The St. Clair men's basketball team were hoping to at least bring a medal home after Friday night's heartbreak loss to Dawson. The Saints faced the VIU Mariners for the bronze this afternoon but came up short in a 109-100 loss.
St. Clair took a 21-point lead on a pair of free throws from Shak Pryce with 6.8 seconds left in the first half. VIU's Akoi Yuot responded tipping in a bucket as time ran out. The Saints took a 58-39 lead into the break.
The rest was just what the Mariners as they regrouped and went on a tear in the third quarter outscoring the Saints 35-17. Tori Odom hit a floater in the paint as VIU came back to take the lead with 1:53 left in the third. After some back and forth basketball, Rich Henderson spun away from a defender in the paint for an easy deuce to give the Mariners the lead for good with 5:34 left in the game.
5th year forward Jalen Harmon was saluted in the dying moments of the game during a substitution in an emotional end to his career at St. Clair.
Pryce led all scorers with 32 points. Yuot (30pts) and Landon Radiff (31pts) led VIU to the bronze medal joining their gold medal winning women's team on the podium.