Antigonish, NS – The Saint Mary's Huskies defeated the host StFX X-Men 112-106 in overtime in the consolation final of the 37th annual X-Men Pizza Delight Invitational tournament Saturday evening at the Oland Centre.
It was the second overtime game in as many nights for the Huskies, who dropped a 102-100 overtime decision Friday night to the Dalhousie Tigers in tournament semi-final action. The X-Men fell 83-62 to the MSVU Mystics in the other semifinal game.
Saturday's game featured a better effort on the part of the X-Men and a close game throughout the first half by the two AUS rivals. StFX held a 25-22 lead after the first quarter and were up 43-41 at halftime.
After outscoring the X-Men 30-21 in the third quarter the Huskies took a 71-64 lead after 30 minutes of play. They held onto that lead throughout the fourth quarter but the X-Men kept their hopes alive and were within two points with under a minute to play.
With seconds left on the clock, Julius Antoine (Woodbridge, ON) tossed up an off-balance three-pointer which sunk to tie the game at 97-97 and send it to overtime.
The X-Men held a four-point lead midway through the overtime frame thanks to a three-pointer by Tristen Ross (Truro, NS) but the Huskies fought their way back into the game and overcame the deficit to claim the 112-106 victory.
Player of the game Brian Rouse (Mississauga, ON) led the Huskies in scoring with 29 points. He also had four rebounds and four assists.
Marquis Clayton (Halifax, NS) scored 26 points for the Huskies, with six rebounds, four assists and five steals. Achuil Lual (Ottawa, ON) netted 18 and had five boards.
Kemar Alleyne (Scarborough, ON) contributed 14 points and Kadeem Thompson (Toronto, ON) added 13 off the bench for SMU, going 3-4 from three-point range.
Replying for the X-Men was player of the game Julius Antoine with 29 points and 12 rebounds for a double-double night. He also had four assists and three steals.
Kevin Bercy (Ottawa, ON) also had a double-double night for the X-Men with 13 points and 12 rebounds. He added eight assists and three steals.
Cameron Walker (Dallas, TX) scored 19 for StFX and Akil Charles (Glen Dale, MD) netted 18. Davonte Provo (East Preston, NS) chipped in 10 points.
The Dalhousie Tigers defeated the Mount Saint Vincent Mystics 93-66 in the championship game to win the X-Men Invitational tournament title.
Tigers Sven Stammberger was named tournament MVP while tournament all-stars were awarded to StFX's Julius Antoine, Brian Rouse and Marquis Clayton of Saint Mary's, Derek Norris (MSVU) and Cedric Sanogo (Dalhousie).
The X-Men will be back in action next weekend, October 23-25 when they travel to Sydney, NS to compete in the Capers Fall Classic.