St. Clair Saints men’s basketball team off to a historic start

 The St. Clair College men’s basketball team has been named October’s  team of the month by the school.

They are building off this achievement with a win over the Lambton Lions to bring their record to 5-0. This came after a close away game where the Saints were trailing for most of the game and came back in the fourth quarter to defeat the ninth ranked Lions 91-85. 

  For second year coaches Matthew Sykes and Brendon Seguin, this is an improvement from last year where they started the year 4 wins to 10 losses and ended at 10-10. They said the team’s biggest strengths are selfless talent and composure under pressure.

David Gomez Jr., a second year player who is ranked fifth in the league for points per game at 23, says he has definitely felt a difference. 

“For me personally it’s a big change from last year, I was playing 35 minutes a game which was wear and tear on my body,” said Gomez. “I was weighing in at 165 last year, now I’m 185. We have potential to be the greatest team in school history. Once we get our chemistry where it needs to be, we will be a hard team to beat.” 

Dallas Atkins, a second year player, also said he can feel a big difference with his team.

“I think it’s acquiring the pieces we needed in the off-season. I think our team’s biggest strength is the amount of team chemistry we’ve built in a small amount of time. We are still in the early stages and everyone is hungry to get better and do something big this year,” said Atkins.

The team is in the early stages of their season and are taking this schedule one game at a time and looking to win difficult upcoming match-ups. St. Clair has the best record in the Ontario Colleges Athletic Association 2019 season and is one of only three undefeated teams left. The Saints play their next game on Saturday, Nov. 16 at 6 p.m. at the SportsPlex in St. Clair.