Men’s Basketball Enjoy Halifax
Halifax, NS – The St. Clair College Men's Basketball team finished up 2023 at the Rod and Joan Shoveller Memorial Tournament hosted by Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia where they went 2-1 against Atlantic University Sport conference competition.
On Friday, Dec. 29th the Saints opened the event with a 90-86 come from behind win over Cape Breton University (Sydney, NS). Trailing by as much as twelve points in the second quarter St. Clair closed to within 49-48 by halftime before trading the lead with the Capers in the third quarter. The Saints overtook Cape Breton for good early in the final frame and hung on down the stretch. Galdo Tutu (Windsor, ON) led St. Clair with 23 points off the bench with Chad Vincent-Simon (Scarborough, ON) scoring 22 points to go with 5 rebounds. Andrew Loyuk (Windsor, ON/Kennedy) added 12 points with Jesiah Deerr (Whitby, ON) chipping in with 11 points for the Saints.
On Saturday St. Clair let a 17-point lead slip away in the second half losing 84-81 to host Dalhousie University. The Saints staked themselves to a 49-36 lead by intermission after making eight triples in the first half but could only convert once more from distance the rest of the way. Vincent-Simon led St. Clair with 18 points as Deerr followed closely behind netting 17 points. Darnelle Peddie (Pickering, ON/Pine Ridge) scored 14 points with Mazin Tiea (Windsor, ON/Kennedy) reaching double figures with 11 points but recorded a double-double snaring 11 rebounds to go with 4 assists and 3 blocked shots before reaching the foul limit.
New Year's Eve morning St. Clair hung on for an 81-79 win over Acadia University (Wolfville, NS) and once again distance shooting was a deciding factor as the Saints made 13 in the contest. Up 43-41 by the half St. Clair made five trifectas in the third quarter creating a 14-point cushion before Acadia had a game winning jumper carom off the mark. Vincent-Simon led the Saints again with 20 points adding 5 rebounds. Deerr and Loyuk each scored 17 points as the only other double figure scorers in the game for St. Clair.
The St. Clair Men finish their winter break exhibition schedule at the George Brown College Husky Invitational this weekend which is being hosted at their Casa Loma Campus gymnasium. The Saints will face Centennial College (Scarborough) on Fri, Jan. 5th followed by a meeting with Seneca College (North York) on Saturday.