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Rochester College rolls by St. Clair College, wins three games in three days

| January 1, 2012 | Comments (0)

BY DAN STICKRADT

SENIOR EDITOR

ROCHESTER HILLS — After a rough month of five loses, four to Division I schools, Rochester College decided to pick on someone its own size.

It worked out Saturday at the Rochester Holiday Classic at Rochester High School.

The Warriors, the top-ranked school in the United States Collegiate Athletic Association, captured three straight wins in three days as part of the classic, which also featured three days of varsity, junior varsity and freshman high school boys and girls games and tournaments.

The final victim for RC was St. Clair College (Ont.), a team the Warriors toasted in the new year with a resounding, 77-41, victory Saturday morning.

“We put together the type of schedule we’ve had for many reasons,” said first-year Rochester College coach Klint Pleasant. “We went through the brutal, brutal stretch of playing many Division I schools and some ranked Division I Division III or NAIA schools. Then we come into this tournament playing three games in three days because in March if we’re fortunate enough to get to the national tournament you have to play three games in a row and you have to play them in 24 hours (apart). That is like the national tournament. This is also an opportunity to come home and play in front of our fans and for kids, they got a chance to be home with their families before hand.

“We beat Huntington two days ago and they are a really good team and we beat George Brown and now St. Clair College. We got a chance to play a lot of guys in those games and try to work on some things,” continued Pleasant. “We’ve know we can win three in three days and we know we’ve played as tough of a schedule as anybody.”

Rochester College (11-6) opened its game with St. Clair College (1-8) with a 12-2 run. The lead extended to 33-12 with five minutes to go in the half before the Warriors settled for a 41-17 lead at the half.

Rochester College outscored St. Clair 36-24 in the second half, although the Warriors played all 11 available players in the second half, with 10 playing at least 14 minutes.

Evan Walker paced a balanced attack with 15 points. Dramel Hogan added 14 points, Ricky Doran chipped in with nine points and Sean Mattia had nine points and five assists for Rochester College, which displayed unselfish basketball with 24 assists on 31 made baskets.

The Warriors finished the game 51 percent from the floor, going 31-for-61 while outrebounding the guests 33-27 and forcing 20 turnovers.

Stephan Gray scored 15 and Anthony DeRose added 13 points for St. Clair College, which was held to only 19-for-48 shooting (39.6 percent).

“I feel like something special is in the works,” said Pleasant. “We do have a lot of experience on this team and guys are. We have great leadership from guys like Stephan (Henning) and we’ve played as tough as a schedule as we could have in the first couple of months of the season. I think everything that we’ve done weill prepare us for the rest of the season.”

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Category: Campus Clips, Colleges / Other, Featured Articles, Rochester College, Top Stories, Uncategorized

About Dan Stickradt: DAN STICKRADT | SENIOR EDITOR dan.stickradt@northoaklandsports.com View author profile.

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