Halifax, NS - In quarterfinal action Friday night at the 24th annual Dalhousie Rod Shoveller Invitational tournament, the X-Men defeated the UPEI Panthers by a close 84-82 margin in a game that went down to the wire.
Alastair Cole, a third year guard from Pickering, Ont. in his first season with the X-Men, scored a game-high 29 points including a last second, game-winning layup at the buzzer that gave StFX the victory.
Tyler Scott led the Panthers with 27 points and had given them an 80-79 lead in the final minute before fifth year forward Shane Coupland (Brisbane, AUS) downed his second three-pointer of the afternoon to give the X-Men a two-point advantage.
The Panthers called a timeout then executed a perfect inbounds play as Lorenzo Parker nailed a layup to tie the game at 80 with 14 seconds left.
The X-Men took the ball up the court, and Cole hit the layup with just 1.2 seconds left on the clock. The player of the game shot 10 for 17 and also had four rebounds off the bench for the X-Men.
The two teams traded buckets and leads throughout the game.
The Panthers jumped out to a 13-4 lead early in the first quarter but the X-Men fought back to regain the lead when Cole hit a three in the dying seconds of the frame to give the X-Men a 21-18 lead after ten minutes of play.
StFX built up a 45-33 halftime lead before the Panthers rallied back in the second half.
Julius Antoine (Woodbridge, ON) scored 15 points for the X-Men, while Coupland had a double-double game with 12 points and 13 rebounds.
Five X-Men were in double scoring figures as Jordan Tyrell (Montreal, QC) and Temitayo Shittu (Burlington, ON) each scored 10 points for the blue and white. Shittu also had five boards.
Tyler led the Panthers attack with 27 points, seven rebounds, four assists and four steals.
Geoff Doane scored 16 points for UPEI and had eight rebounds, while Ellis Ffrench contributed 10.
With the win, the X-Men advance to Saturday's semifinal game against the CIS No. 2 ranked Ottawa Gee Gees at 6:00 pm.
Ottawa handled Saint Mary's 115-72 in the first quarterfinal game. The 2014 CIS finalists are 8-0 in conference play and 19-1 overall this season.
UPEI will face Saint Mary's Huskies in consolation action Saturday at 1:00 pm.
McGill defeated Acadia 84-73 in the third quarterfinal game and will face the host Dalhousie Tigers in Saturday's 8:00 pm semi-final. The Tigers defeated MSVU 89-38.
The tournament championship game is slated for Sunday at 3:00 pm. The X-Men have won the Shoveller tournament on eight occasions.