The St. Lawrence Vikings men's basketball team played the Sting from Seneca College on Saturday, January 12 at the SLC gym in the Vikings first Ontario College Athletics Association (OCAA) game for 2013. St. Lawrence had previously won their last two games of 2012 against Cambrian and Loyalist College. Seneca won the previous match-up at the start of the season 64-79.

Making his first appearance of the season, third year player Jermaine Edwards re-joined the squad, adding speed and scoring to the impressive St. Lawrence roster.

Currently first the OCAA East Division, the 9-1 Sting were going to be a big challenge for the 6-3 Vikings who sit tied for fifth in the crowded in same division. The first half featured fast and aggressive basketball, with St. Lawrence taking advantage of the 11 turnovers by Seneca. St. Lawrence would fall behind by nine points, but regained some momentum with Terence Thomas hitting two clutch three-pointers to bring the Vikings within three.

In the second, St. Lawrence shut down the top players from Seneca, forcing them to take difficult shots, while Jahmal Edwards dominated the paint collecting rebounds, recording a team-high 16 rebounds. The Vikings would force the Sting's top player Felix Adjei to go 4-of-22 (18 percent) in field goals, a player that usually averages 50 percent. With only four minutes remaining in the game, St. Lawrence found themselves up 61-59 but would make two un-timely errors and hand the lead back to Seneca.

With only 15 seconds left in the game, the Vikings were only down 66-68 but would again turn the ball over and were forced to foul to regain possession. Now down by three, with only 10 seconds remaining, the Vikings ran the court and took a tough three-point shot, only to have the ball bounce off the rim and out. Seneca leave St. Lawrence barely recording the 71-68 win.

"The boys played their hearts out today, but we made several mental errors that proved to cost us a win against the top team in our division," said head coach Barry Smith. "We are on the cusp on being a great team in the OCAA, but we have to win big games like these against Seneca, to put ourselves in a good spot for playoffs." Regarding individual performances, Barry mentioned that Jon Visentin played a great game, shutting down the top players from Seneca. As well Jermaine Edwards had a terrific first game back with the team, playing very physically. Terence Thomas led the team in scoring, recording 21 points.

You can catch the next home game on Sunday, January 13 at 3 p.m., when the Vikings host the Georgian College Grizzlies.

Source: St. Lawrence College