Sault College hoopsters sweep Algoma

The Sault College Cougars opened the second half of their Ontario Colleges Athletic Association basketball seasons on a winning note as both the men's and women's teams knocked off their cross-town rivals from Algoma University.

The Sault College men won an 89-77 decision over Algoma while the women's team knocked off Algoma by a 61-48 score on Saturday afternoon at Sault College.

In the women's game, Sault College received strong performances from Jen Ross, who hit for 18 points, Carly Uhlman, who hit for 14 and Simone Taylor who chipped in with 12.

For Algoma, Melissa Stumpo led the way with 12 points while Jessica King and Roberta Reid chipped in with 10 points each.

Although Sault College pulled ahead early due to some missed chances by Algoma, the game got closer as Algoma pulled to within eight at one point during the second half, but the Cougars held on for the win.

"Well, if we would have put the ball in the basket at the beginning of the game, we had some decent shots, but didn't put them in," said Algoma coach Dave Bourgeault. "It might have been rust a little bit, but most of them were pretty square to the bucket. That doesn't help when you bury yourself to begin with.

"I was pretty pleased with our second half, most of it. We looked good in the last couple days of practice. We were doing a pretty good job of boxing out and we didn't do a good job of boxing out today. We were doing a good job of moving the basketball, we did that partly today but we've got to do that for 40 minutes. As soon as we figure out how to play 40 minutes we'll be OK."

Bourgeault was happy with the fact that he was able to get quality minutes out of Kathy Berdux, who is taking over for Stella Viotto, who graduated last semester.

Sault College coach Randy Russon credited Algoma, saying that anytime he tried to go to his bench, they would make a run in an attempt to close the gap. He also felt that his club was able to capitalize on a game in which Algoma wasn't at their best.

"I don't know if it's as much as Algoma getting off to a slow start, they had some good early opportunities," Russon said following the win. "We took it to them right from the beginning. We had a 14 or 16 point lead midway through the first half. To their credit, they came back in the second half and made it close.

"Every time we tried to go to our bench and get some of our players in that work hard in practice all the time, they (Algoma) would go on a run. We wanted to stick with what got us where we were. All in all, Algoma played an OK game but we were that much better than them.

"They got a couple of three point shots by Melissa Viotto that got them close and when you sink a three pointer that gets you back in the game pretty quickly. They're momentum builders but to our credit our girls didn't fold. We kept coming back every time they went on a bit of a run.

"We got a lot of key baskets from Carly Uhlman, Jen Ross, Simone Taylor, Jill Esposito. They all had ten points or more and I think that's what helped. (Algoma) was playing desperation basketball and it's tough playing when you've got a 14-point lead."

In the men's game, Sault College got clutch performances from a number of players, specifically Nathan Whalen and Jeff Rennison who had 19 points each as well as Ryan Court who had 18 points as they knocked off Algoma 89-77.

Jason Trinier of Algoma led all scorers in the game with 25 points while Jacob Tomas added 16 and Paul Best chipped in with 15 in the loss.

Sault College also had to deal with two of their top scorers receiving technical fouls as Ron Kelly was ejected late in the first half while Jordan Sanders was ejected midway through the second half.

Algoma coach Enzo Torcaso said that there were a number of positives that his club could take from the game in which they trailed by seven at the half.

"We made some minor mental mistakes and we made them in a two minute period and that's how we lost the game," Torcaso said. "The guys understand what they did and they're going to try to improve on that. We've got some new players, including a new point guard and he's trying to work into our system. Mind you, I think we lost it through the mental errors.

"It's all positive from this game. It was a learning experience for the new guys on the floor. The boys know what they did wrong and they told me that they're willing to improve, so it was all positive. We're disappointed we didn't win, but it was a positive outcome too.

"(The mental errors) comes from not having everyone at practice during the holidays and the newcomers, so when we improve on that we shouldn't be losing by ten."

Sault College coach Tom Cory said following the game that one of the things that allowed his team to take over was their size. Cory was also pleased with the efforts of Whalen, Rennison and Court who stepped in when Kelly and Sanders were ejected. He also pointed out that his team tends not to put together a full effort against Algoma.

"I think our size took over inside," Cory said. "We tend to go in spurts against (Algoma). It's like we'll go out for ten minutes where we're good, then five minutes we're bad. It's so hard when we play them to put a long string together of forty minutes.

"(To lose Kelly and Sanders), our whole offences revolve around them inside and outside as a one-two punch but other guys stepped up. Rennison had a great game, Whalen, Burk and Court too. That's what we are. If our two top guys go down, we have two other guys that can fill their spots and we don't miss a beat. When we lost them, we lost something, but we gained other things."

The Algoma men and women's teams are now off until January 24th when they take on Niagara at the George Leach Centre. The Sault College men and women's team also take on Niagara at home on January 23rd.