Humber’s men’s basketball team lost a nail-biting game against the St. Clair Saints 88-80 on Feb.6.
With the win, the fifth nationally ranked Saints swept the Hawks, ranked sixth in the country, on the season and extended their winning streak to 12 games after beating the Canadore Panthers on Feb. 7, improving their record to 14-2.
The loss for the Hawks means they fall to 13-3 on the season and no longer control the top spot in the Ontario Colleges Athletic Association’s (OCAA) western conference.
Humber also lost two of its last three games, after winning 12 of its first 13 games, including five straight before losing to Mohawk on Jan.31.
Before the game, St. Clair co-head coach Matt Sykes said the consistency from the team is down to finding its identity.
“Earlier, we were just trying to find ourselves. We had a lot of new guys, a lot of new faces that haven't played with each other,” he said. “We did a really good job gelling, and credit to the guys, they lost those two [games], and they buckled in and treated every game like a playoff game, so that's kind of been the recipe for success.”
The Saints run a co-head coaching system, with Sykes and Brendon Seguin behind the bench.
Sykes said finding an early rhythm, especially in a place like Humber, can result in success.
“I mean, since me and coach Segs [Seguin] have been coaching here, we haven't won at Humber, so the first step is just trying to get a win here,” he said.
Hawks head coach Omar Miles said he doesn’t care if they dominate or keep it close, just that it’s a win.
“I would say any win is a good win, and so we just have to win by one,” he said.
To begin the game, both teams were struggling to make anything happen.
It was Humber that found something towards the end of the quarter, with second-year small forward Victoire Ndongo scoring four points.
St. Clair’s scoring came courtesy of second-year guard Andrew Loyuk, who scored eight of the Saints’ eleven in the first quarter.
The second quarter is where the game flipped.
Humber kept the lead for about half of the quarter, until St. Clair started to find a rhythm, scoring basket after basket, and the Hawks couldn’t find a way to score a basket.
The only bright spot for the Hawks was second-year guard Dwayne Burke, who scored 12 of their 22 points in the quarter.
By the end of the quarter, the Saints scored 37 points, a season high for St. Clair at the time, until it scored 44 in their next game against Canadore, also in the second quarter.
Going into halftime, Humber was down 48-39, with momentum fully on St. Clair’s side.
After the break, the Hawks continued to struggle offensively but adjusted to the Saints’ game plan.
Towards the end of the quarter, Humber found a spark through fifth-year power forward Malik Grant and fourth-year small forward Adrian Aluyi, who combined for 14 of the 30 points scored.
First-year guard Nathan Savage also added eight points of his own.
The Hawks would find themselves with their first lead of the game since the second quarter heading into the final 10 minutes of the game, 69-66.
The fourth quarter would be a repeat of the second quarter for Humber, struggling to find any openings offensively and turning the ball over.
Miles would call a timeout to bring some life back into the Hawks, but it would ultimately end with Humber never finding its way with the ball.
He said the problems that prevented Humber from winning the game started defensively.
“Very simple, we gave up 37 points in the second quarter. It's about defending,” he said. “You don't defend against good teams, you're not going to win games when it comes down to the stretch.”
Miles said the team switched off at times and did not play with the toughness needed to beat a team like St. Clair.
“We've got to rebound, we've got to play tough,” he said.” “I thought we only did that for three quarters maybe, maybe half a game, and half a game is not good enough when you play against a good team.”
Grant said the team planned to play quickly and mistake-free to come back from the deficit.
“Try to get a steal and then try to get a quick shot, and then if we succeeded on that, then just try to do it again until we cut the lead down,” he said.
Sykes, however, said the win against a national champion such as Humber boosts not only the team but the college as a whole.
“It's a program win for us. We haven't won here, like I said. We've had these unbelievable winning seasons five years in a row, and to finally win here, to beat them at home court. It's just something special for us,” he said.
The Hawks hope to regain some momentum as they face the Sheridan Bruins in Brampton on Feb.11 and the Canadore Panthers in North Bay on Feb.14 to close out the regular season.
St. Clair will try to continue its winning streak by ending its regular season against the Conestoga Condors and Redeemer Royals in a double header on Feb.13 and Feb.14.
