Vancouver College Fighting Irish vs. St. George's Saints
Vancouver College - The second game of the annual Vancouver College-St.George's rivalry games happened last night and it did not disappoint. St. George's took round one at St. George's behind the strong play and scoring of Jerric Palma by a score of 81-78 on January 17th.
Arriving 20 minutes before the game, one might have thought that they entered the gym of a tight fourth quarter game in the provincial tournament. The gym was already packed at the atmosphere incredible. Vancouver College students packed one side of the stands decked out in purple and gold armed with flags and water jug drums. The St. George's side, though smaller due to sheer bleacher size limitations, was nearly identical, but rather a sea of red and white, with the fans ready to support their team. Fans in attendance had to seek out game bracelets well in advance to ensure entry for the game as it was standing room only with many people being turned away at the door.
Vancouver College would win the opening tip and score first on a nice jump shot from Jack Cruz-Dumont. The first basket for Saints would come from Louis Sujir who used a drop step to free himself of the defender. After a three pointer, the Irish forced a turnover with their trapping press forcing St. George's into calling a time-out just 1:07 into the game. Another three by the Irish would put them up 8-2 early in the game, however St. George's would go on a 10-0 run behind seven first quarter points from Alex Ference. Despite three “3’s” in the quarter from recent University of Saskatchewan commit, Cam Wright, St. George's jumped ahead for a 27-18 lead after 10 minutes of play.
The second quarter would be a duel between Jerric Palma of Saints and Irish Jack Cruz-Dumont. First it was Jerric who scored in transition, the first of his 10 second quarter points, forcing the Irish into a timeout down 31-18. But Jack Cruz-Dumont would score from all over the court in the quarter going for 13 points. Vancouver College would tie the game at 34-34 with just over three minutes to play. Cruz-Dumont would hit a tough jumper in the lane, which was answered by Palma who hit a baseline floater, followed by Cruz-Dumont walking into a 3-pointer. By the halftime buzzer, Vancouver College had climbed back to take a 43-40 lead.
Saints would come out of the locker room strong, going on a 7-2 run to regain the lead after only one minute of play, a result of five quick points from Will Lin. For Vancouver College, Cam Wright and Jack Cruz-Dumont poured in seven and eight points respectively for the Irish. The quarter was played fairly even, with teams trading baskets for most of the quarter, and it was Vancouver College who increased their lead to seven points at 66-59 entering the last quarter.
The Irish would start the quarter with back-to-back “3’s” from Jack Cruz-Dumont and grade 10 Callum Chow-White forcing the Saints to call a timeout. Jerric Palma and Will Lin would respond with a pair of “3’s” of their own. Louis Sujir who had been solid all game would continue to be aggressive earning himself multiple trips to the freethrow line, finishing with seven points in the quarter and 20 points overall to lead the Saints. Alex Ference also chipped in with seven points in the last quarter which allowed the Saints to get back into the game and cut the lead to four at 86-82. Vancouver College would close out the game with Cam Wright knocking down 5/6 freethrows. Final score 90-84 for the Irish.
Leading Scorers
Vancouver College
Jack Cruz-Dumont 30 points
Cam Wright 26 points
St. George's
Louis Sujir 20 points
Alex Ference 19 points
Jerric Palma 18 points
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