One of the only two reserve players the St. Lawrence Vikings had available Sunday afternoon delivered crucial points at the end of the game as St. Lawrence defeated the Lambton Lions 74-73 in a consolation semifinal at the Ontario Colleges Athletic Association men’s basketball championship tournament in Oshawa.

Thomas Aufleger scored four of the game’s last six points as the Vikings overcame a five-point Lambton lead.

The victory sends St. Lawrence into the bronze-medal game of the eight-team tournament Sunday afternoon, where the Vikings will face the Durham Lords for the fourth time this season. The teams have already met once here, in the opening round, where the Vikings posted a 69-65 victory.

St. Lawrence found itself on the bronze-medal side of the draw after suffering an 87-72 defeat at the hands of the Mohawk Mountaineers Saturday night in a championship semifinal.

Sunday against Lambton, St. Lawrence scored 22 points in the first quarter, and when Jaz Bains hit a pair of free throws with time expired, the Vikings took a 41-30 lead at halftime. By then, Andrew Dawkins and Bains had accounted for more than three-quarters of the St. Lawrence points, with Dawkins scoring 20 and Bains 13, to go with five assists and three rebounds.

Down to eight playes since Christmas—and further reduced to seven when Shaqeem Downey was hurt in Friday’s first-round game—fatigue set in for the shorthanded Vikings, who began to wilt under Lambton pressure in the fourth quarter. The Lions led by five points when St. Lawrence began its comeback.

A blocked shot by Brad Richards led to a basket by Aufleger and on the Vikings’ next possession, Bains was fouled and made both free throws to draw his team within one point of the lead.

Lambton had the ball out of bounds with 10 seconds left to play. Richards deflected the inbound pass and the ball went to Aufleger, who was fouled. He made both shots, to give St. Lawrence the lead.

The Lions had one last attempt at the basket, but the shot failed.

“Our guys worked hard this afternoon, and they were up late with the Mohawk game last night,” Vikings coach Barry Smith said. “Hopefully, there is one more rabbit in the hat for us.”

The rabbit couldn’t be coaxed out of the hat Saturday night, however, against the Mountaineers, the second-place team from the West division that posted a 15-3 record in the regular year.

“We played well for 30 out of 40 minutes, but we simply lacked the depth to go the full distance,” Smith said. “They have a full bench of well experienced players. That was the difference.”

Dawkins scored 29 points on 12-for-23 shooting from the field. He also had eight rebounds. Bains scored 23 points, with nine rebounds, for St. Lawrence which, despite being shorthanded, out-rebounded Lambton 43-42.

Shawn Hill had 17 points for the Lions, while Mike Lucier had 13 points and a dozen rebounds.

Against Mohawk, St. Lawrence led 16-15 after the first quarter but a 30-point second quarter sent the Mountaineers into the intermission with a 45-34 lead. An 11-4 run to start the second half put Mohawk well in command, but the Vikings scored 26 points in the period and managed to cut the deficit to seven points going into the fourth quarter.

The shorthanded St. Lawrence squad was run into the floor in the fourth quarter, able to score just a dozen points.

“After the third quarter, (assistant coach) Kevin (Smart) and I told the guys that we have to keep this game in perspective,” Smith said. “We were only down seven (points) to Mohawk … a pretty impressive accomplishment for us with only seven guys.”

In what was perhaps another sign of fatigue, the Vikings committed 19 turnovers, and Mohawk turned them into 21 points.

Dawkins finished the game with 24 points, six rebounds and six assists, while Bains had 14 points and 10 assists. Taylor Reddick came off the bench in place of the injured Downey and scored 17 points, largely from a 5-for-10 performance from beyond the three-point arc, while Richards had 11 rebounds.

Jeff Hunt, 7-for-11 from the field, scored 24 points and pulled down 11 rebounds for Mohawk, while Andrew Cicuttini and Matt Fennell, who Friday was named the association’s player of the year, scored 16 points apiece.

After dropping its first-round game on home court, Durham got back into medal contention with an 82-74 win over Seneca Saturday and a 77-66 win over Fanshawe Sunday morning. Durham, 19-4 in the regular season and playoffs, suffered two of those defeats at the hands of St. Lawrence.

The Vikings won their last provincial medal, a bronze, in 2011.