Halifax, NS – In the tip off game for the 27th annual Rod and Joan Shoveller Memorial Tournament, the Saint Mary's Huskies took on the StFX X-Men at the Dalplex. The Huskies opened the game with hot shooting, and it carried them throughout to take the 87-53 victory.
It was a hot start for the Huskies from beyond the arc, hitting three straight from deep to get out to a double digit lead in the early minutes. The Huskies got early contributions from Johneil Johnson (Lake Echo, NS) and Nico Brauner (Hettenhain, GER) in the run.
On the other side, some turnovers, and cold shooting from normally automatic shooters led to a big deficit early for the X-Men, finding themselves down 29-15 at the end of the quarter.
The Huskies continued to play smothering defense in the second quarter, holding the X-Men to just five points through the first eight minutes of the quarter. The defensive play was highlighted by two huge blocks from Qyemah Gibson (Nassaau, Bahamas).
The X-Men picked up the offensive pressure in the final minutes of the quarter by getting into the paint, led by attacks from Atik Gilao (Brampton, ON) and Azaro Roker (Nassau, Bahamas) to get to the rim and earn trips to the line.
The Huskies continued to stretch their lead into the break however, knocking down ten shots from deep in the half to open up a 51-25 advantage going into the third.
It continued to rain threes in the early minutes of the second half with Justin Andrew (Hamilton, ON) and Kemar Alleyne (Toronto, ON) trading shots from deep.
The shooting settled down in the remainder of the quarter as both teams began to attack the paint consistently instead of settling for outside shots.
Play continued this way throughout the fourth quarter.
The lead for the Huskies continued to grow in the final quarter as they came away with the 87-53 win to open the tournament.
Kemar Alleyne finished with 13 points and 6 assists to lead the Huskies, while Justin Andrew topped the X-Men with 10 points.
The matchups for Saturday will see the X-Men play Holland College at 1:00 pm on the consolation side of the tournament bracket. The Huskies will play Memorial at 6:00 pm in the first semifinal.
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Courtesy Kirk Jessome, Dalhousie Sports Information