Fredericton, NB: In their final game of the AUS regular season, the StFX X-Men fell 91-78 to their UNB Varsity Reds Saturday night at the Richard J. Currie Center.
The X-Men close out the season in fourth place with an 11-9 record. At the upcoming AUS basketball championship slated for Feb. 28th to Mar. 2nd at the Halifax Metro Centre, the X-Men will face the same Varsity Reds squad in Friday's first quarterfinal match. The V-Reds finished in fifth place. The winner will advance to meet first place Acadia in Saturday's semi-final.
In their loss to UNB on Saturday, the game got off at a brisk pace early with both teams matching shot-for-shot, creating an 8-8 score in the first five minutes. StFX pulled ahead briefly with a deep three from Jordan Clark, to get ahead 18-16. The lead was quickly eliminated as William McFee drove hard to the net, drawing a foul and capitalizing on the three-point-play to lead the game 23-18.
McFee's shooting arm stayed hot as he kicked the second quarter off scoring back-to-back three point shots, extending the lead 33-22. UNB continued to make quick work of the visiting X-Men as Javon Masters drove to the net, getting the hoop and the harm to make the score 38-22. The X-Men fought back with Kevin Bercy netting his own three-point-play to bring them closer, 42-36.
Jordan Irvine sank an early three in the third quarter to spark things for the V-Reds 61-51. Clark answered back, scoring a long deuce to keep the X-Men in it, 69-55. Masters continued to perform for the V-Reds, keeping the distance from the X-Men at 73-61.
In the final quarter McFee sank yet another three-pointer taking a 14 point lead at 78-62. The game continued at a fast pace, with both teams going end to end in a matter of seconds. Masters kept his foot on the gas, draining a jump-shot and then a triple to lead the X-Men 86-70. They held on for the 91-78 victory.
Leading scorer for the V-Reds was Masters who put up 23 points and 7 assists. McFee added 20 points and 4 rebounds in the win, while Daniel Quirion netted 17 points.
Ryan Smith contributed 4 points for the Varsity Reds and Jordan Irvine scored 10 and had 9 rebounds.
Replying for the X-Men was Jordan Charke with a game-high 25 points, along with 3 rebounds. Will Donkoh had 14 points, 3 assists and 3 rebounds, while Kevin Bercy had a double-double night with 10 points and 10 boards.
With contributions from Tom Wilson, UNB Sports Information