Mississauga, ON – The St. Clair College Men’s Basketball team responded well with an 85-78 victory over the University of Toronto in Mississauga Sunday afternoon to earn a weekend GTA split.  The Saints are just below the .500 mark before the holiday break holding a 4-5 record in the OCAA’s West Division.  

St. Clair had a slim 19-17 lead after the opening quarter but relinquished it and fell behind by 7 points (32-25) in the second.  An 11-2 run before the half allowed the Saints to retain at 36-34 advantage into the intermission.  The Saints put together their best quarter in the third outscoring Toronto 26-20 and at one point held a 12-point lead.  The home side didn’t give in and worked their way back to near even (72-71) in the fourth.  However, St. Clair didn’t give them any more life and secured the game down the stretch. The Saints held Toronto to just 32% shooting from the floor and owned the paint outscoring them 48-22 around the basket.

Saints guard David Gomez Jr. (Pontiac, MI) scored a game high 25 points dishing out 5 assists to go with 6 rebounds and 5 steals.  Jalen Sykes (Redford, MI) scored 16 points adding 5 rebounds with teammate Nik Veigli (Cottam, ON/Essex District) hitting 5 triples for 15 points.  Juwan Lynch (Windsor, ON/Kennedy Collegiate) chipped in with 10 points and 6 assists while Ian Smart (Chatham, ON) secured 11 rebounds and scored 8 points for the Saints.  

The St. Clair Men’s Basketball team visit Macomb CC (Warren, MI) Dec. 19th and will participate in the George Brown Tournament Jan. 4-5 in some semester break exhibition competition.  The Saints resume their OCAA regular season schedule at home Jan. 12th against Humber College (Etobicoke).

Saints Statistics

David Gomez Jr. 25 PTS, 6 REB, 5 AST, 5 STL
Jalen Sykes 16 PTS, 5 REB, 2 AST, 2 STL, 1 BLK
Nik Veigli 15 PTS
Juwan Lynch 10 PTS, 7 REB, 6 AST, 1 STL, 1 BLK
Ian Smart 8 PTS, 11 REB, 2 AST, 1 STL, 3 BLK