X-Men dominate Capers in 90-71 win

The CIS ranked No. 4 StFX X-Men played a brilliant 40 minutes and beat the Cape Breton Capers 90-71 in front of a packed house of over 2000 in Antigonish, N.S. Saturday night.  StFX’s Shane Coupland was named Subway Player of the Game as he had 14 points, 7 rebounds and 2 blocks. 

Terry Thomas, who leads the team in scoring this season, also had a very strong game for the blue and white, converting on several highlight reel dunks to cap off a 21 point performance. He also added 7 rebounds and 3 steals.

Al Alilovic had double-double night with 19 points and 11 rebounds to lead the Capers, who were missing leading scorer Jimmy Dorsey as he was nursing an injury. Kelson Devereaux contributed 11 points and Meshack Lufile scored 10.

Marquis Clayton and Will Donkoh each had 13 points to provide valuable secondary scoring for the X-Men.

StFX shot 31% from field goal range and 21% from three point range. Coupland and Donkoh each provided two three-point trays.

The X-Men dominated the game from start to finish, and got off to a roaring start going on a 12-2 run to open the first quarter.  An early Terry Thomas alley-oop off a Tyrell Vernon set-up got the sold-out crowd into the game right away and the X-Men never looked back. They maintained a 20-10 lead after the first quarter.

The Capers were never able to grab the momentum from the X-Men the whole night, suffering without their leading scorer in Dorsey. StFX took a 32-49 lead into the dressing room at half-time and were ahead by a convincing 72-43 margin after three quarters of play en route to the 90-71 victory.

With the win the X-Men (9-2) currently sit in second place in the AUS conference with 22 points, two back of first place UPEI (9-3) who have a game in hand.

The X-Men continue play next Sunday, January 29th in Halifax against the sixth place Dalhousie Tigers (4-6). The Capers fall to 7-5 and will host UNB in a pair of matches on January 27th and 28th.