St. Clair College Basketball Recap January 16 2024
St. Clair College Women’s Basketball Outlast Fanshawe
The St. Clair College Women’s Basketball team moved their record to 8-2 after a 72-65 homecourt win over Fanshawe College (London) at the SportsPlex Tuesday night.
The Saints fell behind early in the contest as Fanshawe took a 15-2 lead midway through the first quarter. St. Clair roared back to tie it 18-18 by the end of the frame thanks to Kaitlyn Overeem (Brantford, ON) who dropped in three triples on her way to 21 first half points. The Saints had their best quarter in the second outscoring Fanshawe 22-14 and entered the intermission ahead 40-32. The teams played even in the third (15-15), but St. Clair pulled away early in the fourth by as much as 14 points before Fanshawe made it respectable in the final moments.
Fanshawe kept pace most of the game by creating 19 second chance points off 15 offensive rebounds and used their bench to outscore St. Clair 15-5 in that category. However, the Saints pressured the visitors into 20 turnovers and took advantage with 11 easy points while enjoying the additional opportunities to attack.
Overeem finished with a game high 32 points but had a monster game on the glass with 19 rebounds to go with 5 assists, 2 steals and a pair of blocked shots. Shae-lyn Murphy (Windsor, ON/Holy Names) dished out 5 helpers also and scored 15 points for the Saints with teammate Ania Buklarewicz (Mississauga, ON) chipping in with 11 points.
The St. Clair Women will enjoy another home contest on Saturday when they host West Division leading Mohawk College (Hamilton) which tips at 2:00pm in the SportsPlex.
St. Clair College Men’s Basketball Use Strong Second Half to Top Fanshawe
The St. Clair College Men’s Basketball team needed to dig out of a small hole Tuesday night at the SportsPlex but a strong second half allowed the West Division leading Saints to take a 100-82 decision from Fanshawe College (London).
Fanshawe looked comfortable in the early stages making seven triples which resulted in a 31-23 lead after the first quarter. St. Clair righted the ship in the second to play even with the Falcons (22-22) but still trailed 53-45 at halftime. After the break the Saints asserted themselves by going to rim on a night where they scored 56 points in the paint. St. Clair outscored Fanshawe 30-15 in the third quarter while shooting over 70% in the frame. More of the same followed in the fourth and that advantage ballooned to 25 points in the game’s final minute. The Saints outplayed Fanshawe in the second half to the tune of 57-27 margin.
St. Clair held Fanshawe to just two more makes from distance after the first quarter and the visitors finished with only 33% shooting overall from the floor. The Saints shot over 54% from the field in the contest and used good production from their bench outscoring the Falcons 28-19 in that regard.
St. Clair’s Chad Vincent-Simon (Scarborough, ON) scored a game high 35 points which included 10-for-10 at the charity stripe to go with 6 rebounds to lead his team to victory. Galdo Tutu (Windsor, ON) came off the bench to score 15 points and Jesiah Deerr (Whitby, ON) followed with 13 points for the Saints. Mazin Tiea (Windsor, ON/Kennedy) had 11 points and 7 rebounds while adding 3 blocks with Andrew Loyuk (Windsor, ON/Kennedy) also reaching double figures at 10 points.
The St. Clair Men host Mohawk College (Hamilton) on Saturday at 4:00pm which will be a battle for first place in the West Division.