St. Lawrence Vikings are one win away from playing for the Ontario Colleges Athletic Association men’s basketball title, as they play the Mohawk Mountaineers Saturday night in a semifinal game at the association’s championship tournament in Oshawa.
The Vikings reached that game with a come-from-behind 69-65 victory over the host Durham Lords in quarter-final play at the eight-team tournament Friday night.
It was the second time in three games this year that the Vikings defeated the East division’s regular-season champion.
St. Lawrence didn’t have it easy, falling behind early in the game and trailing by four points going into the second quarter. A 12-0 run midway through the period sent the Lords on their way to a 42-32 halftime lead.
“At halftime, I’m usually very blunt with the players if they are not playing well,” Vikings coach Barry Smith said, “but all I told them is that we have worked too hard together to go out in the opening game like this.”
His players took the coach’s words to heart. With Andrew Dawkins scoring 12 points in the period, the Vikings drew within two points, 52-50, in the third quarter. In the fourth, a 12-2 run had St. Lawrence ahead by seven, 61-54.
In its home gym, Durham closed to within one point with a three-point basket with 3:36 to play, but the Vikings never lost their lead.
“We have been through so much adversity as a team this season,” Smith said. “Tonight we battled the entire game.”
Dawkins, who was named to the East division’s second all-star team earlier Friday, led St. Lawrence with 23 points and nine rebounds. Donald Gibson had 21 points and seven rebounds for the Vikings.
Mohawk earned its semifinal berth with a 102-81 win over Seneca.
•
In the semifinal round at the women’s championship tournament in Toronto Friday night, St. Lawrence bowed from contention with a 71-58 defeat at the hands of Mohawk.
It was the first loss in 12 games for the Vikings, who finished the regular year atop the East division standings with a 15-1 record. St. Lawrence hadn’t lost a game since Nov. 21.
A 19-1 run to open the second half erased a 32-25 St. Lawrence halftime lead and put the Mountaineers in control. Plagued by fouls almost from the start of the game—Lacey Knox and Abby Heron had to come out of the game for a time in the third quarter, each with three fouls—the Vikings sent Mohawk to the free-throw line 30 times, and they were outscored from there 19-7, accounting for virtually all of the difference on the scoreboard.
St. Lawrence trailed by five points going into the fourth quarter, but they allowed 27 points in the final 10 minutes.
“They crushed us in rebounds (60-45) and forced us to take tough shots in the second half,” Vikings coach Remy Simpson said. “That was the difference maker.”
Mohawk dominated under its own glass, 37-16.
In a game where neither team shot well, the Vikings completed just 28.4 per cent of their shots from the field.
Mohawk will play in Saturday night’s championship game against Humber. The Hawks defeated Algonquin 58-55 in Friday’s other semifinal.
Knox finished the game with 18 points and 11 rebounds—her second double-double of the tournament. She also had two blocks and two steals. Sammy Gourdier scored 12 points for St. Lawrence.
