Hamilton, ON - The McMaster Marauders defeated the St. Francis Xavier X-Men 80-63 on Saturday afternoon in CIS exhibition play.  

The Marauders saw the X-Men knock down the first two shots of the game to grab a quick 5-0 lead, but a Danylo Kostecki trey gave McMaster a 12-9 lead midway through the opening quarter, and the men in maroon never trailed again. The lead at the end of the first quarter was 19-14.

McMaster picked up the pace in the second quarter and built the lead up to 15, before the X-Men rallied late and carved the deficit down to 10 at the intermission, at 41-31.

StFX made a run in the third quarter and got within five points, but Marauder Connor Gilmore hit two 3-point bombs to maintain the Mac cushion. After 30 minutes, McMaster was in front 63-52.

The final stanza saw the Marauders attack the basket with their big men, and behind Rohan Boney, Matt Quiring, and Gilmore, the McMaster lead stayed in double-digits. Once the X-Men were in the penalty midway through the quarter, chances of a comeback became slim. Both teams were able to go to their benches down the stretch and the biggest Mac lead was 20 points at 80-60.

McMaster got very balanced scoring, led by Boney with 20 and Gilmore with 18; Quiring with 10 and Dave McCulloch with 10 also hit double figures. Gilmore also collected 10 rebounds for a double-double outing.

The top scorer for the X-Men was Cameron Walker with 12. Kevin Bercy scored 11 and hauled in 12 rebounds, with Davonte Provo also neeting 11 points on the night. Tristen Ross scored 10 off the X bench and Julius Antoine added seven.

The Marauders struggled from long-range, only making 6 of 30 three-point attempts (20%). On this day it was points in the paint that got the job done as McMaster did shoot 46% from the floor, while StFX only made 39% of its field-goals attempts. The Marauders held a solid 41-31 edge in the rebounding battle.

The Marauders will next face the defending AUS champion Dalhousie Tigers on Sunday, October 9th at 3 p.m. in the Burridge Gym as the non-conference schedule continues. 

The X-Men wrap up their three game exhibition trip to Ontario and next see action on October 14th and 15th back homein Antigonish when they will host the X-Men Invitational tournament. StFX will play Holland College on Friday night, Oct. 14th at 8:00 pm.

Courtesy McMaster Sports Information