No tarnish in a pair of silver-medal performances by Saints

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There was no tarnish to a silver-medal performance by the St. Clair Saints at the OCAA championships.

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For the women’s team, Thursday’s 103-91 loss to the Humber Hawks in the final marked the third-straight silver medal performance for the program.

“Certainly the goal was to achieve the gold spot, but sometimes you have to look at it like the Olympic Games,” St. Clair women’s head coach Andy Kiss said. “When they do celebrate going up on the podium, they all celebrate. It’s an element of perspective.”

The men fell 87-70 to the host Hawks in Etobicoke, but secured a silver medal for the first time since 1981 and a trip to nationals for the first time since 1980.

“Disappointed we couldn’t finish it out and get gold, but overall a pretty big accomplished for the college and good for a group of guys no one thought would be in,” said St. Clair men’s co-coach Brendon Seguin, whose team captured the school’s first provincial medal since a bronze medal in 2006. “With a young coaching staff and new players, we didn’t think it would happen that quickly. When we took over three years ago, we thought it was a five-year plan (to play for a title) and we’re pleasantly surprised to get there in three.”

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For the women’s team, Thursday’s game marked the end of an era with guards Jana Kucera, Logan Kucera and Keirsten Tomkins, who were members of all three silver-medal winning teams, now set to graduate.

“It’s not what we expected,” said Jana Kucera, who led the Saints against Humber with 26 points. “I’m emotional now because it hurts.

“Our entire season, we prepared for that gold medal and that was our main goal. For me and Logan to come up short, it hurts.”

In the club’s first loss of the season, Jana Kucera, who saw sister Logan Kucera finish with 17 points against Humber and Jessica Paolini 15 points, tried to put things in perspective of what’s been accomplished.

“Looking back at four years, they were successful,” she said. “That’s something me, Logan and Keir are very proud of. Some people have gone four years and not a single medal and we’re very thankful for the support from our parents, family and the coaches who pushed us.”

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St. Clair has not medaled at three-straight OCAA championships since 2004-06 and Kiss knows there’s some work to do if the program hopes to be back in the medal hunt next season.

“This program was built around the skill set of the Kucera twins and Keir Tomkins was highly valuable,” Kiss said. “We have some pretty good pieces returning, but we have to work hard and build back to get that (medal chance).”

The men’s team lost just three of its 13 games this season, but two came at the hands of the Hawks.

“Defense and our shots weren’t falling,” Saints’ guard David Gomez Jr. said of what went wrong in the final. “I’m still proud of these guys and proud of the coaches and staff involved.”

The highest-scoring team in the OCAA, St. Clair was held under 90 points twice this season. Both against Humber, who will host the national championship next week.

Gomez Jr. had 21 points for the Saints in the final. Jalen Harmon finished with 20 points while Chad Vincent-Simon added 11 points.

“There’s been terrible ups and downs this season and at one point we weren’t even sure if the season was off,” Seguin said in reference to the COVID-19 pandemic. “I’m proud of the silver medal.”

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