Antigonish, NS – The Dalhousie Tigers (13-4) earned an important 77-65 come-from-behind victory over the StFX X-Men (8-7) Tuesday evening at the StFX Oland Centre. Worth four-points in the standings, the Tigers moved into sole possession of first place, two points ahead of UNB (10-6) in a tight AUS race.
Paced by Subway player of the game Karshrell Lawrence (Brampton, ON) with 18 points and 10 rebounds, the U SPORTS No. 10 ranked Tigers overcame a 12-point deficit at half-time en route to the win, outscoring the X-Men 51-27 in the second half.
It was the home team X-Men who got out to an early first quarter advantage as the Tigers struggled to connect from field goal range (5-18). StFX were up 23-13 after the opening 10 minutes of play.
The X-Men defense held the Tigers scoreless until 4:57 into the second quarter as the Tigers had several costly turnovers, finding themselves down 38-26 at half-time.
In the third quarter the Tigers closed the gap and showed why they are one of the top contenders in the AUS conference this season. Down by seven points midway through the third quarter, they took their first lead in the game, 45-44 with 2:33 left. After back-and-forth action, the Tigers trailed the X-Men 51-48 after the third quarter.
The fourth quarter saw dominance from the three-point line from the visiting Tigers as they dished six treys to increase their lead and pull away from the X-Men. Sven Stammberger (Halifax, NS) with 16 points on the night, scored three of his four three-pointers in the final quarter. He also had seven boards in the game.
The X-Men couldn't close the gap as the Dalhousie outplayed the home team 29-14 in the final stanza en route to the win.
Lawrence and Stammberger were the high scorers with Warren Laing (Vancouver, BC) chipping in eight from the Tigers bench. Richie Kanza Mata (Toronto, ON) had eight rebounds, eight assists and six points.
X-Men forward Kevin Bercy (Kanata, ON) continued his strong play for the X-Men, scoring a game-high 24 points, along with 12 rebounds for a double-double night.
Julius Antoine (Woodbridge, ON) scored 12 points and Tristen Ross (Truro, ON) netted nine off the X-Men bench.
Next on the AUS schedule for the X-Men is a trip to Fredericton on February 10th and 11th for games against UNB. The Tigers will host Saint Mary's on February 17th.