(London, Ontario) – The Fanshawe Falcons Men's Basketball team (1-2) fell to the No. 13 CCAA ranked St. Clair Saints (3-0) on Tuesday evening at home by a score of 98-90.
The Falcons and Saints exchanged points to open the game. Back-to-back triples from Fanshawe rookie Aidan Whalen (Cambridge, ON) gave the home team a slight advantage. The Falcons continued to pour on the pressure with fast break points from Aldin Malkic (London, ON) assisted by Edge Capuno (Winnipeg, MB). The Birds held a 23-17 lead after the first quarter.
In the second frame, St. Clair came out strong and cut Fanshawe's lead to one, 26-25. Dante Richards (Oakville, ON) then had a shot from beyond the arc to keep the Falcons ahead. The Saints started to get hot from three point range, but the red and white would stay close with a put back from Faris Adamou (Mississauga, ON). After a fast-paced second quarter, the score was 50-49 for the Saints. Whalen had an outstanding first half, with 22 points on 8 of 12 from the field.
Adrian Stevens (Toronto, ON) scored five consecutive points for the Falcons to start the third quarter. St. Clair then began to show why they are ranked 13th in Canada, scoring seven unanswered points to take the lead. Despite a triple from Richards, the Falcons found themselves down 74-64 going into the final frame.
Fanshawe cut St. Clair's lead down to five after a Whalen put-back and free throws from Stevens. A huge block from Adamou, followed by a layup from Richards kept the Falcons within six points. Unfortunately, St. Clair grabbed a timely offensive rebound to seal the deal, and won the game 98-90.
Whalen recorded a game-high 31 points and added 11 rebounds. Richards and Stevens had 18 and 17 points respectively. Up next, Fanshawe will travel to Niagara to face the Knights (1-1) at 8:00 p.m. The game can be streamed at www.fanshawefalcons.ca/watchlive.
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