Men’s Basketball Drop Regular Season Finale in OT

Windsor, ON – The St. Clair College Men's Basketball team (7-2) concluded their West Division regular season schedule with a narrow 103-101 loss in overtime to Redeemer University College (Ancaster) Saturday night at the SportsPlex.  The result did not however have any bearing on the Saints final placing as they were firmly situated in 2^nd place.  St. Clair will host a home playoff game on Wednesday night against the West Division's 7^th place team.  

In one of the tightest games that can be played the teams were tied on 21 occasions and traded the lead 19 times.  St. Clair used the long ball in the first quarter with four makes to pull ahead 23-20 but Redeemer responded with their own distance shooting display (5 for 7; 71%) in the second frame to work back in front 47-46 heading to halftime.  An even third quarter saw Redeemer slightly extend their lead to 68-66 entering fourth.  The Saints shot 58% down the stretch to force overtime outscoring Redeemer 23-21 which set the table for an extra five minutes.  Redeemer jumped ahead in the extra period and even though the teams both made three field goals including a triple, the visitors were able to convert 7 of 10 from the charity stripe to salt the game away.

Foul shooting was a factor in the final result as Redeemer shot 85% (17 of 20) while St. Clair struggled with 62% (22 of 37) at the stripe.  The Saints also were shy from the 3-point line only making 8 of 32 (25%) while the visitors benefitted from 10 makes in 21 attempts (48%).  St. Clair did outrebound Redeemer 43-29 and held a 22-8 advantage in second chance points, but it wasn't enough to overcome a bad shooting night. 

David Gomez Jr. (Pontiac, Michigan) scored a game high 33 points on 13 of 20 shooting for St. Clair who once again topped his season high water mark.  The Saints produced a pair of double-double outputs from Jesiah Deerr (Whitby, ON) and Chad Vincent-Simon (Scarborough, ON). Vincent-Simon scored 19 points to go with 13 rebounds while Deerr had 18 points and 11 rebounds to go with 7 assists.  Darnelle Peddie (Pickering, ON) chipped in with 15 points and 5 rebounds for the Saints. 

Redeemer's Isaiah Brinkley (Rochester, NY) led his team in the win with 29 points including 13 of 14 at the free throw line.      

With a few games to be played in the West Division, the St. Clair Men are still awaiting confirmation of their playoff opponent which will tip at 8:00pm on Wednesday at the SportsPlex.