Men’s Basketball Miss Medal Opportunity

Oshawa, ON – A rough first half proved too much for the St. Clair College Men's Basketball team Sunday afternoon in Oshawa and ultimately lost 82-69 to host Durham College at the OCAA Provincial Championship in the Bronze Medal game. 

The Saints allowed Durham to shoot over 63% from the field in the first quarter giving up 32 points which resulted in a 14-point deficit by the start of the second.  Durham kept the pedal down and with a minute to go in the first half held a 26-point lead.  The Saints trailed 53-31 by the halftime intermission and after some soul searching regrouped to cut the margin to eleven points midway through the third quarter.  Durham bumped it to 65-49 by the fourth quarter but St. Clair managed to shrink the margin to 10 points with just over a minute to go in the contest.  But that was as close as it got down the stretch as Durham claimed the OCAA Bronze Medal on their homecourt. 

The Saints finished the game shooting 50% from the floor but an uncharacteristic 29 turnovers led to 27 Durham points.  St. Clair could only muster 6 made triples in the game while Durham converted 10 and outscored the Saints 12-2 off the bench.  To make things more difficult St. Clair could not gain any ground at the free throw line where they were outshined 16-5.

Andrew Loyuk (Windsor, ON/Kennedy) was St. Clair's Player of the Game recipient after scoring a team high 24 points while dishing out 7 assists to go with 3 rebounds.  A near double-double was achieved by Mazin Tiea (Windsor, ON/Kennedy) who netted 16 points and gathered 9 rebounds for the Saints.  St. Clair's Galdo Tutu (Windsor, ON/Kennedy) also reached double figures with 15 points and helped on the defensive end with 4 steals. 

The St. Clair Men finished the season with a 24-8 record and won their second consecutive West Division title after a 15-3 mark which led to a fourth-place finish in the province.