George Brown Tops St. Clair to Get to 9th OCAA Finals Appearance

Oshawa, ON- The East Division’s second seeded team, the George Brown Huskies (14-4) survived a dramatic comeback from the West’s top seeded St. Clair Saints (15-3) in an 83-75 win to advance to their ninth finals appearance in the OCAA tournament.

The Huskies were rolling from the start, scoring 23 points in the first quarter on 50/40/75 shooting splits as a team as opposed to the Saints’ 16 points on 35/20/0 shooting. The game came down to made shots by the Huskies’ and missed shots by the Saints’. The Huskies took a commanding 20-point lead at halftime (53-33) and St. Clair went into the locker room with their season on the line. The team gained confidence halfway through the third quarter, outscoring the Huskies by seven points and took that momentum into the fourth quarter, down 16. The Saints cut their deficit to seven with three minutes left in the game. Ultimately, their run fell short, and the Huskies rolled through.

In a game where St Clair’s star, Chad Vincent-Simon was unavailable due to injury, second team all-stars Jesiah Deerr and Rookie Andrew Loyuk stepped up big for the Saints, alongside junior Mazin Tiea. The three combined for 46 of St Clair’s 75 points, with Deerr leading the way scoring 21 points on 38% from the field. The Saints had better numbers on every major statistic, they just could not buy a bucket, their best quarter coming from the fourth quarter push where they scored 26 points on 54/33/33 splits.

While the Saints couldn’t buy a bucket, the Huskies had everything going their way. They topped their 23-point first quarter with a 30-point scoring burst in the second quarter, led by senior Jeremiah Brown. By halftime, all starters had scored nearly 10 points, with the Huskies’ bench also outscoring St.Clair’s 17-3 in the first half. While Brown led the way in scoring, going 7-of-11 from the field and 4-of-7 from three for his 22 points, Junior Derrick Taylor (196-F) got the whole team involved, getting 12 rebounds, five assists and two steals, hitting some tough shots when St.Clair was on their run. By the end of the game, all starters had over 10 points and tallying several assists. The Huskies offense had St.Clair running all night long and they held off the Saints’ run.

With both number one seeds being upset, the Huskies are set to face the West Division’s second seed, the Humber Hawks. The two are set to face off for the Gold Medal game on Sunday, March 5th at the Durham Campus Wellness and Recreation Center, facing each other for only the second time in the finals.

This article was written by Ruhyi Ratansi, a correspondent and scout for NetScouts Basketball.