make 10 long balls nearly matching their overall shooting at 47.6%. St. Clair also could not get enough production from their usually strong depth and were outscored 22-7 in points off the bench.

Dawson’s Isaiah Graham-Roache was responsible for the game’s final bucket and was awarded the Player of the Game for his team finishing with 17 points on a night when he did not miss a field goal (8-for-8) or a free throw (1-for-1). Christian Payawal led Dawson with 19 points including three makes from distance.

CCAA Men’s Basketball National Championship	1	2	3	4		Total
Dawson College Blues	20	20	27	16		83
St. Clair College Saints	19	18	23	21		81