Uni almost outclassed the struggling seniors
Craig Ritchie St Mirren senior men collected their championship trophy and medals ahead of another stunning win to round off the league season.
Saints lost the tip along with the first basket, but they regrouped to get themselves in control of the clash.
Turnover after turnover followed to keep the score and the entertainment high for the capacity crowd.
Keeping in mind last week’s 44 points in the first 10 minutes, 9-8 ahead after seven minutes was a poor reflection on what the hometown Saints are capable off.
Nick Collins and Chris Cleary were the only scorers in that opening period, putting some last-minute daylight between Saints and the university as the score reached to 18-12.
The second period had the Paisley coaches looking down the bench for inspiration and, by half-time, everyone had a chance to contribute.
But that plan failed as the scoring rate refused to budge.
Dave Johnston put in a lot of effort for his seven-point total — almost half of the 15 points Saints added to the score board, as half time landed at 33-26.
This season has seen the return of Saints being big in the third quarter and the only hope for this game was that the blitz was about to happen.
Cleary tried with his 12 points, including three long range attempts, and Dale Grieve added a three-pointer to help.
But the Buddies lost the quarter at 26-22 to get to the final period at a poor 55- 52 ahead.
Drastic action was called for and a complete change of personnel for the start of the period worked wonders.
The visitors did make two early free throws to get the score to one point at 55-54, then the Saints machine got into gear as Collins, Chris Barron and Scott Armstrong hit the points and Euan Glass and Fergus Harte provided the energy.
A mighty 33 points later and Saints were wondering what the fuss was about as they closed out their league campaign with the win at 88-64.
The visitors’ high energy game disappeared in the final period as they were held to 12 points that included two lastminute three-pointers when the game was long gone.
Saints’ scorers on the night were Collins on 28, with 11 in the final period, and Chris Cleary with 24 in a much improved season,
Saints have a couple of weeks off before the post- season play-off competition begins.