WINDSOR, Ont. - St. Clair College will play host to the Ontario Colleges Athletic Association men's basketball provincial championship tournament for the first time since 1980 which will be played March 3-5 at the SportsPlex. The final eight format features seven schools that qualified this past weekend in the crossover playoff round while the Saints benefited from some rest with a reserved spot in the quarter-finals as the automatic host entry. St. Clair will face Conestoga College (Kitchener) in the 8 p.m. game on Friday which follows three other quarter-final round games earlier in the day.
The Saints (15-3) are currently ranked 4th in Canada and 2nd in the province while riding a nine-game winning streak after claiming their fourth outright West Division title in program history. Their 15 regular season wins is tied for third most in 55 years of St. Clair men's basketball play and they are in search of their first OCAA gold medal since the inaugural year of the conference in 1967-68. St. Clair is the second-best scoring team in the province at 98.4 points per contest and will be the best free throw shooting (75.5 per cent) squad represented at the championship with the second highest overall shooting percentage from the floor at 45.7 per cent.
Third-year 6-foot-2 transfer guard Shakael Pryce (Pickering, Ont.) finished tied for seventh in provincial scoring this past season and was second in OCAA assists at 5.9 per game. Fourth-year forward Chad Vincent-Simon (Scarborough, Ont.) was 20th overall in scoring averaging 15.4 points per game with fourth-year 6-foot-3 guard Jesiah Deerr (Whitby, Ont.) managing to score 13.3 points per game off the bench while pulling down 5.7 rebounds per game. Fifth-year 6-foot-5 swing Jalen Harmon (Ypsilanti, Mich.) and Terence Williams (Windsor, Ont.) are the other Saints averaging double figures at 11.9 points per game and 10.3 points per game respectively. Fourth-year 6-foot-7 transfer forward/centre Hanani Ujullu (Kitchener, Ont.) leads the team in rebounding at 6.8 per game but protects the rim with the sixth most blocks at 1.2 per game for St. Clair.
Conestoga (12-7) counters with two of the top three scorers in the OCAA including points leader in second-year 6-foot-4 guard Terell Lloyd (Woodstock, Ont.) at 25.1 points per game to go with 7.3 rebounds per game. Rookie 6-foot-4 guard Ladera Ujullu-Obang (Kitchener, Ont.) is the OCAA's third-leading scorer netting 24.8 points per game but is also menace in other categories including 7.4 rebounds per game (OCAA 12th), 5.6 assists per game (OCAA 4th) and 2.0 steals per game (OCAA 9th). Conestoga advanced to the championship with an 88-70 win over Georgian College last weekend and split with St. Clair during the regular season. In December the Saints lost 110-101 in overtime to the Condors in Kitchener but St. Clair bested them 123-82 in Windsor five weeks ago.
For Friday's game all full-time St. Clair College students in attendance are eligible to enter a free draw for a chance to win one of 10 $1000 scholarships. Admission is free for all St. Clair students and the first 500 fans will receive white T-shirts as part of a White-Out Night. General admission for non-St. Clair students is $20 for a three-day tournament pass and day passes are $10.
All championship games will be live-streamed by WE-Digital productions and can be accessed via the OCAA Live link at https://portal.stretchinternet.com/stclair.
The entire schedule for the weekend championship is listed below.
Friday, March 3rd
Quarter-Finals
Game #1: Mohawk (15-4) vs. Humber (10-9) - 1:00pm
Game #2: George Brown (18-1) vs. Niagara (12-7) - 3:00pm
Game #3: Sheridan (13-6) vs. Lambton (10-9) - 6:00pm
Game #4: St. Clair (15-3) vs. Conestoga (12-7) - 8:00pm
Saturday, March 4th
Semi-Finals
Game #5: Winner Game #1 vs. Winner Game #2 - 4:00pm
Game #6: Winner Game #3 vs. Winner Game #4 - 6:30pm
Sunday, March 5th
Bronze Medal Game
Game #7: Loser Game #5 vs. Loser Game #6 - 1:00pm
Winning team presented OCAA Bronze Medal at conclusion of game
Gold Medal Game
Game #8: Winner Game #5 vs. Winner Game #6 - 3:30pm
OCAA Gold and Silver Medals presented at conclusion of game
Click on the Championship site for up-to-date information at: https://ocaachampionships.prestosports.com/championships/mbkl/2022-23/index
Source: St. Clair Saints