Men’s Basketball Fall in OCAA Semi-Final

Oshawa, ON – The St. Clair College Men's Basketball team could not dig out of a deep hole Saturday night in Oshawa and eventually fell 83-75 to George Brown (Toronto) in the semi-final of the OCAA Provincial Championship which is being hosted by Durham College. 

St. Clair played back and forth in the early stages, but George Brown pulled ahead 23-16 after the first quarter.  The Saints were badly beaten in the second finding themselves down 53-33 by halftime.  The deficit grew to 23 points (64-41) four minutes into the third when St. Clair started to show signs of life starting with the defense that held the Huskies to just a single point the rest of the frame but still trailed 65-49 heading to the final quarter.  The Saints cut it to seven points twice in the last four minutes of play and then five points (80-75) with 37 seconds to go but could not make up the entire difference.

St. Clair had 15 more attempts from the floor in the game but only converted 39% from the field overall.  The teams made an identical eight shots from the beyond the 3-point arc, however George Brown was much better at the free throw line enjoying a +10 margin as St. Clair only cashed in on 7-of-18 (39%).  The Huskies also cleared the glass well outrebounding the Saints 45-35 in that category.    

Jesiah Deerr (Whitby, ON) was named Player of the Game for the Saints after recording a double-double with 21 points and 11 rebounds.  Mazin Tiea (Windsor, ON/Kennedy) had fine game for St. Clair with 14 points, 5 rebounds and 6 assists while teammate Andrew Loyuk (Windsor, ON/Kennedy) chipped in with 11 points to go with 4 assists.   

The Saints will now meet host Durham in the Bronze Medal game at 2:30pm on Sunday which will be followed by Gold Medal game at 5:00pm between George Brown and Humber.  In the earlier semi-final Durham's comeback also fell short as Humber squeaked past them by a score of 66-64.