Road to gold

By: Jessie Larouche 

For St. Clair, OCAA gold is something that is expected.  

From football to softball and baseball, the recent success of the Saints sports team’s has been unmatched and the men’s basketball team isn’t any different. 

Coming off a championship season, the Saints entered the playoffs with the first seed in the league once again and were set to take on the eighth seeded La Cite Coyotes. For a team that was expected to get blown out, the Coyotes started off the match going bucket for bucket with St. Clair. 

“I think it was a decent start but it could have been much better,” said Assistant Coach Christian Seguin. “That’s something we have to be better at is starting games, but besides that we took care of business on both sides of the court.” 

St. Clair ended up pulling away and never looking back, winning the game by a whopping 43 points leaving the Coyotes with no hopes of a comeback and a long bus ride home. 

During the game, St. Clair guard Chad Vincent-Simon was unguardable, leading the team in scoring with a 20-point performance while adding three steals on the defensive end. 

“I’m just hooping, I’m free when I’m out there,”  said Vincent-Simon on what it’s like for him on the court. “I just do what I can do and whatever it takes to help my team.” 

If there is one thing that works in favour of St. Clair, it’s their veteran leadership and playoff experience. 

“You know we got vets like Chad, Deer and Peddie who have probably played about 80 playoff games in the OCAA together,” said Seguin. “Add to that we’ve got young guys like Drew and Mazin and a full bench of studs.” 

The OCAA may be the current goal, but it is not the only one.  

“We gotta take it game by game, get that gold and go back to back,” said Saints star guard Jesiah Deerr. “But honestly, I’m trying to get a national title too.” 

The Saints continue their hunt for gold Feb. 24 at the SportsPlex against Centennial College, a team that brought the Saints down to the final seconds in their last meeting.