ANTIGONISH, NS – In a match featuring the top two teams in the AUS, the STFX X-Men had a dominant 89-65 win over the visiting Memorial Sea-Hawks on Friday night at Coach K Court. The teams are now tied for first place in the standings.
Dondre Reddick (Antigonish, NS) had a big game for the home team, dropping 21 points with five rebounds, with Gatluak James (Windsor, ON) adding 13 points and 10 rebounds, while Bennett Grumbach (Toronto, ON) had 11 points and five rebounds.
For Memorial, Flynn Boardman-Raffet (London, EG) netted 20 points and six rebounds, while Josh Reimer (St. John's, NL) added 12 points and four rebounds, and Nicholas Tuff (St. John's, NL) had 10 points and five rebounds.
Reddick, the AUS player of the game, picked up the first four points of the game and the X-Men built up a 7-0 lead before the Sea-Hawks were about to find the basket. Momentum took a big swing in favour of the visitors for the next few minutes, and a 14-point run by the Sea-Hawks gave them a seven point lead late in the quarter. A physical first 10 minutes ended with Memorial out front 14-9.
STFX scored the first eight points of the second quarter, gaining a three-point lead. The teams traded scores, and Memorial made it a one-point game with about a minute left in the half, but STFX took a 34-31 lead heading into the locker room. Reddick picked up nine points in the half for the home side, while Tuff had eight for the visitors.
The X-Men scored the first 10 points of the second half in the first two minutes, before Memorial called a time out. The X-Men lead by as many as 15 in the first half of the quarter, and they continued to pour on the offensive pressure, starting the fourth quarter leading 67-47.
Memorial opened the scoring in the final 10 minutes, but weren't able to mount a comeback. Tempers flared a bit mid-way through the quarter, leading to unsportsmanlike fouls for both teams. STFX outpaced Memorial for the remainder of the quarter on route to the victory.
The same two teams will square off again on Saturday night in Antigonish at 8 p.m.
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Recap courtesy Matt Draper, STFX Athletics