Struggles continue for No. 6 Men's Basketball
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | T | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
St. Clair (13-2, 13-2) | 11 | 37 | 18 | 22 | 88 |
|
Humber (13-3, 13-3) | 17 | 22 | 30 | 11 | 80 |
By: Nina Kersnik
Humber Athletics Communications
ETOBICOKE – No. 6 Humber men's basketball (13-3, 2nd West) suffered their third loss of the season to the St. Clair Saints (13-2, 1st West) 88-80, in their final home game of the regular season. Dwayne Burke stood out for the Hawks, recording 19 points and five rebounds. Mailk Grant also performed well in his final home game as a Hawk, recording 16 points and four rebounds.
Game Recap
Facing a team that's riding off a ten-game win streak, and one with the best three-point shooting record in the OCAA, Humber knew they had to be prepared for this one.
The Hawks were off to a slow start, getting three points in the first four minutes of the matchup, after spending most of their energy on defence. Luckily, their offence picked up a bit in the back half with Victoire Ndongo making the biggest contribution. By the end of the first quarter, Ndongo racked up four points, and nine points by the end of the night.
As the clock wound down, the Humber's offence still wasn't at its greatest despite keeping the lead, as St. Clair continued to keep up. But what gave the Hawks the advantage was their success at the charity line, going 8-11 in the first quarter.
Heading into the second quarter, Humber led by six, 17-11.
In the next frame, the pace of play slowed down considerably on the court for the Hawks, with their only source of hope coming from Dwayne Burke. Burke opened the scoring for Humber with a layup from inside the paint, racking up a dozen points by the end of the second quarter alone. Those 12 points accumulated were more than any starter combined in the second quarter.
Meanwhile, the break re-energized the Saints, who slowly chipped away at the Hawks' lead throughout the quarter, but they made the most progress in the back half. At 5:44 former Hawk Kyle Brown-Fazekas made a jump shot to tie it up for St. Clair at 27.
As time drained from the clock, Humber visibly struggled on all ends of the court, missing out on multiple opportunities to regain the lead. This allowed the Saints to chip away at the deficit even more to do more than triple their points from the first quarter in the end.
After 20, St. Clair outscored the disjointed-looking Hawks, 37-22, allowing them to head into the break up by nine with a score of 48-39.
Into the third, it was the same story for the Hawks who didn't see points on the board until 8:38 when Adrian Aluyi made a layup inside the paint. Through four quarters Humber found most of their points from the bench with 40 and from inside the paint with 30.
However, as the end of the quarter neared, the Hawks were forced to lean on Adrian Aluyi and Mailk Grant for more points. By the end of the third quarter, Aluyi and Grant recorded eight and six points respectively, accounting for 14 of Humber's 30 points.
Then, with just under three minutes remaining, the Hawks were able to tie it up at 61 with the help of rookie Nathan Savage. Seconds later, Savage came back for more adding two points, giving Humber their first lead of the game since the start of the second quarter.
After three quarters, the Hawks would take a three-point lead of 69-66 over the Saints.
In the final ten minutes, it was all St. Clair as Humber's sloppy offensive play came into the spotlight once again.
In the first five minutes, the Hawks couldn't get much going on the hardwood, working to score only five points compared to the Saints' 11.
Those miscues then continued in the back half as Humber found themselves down by two possessions before head coach Omar Miles called a timeout with 3:30 on the clock. Luckily, that timeout helped the Hawks a little bit, who were now within four of tying it.
But as time wound down, Humber lost their rhythm completely, allowing St. Clair to take over for good.
At the buzzer, the Saints would win 88-80 to dethrone the Hawks from the top spot in the conference.
Game Notes
- Humber holds a 58-17 all-time record against St. Clair.
- The Saints won their first game at the Nest since 2013, improving to 6-23 all-time.
- Humber is 0-3 this season when shooting less than 20 per cent from three-point range.
- With the loss, the Hawks have now broken their 11-game win streak at home against the Saints.
- After their eight-point win, St. Clair secured the season sweep.
What's Next?
The Hawks are off to Brampton for a matchup against the Sheridan Bruins (7-8, 6th West) on Feb. 11. Tip-off is scheduled for 8 p.m. at the Davis Campus Gymnasium.
