The Sault College Cougars split a pair of games on the basketball court before the women scored a victory in volleyball.
Playing in Ontario Colleges Athletic Association action at home on Friday night, the Cougar men's basketball team defeated the St. Clair College Saints from Windsor 81-74 after the Saints defeated the lady Cougars 81-41. In volleyball, the Cougars defeated St. Clair three games to one.
In the men's game, Ron Kelly poured in 19 points and Jordan Sanders 18 to lead the Cougars to victory. Ryan Court added 11 points in the win.
The Cougars took control of the game in the early minutes and carried the play through the opening half, taking a 41-27 lead into the break.
"We played really well in the first half," said Cougars head coach Tom Cory. "We were moving the ball well, getting the ball inside and we were able to handle their press well. They tried a man and a zone defense on us but we were able to adjust and score on it and I don't think they had an answer for us.
"We were just clicking out there. I don't think we could have done anything wrong out there that half."
In the second half, Sault College started with an 8-0 run before the Cougars laid back and allowed the Saints to claw back into the game by cutting a 21 point lead down to nine.
With momentum clearly in St. Clair's favour, the Cougars' Rob Martel then drained a deep three point shot, which injected some life back into the capacity crowd and the Cougars bench.
"We lost our poise for a while there in the second half and that is something we have been working on. We have a tendency to play 30 minutes of good basketball and for 10 minutes we seem to lose our poise," said Cory.
Although St. Clair continued to fight back, the Cougars held the lead during the final minutes and secured the win with a key offensive rebound in the final minute to maintain possession and run down the clock.
Brian Bradley led St. Clair with 24 points while Jermaine Small added 17 and Bode Olagundaye 12.
Mike Bouchard had an outstanding game off the bench for the Cougars and was particularly effective on the boards.
"Bouch was awesome today," said Cory. "He gave us a huge lift with his rebounding and defense. We started him last week in Alpena and you can really see his confidence growing. Being a rookie, it is sometimes difficult to gain confidence but he is really starting to believe that he can play at this level."
"He is kind of like our garbage man out there. He picks up the loose balls, he cleans up on the boards and he does a lot of the little things that he needs to do to help this team. He doesn't care if he is fed the ball in the post, he'll go out and get it himself."
Sault College played the game without third-year starting point guard Chris Muncaster, who was mysteriously absent from the Cougars bench.
When asked about Muncaster's status, Cory replied "no comment."
*** LADY COUGARS:
The Sault College women's basketball team ran into one of the OCAA powerhouses in St. Clair.
Unable to handle the dominance of St. Clair forward Raquel Burke and unable to solve the Saints zone defense, the Cougars fell 81-41.
Jill Esposito led the Cougars with 15 points while Jen Ross added eight and Simone Taylor seven. Burke led the Saints with 28 points, including 17 in the first half, while Nadine Phillip added 16.
St. Clair took control of the game in the final eight minutes of the first half as the Saints stretched what was 16-12 lead into a 35-16 half time lead after a 19-4 run to close the half.
"We have to work on our offense," said Cougars head coach Randy Russon. "Our offense was predictable and we need to add some more plays to it. We were sputtering and ended up playing street ball which leads to frustration on the court and on the bench.
"I have to take the blame for our offense because we have been working on so many other things in practise that we didn't focus enough attention on the offense. We are going to work hard in practise this week on that and I'm sure we'll be ready to go next week."
If their offense wasn't frustrating then the play of Burke was. The slick forward dazzled the Cougars with her rebounding, inside shooting, outside shooting, ball handling abilities and shot blocking.
"We knew we were going to have to give her her baskets," said Russon. "(Burke) is an outstanding player and I believe that she could easily play NCAA ball somewhere. We tried the zone and a box and one on her but she is a smart player and difficult to contain.
"That team is so good out there that they don't even need a coach."
The Cougars will be back in action next Friday as Mohawk College comes to town for a 7 p.m. start.
*** VOLLEYBALL:
The Cougars volleyball team continued their strong play with a three games to one win over the Saints. Desiree Simon led the Cougars offense with 15 points off 11 kills, two stuff blocks and two service aces while Angela Mei added 11 points on 11 kills.
The Cougars will entertain Mohawk College next Friday at 9 p.m.
*** MORE HOOPS:
The Algoma Univeristy College Thunderbirds will be in action on Saturday against St. Clair at the George Leach Centre for a pair of OCAA games.
The women tip-off at noon followed by the men at 2 p.m.