Men’s Basketball Suffer First Loss of Season

Etobicoke, ON – In a battle of OCAA West Division unbeaten teams the St. Clair College Men's Basketball team suffered their first loss of the season Saturday evening dropping a narrow 89-88 decision to Humber Polytechnic in Etobicoke.  The Saints (8-1) were ranked #1 in the province and Canada while Humber (9-0) entered at #2 in Ontario and #4 in the nation.

St. Clair was hot early and took a 9-0 lead out of the gate before holding their largest lead of the game at 23-9 with four minutes to go in in the first quarter.  The Saints were up 29-19 entering the second quarter but Humber erased the deficit quickly forcing a 31-31 tie less than three minutes later.  The teams played back and forth before halftime and St. Clair was up 46-45 at the break.  The home team seized the momentum during the third quarter for a 68-66 lead heading to the final frame and held their largest lead at 88-79 with just over two minutes left in the game.  The Saints made a bid to overtake or force overtime with a 9-1 run, but their final desperation shot was wide. 

In a game that saw eight ties and seven lead changes the teams did not separate statistically in many areas.  Humber won the war on the glass with a 39-34 advantage and St. Clair was outscored 26-17 in points off the bench.  The Saints did score 19 points off 20 Humber turnovers to keep the game close. 

St. Clair had their usual balanced scoring approach with five players reaching double figures.  Mazin Tiea (Windsor, ON/Kennedy) scored 18 points but was a force defensively with 8 rebounds and 5 blocked shots for the Saints.  St. Clair's Darnelle Peddie (Pickering, ON) also netted 18 points but exited with 2.5 minutes left after reaching the foul limit but not before recording 4 rebounds, 3 assists and 3 steals.  Amari Frye (Ypsilanti, MI) dropped in 13 points adding 6 rebounds for the Saints while teammates Jacob Masters (Toronto, ON) and Kyle Brown-Fazekas (Windsor, ON/Kennedy) each chipped in with 11 points. 

St. Clair completes their GTA swing trip at Sheridan College (Brampton) on Sunday which tips at 3pm.