Sea-Hawks split weekend series with X-Men

Antigonish, NS – The Memorial Sea-Hawks split the weekend series with the StFX X-Men with a 102-85 victory Sunday afternoon at the Saputo Centre.

The X-Men had won Saturday's game 99-91 in overtime but each team will earn four points in the AUS standings with the game split.

In an evenly played first quarter, the Sea-Hawks led 19-17 after the opening 15 minutes.

They outscored the X-Men 28-19 in the second quarter to take a 47-36 lead into the locker room at halftime. Cole Long (St. John's, NL) had 12 points for the Sea-Hawks in the opening half, including a pair of three-pointers in the second quarter.

The third quarter saw the X-Men turn the game around, scoring a big 33 points to Memorial's 19. Jaydan smith (Halifax, NS) and Avan Nava (Mississauga, ON) were lighting it up from three-point range as smith scored 11 points and Nava and Azaro Roker (Nassau, Bahamas) each scored eight.

StFX was up by three points, 69-66 after the third.

The fourth quarter was the opposite of the third as the Sea-Hawks put their foot on the gas pedal and started to quickly run away with the game.

Memorial led 86-77 with five minutes left to play thanks to sharp shooting from beyond the three-point arc.

The X-Men struggled on the defensive side of the ball as the Sea-Hawks increased their advantage to 13 points at 94-81 with three and a half minutes to go.

The X-Men were unable to find their rhythm, as shots were not falling in the final minutes of play and the Sea-Hawks played out the 102-85 victory.

Long finished with 28 points and 13 rebounds in a big double-double game for Memorial. He also dished six assists and had four steals. Jason Thompson St. John's, NL) scored 16, as did Emanuel Ring (St. John's, NL) off the bench.

Subway player of the game Jeff Damalie (Accra, Ghana) played a strong defensive game for Memorial with 10 rebounds.

Roker finished with a big double-double game for the X-Men with 24 points and 13 rebounds.

Nava scored 16 points, Dondre Reddick (Antigonish, NS) had 12 and Smith contributed 11.  

The game marks the end of first term AUS competition as the schedule breaks for exams and the holiday. The fourth place X-Men (3-4) will next see action on Saturday, January 4^th when they travel to Fredericton for a game against the UNB Reds (4-3).

The Sea-Hawks (5-3) are in second place, and will also be in action on January 4^th when they host the first place Dalhousie Tigers (6-0).

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Courtesy StFX Sports Information