The X-Men basketball team pulled off an exciting 71-70 victory over the Saint Mary’s Huskies Sunday afternoon at the StFX Oland Centre.

The two teams exchanged leads throughout the game, with the deciding basket being finalized in the last minute of the game. X-Men guard T-Bear Upshaw sunk one of two free throws to put StFX up by one point with under 30 seconds remaining, then the X defense forced a turnover as the Huskies were pressuring to score the winning hoop.

Upshaw led the X-Men with 19 points in the game, and also had 4 rebounds, 5 assists and 1 steal. Terrance Taylor and Jeremy Dunn each scored 15 points a piece for StFX. Taylor also had 7 rebounds in the game. Tyler Richards scored 14 points and had 4 rebounds and 2 assists.

Joey Haywood had a double-double afternoon for the Huskies, scoring 29 points and netting 10 rebounds while Mark McLaughlin scored 17.

The X-Men opened the first quarter with a 20-13 lead but the Huskies fought back in the second frame and held a close 39-37 lead at half-time. Both teams exchanged leads throughout the third and fourth quarters with the game going right down to the wire in favour of the X-Men by the one-point 71-70 margin.

With the win the X-Men improve their first place standing atop the AUS with a 10-1 record and 30 points, 8 more then the second place Huskies (8-4) and Capers (8-3), who moved into a tie with Saint Mary’s over the weekend.

The X-Men will travel to Cape Breton on Wednesday evening for a key four-point match-up against the Capers before coming home Saturday afternoon to host the last place UNB Varsity Reds (2-10) at 3:00 pm at the StFX Oland Centre.