Men’s Basketball Comeback Bid Fails at Niagara

Welland, ON – The St. Clair College Men's Basketball team could not complete the comeback and lost 103-90 to Niagara College in Welland Sunday afternoon.  After trailing by 20 points in the second half the Saints regained a brief lead but ultimately fell short down the stretch to drop their record to 4-9 in the OCAA's West Division.  

After spotting Niagara a 28-18 lead after the first quarter St. Clair dug a deeper hole in the second and trailed 58-40 at the half.  Early in the third quarter Niagara opened up their largest lead with a 20-point cushion.  However, the Saints turned it around in a big way with a 32-point outburst in the frame as Niagara clung to a slim 73-72 lead entering the fourth.  The Saints overtook Niagara early in the fourth as the teams traded leads a few times.  But Niagara was good enough down the stretch and a 10-point run late put St. Clair on the wrong side of the ledger.  

The Saints were actually ahead in most statistical categories for the game and outshot Niagara from the field and from deep.  The only gaps in Niagara's favour were rebounding where the Saints were -14 and points in the paint that allowed the home team 62 points from in close.

David Gomez Jr. (Pontiac, MI) led St. Clair again in scoring with 32 points to go with 5 assists.  Daelyn Davis (Romulus, MI) tallied 15 points with Juwan Lynch (Windsor, ON/Kennedy Collegiate) and Jalen Sykes (Redford, MI) chipping in with 11 and 10 points respectively for the Saints.

Niagara's Van Hutchison (Nassau, Bahamas) equaled the game high with 32 points and added 16 rebounds in the win.

The St. Clair Men's Basketball team come home for an 8:00pm tip with Lambton College (Sarnia) on Wednesday at the SportsPlex.

Saints Statistics

David Gomez Jr. 32 PTS, 1 REB, 5 AST
Daelyn Davis 15 PTS, 1 REB, 1 STL
Juwan Lynch 11 PTS, 7 REB, 4 AST, 3 STL
Jalen Sykes 10 PTS, 9 REB, 1 AST, 1 BLK