OCAA Report: Sault College men win twice

The Sault College Cougars men’s basketball team took home two wins in a big early season road trip in the Ontario Colleges Athletic Association.

On Friday in Sarnia, the Cougars escaped with a 58-51 win over the Lambton Lions.

In a poor shooting effort by both teams, the Cougars overcame a 10 point deficit with less than five minutes remaining to steal the game from the Lions. Jean Louis Ouattara, Ryan Vetrie and Andrew Turgeon all hit consecutive three-point shots to spark the Cougars’ rally.

The score at half time was 22 - 17 in favour of Lambton after a dismal shooting performance saw the Lions lead 3-2 just past the midway mark of the first half.

Ouattara lead the Cougars with 21 points after scoring only two in the first half, while Vetrie finished with 13 and Mike Bouchard chipped in eight.

On Saturday in Windsor, the Cougars defeated the St. Clair Saints 67-60 after recovering from another slow start.

The Cougars overcame a 12 point deficit early in the first half to bring the score to within one as they trailed 34-33 at the break.

Jean Louis Ouattara, who had four first half fouls, picked up his fifth one minute into the second half and took an early exit after dumping in a modest 17 points.

For the remainder of the game, the Cougars put together a solid attack by executing their offense, defending the ball and grabbing some timely steals.

Vetrie was outstanding and led the club with 24 points while Nate Whalen hit for 16.

The Cougars are now 3-1 with a difficult road trip versus Redeemer College (Ancaster) and the Niagara Knights (Welland) on Nov. 18 and 19.

A scheduled exhibition basketball game against Alpena College on Tuesday Nov. 8 has been cancelled.

*** SAULT COLLEGE VOLLEYBALL:

Against Lambton, the Cougar women’s volleyball team swept the Lions 3-0 win by scores of 25-18, 25-23 and 28-26.

After solid defensive play and a good serving performance by the entire team in the first set, the Cougars had to dig deep in the second and third sets. Sault College rebounded from a 26-25 deficit in game three.

Ashley Whitmell led the team with 13 kills and three serving aces while Kari Lyn Chamberlain added two kills and four aces.

In Windsor, the Lady Cougars lost two close sets to the Saints 31-29 and 29-27 before running out of gas in the third 25-16.

The club is now 1-3 on the year and will have a break until Mohawk College travels to the Sault on Nov. 26.

*** ALGOMA UNIVERSITY COLLEGE:

The Algoma Thunderbirds also made the trek to Sarnia and Windsor for action in men’s and women’s basketball.

In men’s action, the Thunderbirds fell 73-63 to St. Clair on Friday before dropping a 79-50 decision to Lambton on Saturday.

Cory Glaister scored a game high 24 points, which included five three-point shots, for Algoma in the loss to St. Clair. Jarrell Hogan added 12 while Adam Carpenter and Jason Trinier added eight points each.

Algoma started the game very well by hitting six three-pointers in the first half alone. St. Clair clawed their way back and took advantage of a balanced scoring attack to lead 38-29 at the break.

A 12-2 run by St. Clair early in the second half gave the Saints a 52-35 lead but Algoma hung around most of the game and cut the lead to four points at one point.

On Saturday, Wilson led the Thunderbirds with a game high 21 points while Trinier added 10 and John Kasch eight.

The men are back on the road for games against Redeemer and Niagara on Nov. 18 and 19.

On the women’s side, Algoma fell 69-35 to St. Clair in their lone game of the weekend. St. Clair controlled the game early and led 27-9 at the half.

Jessica King led Algoma with 16 points, including 10 points on 12 attempts from the free throw line, while Roberta Reid added 12.

The women are home to Sheridan College this Friday at 8 p.m. at the George Leach Centre.