Antigonish, NS – The STFX X-Men began their pre-season competition with a 93-58 victory over the University of King's College Blue Devils Saturday evening on Coach K Court. The Blue Devils play out of the Atlantic Collegiate Athletic Association.
The victory marked X-Men basketball head coach Tyrell Vernon's first career win as a U SPORTS head coach as he is in his first year at the helm of the X-Men. After the game he noted, "It feels good and hopefully there's many more."
The X-Men got out to a commanding 26-5 after the first quarter of play then built it up to 59-20 at halftime after outscoring the Blue Devils 33-15 in the second quarter.
The visitors picked up the pace in the third quarter and out-hustled the X-Men 22-16 though STFX held a 75-42 advantage after 30 minutes.
The fourth quarter was a close one with the X-Men holding an 18-16 scoring advantage over the Blue Devils.
Coach Vernon thought his team worked hard tonight, noting, "We had a great first half, I think they were really locked in. We challenged them with the score being what it was and there was a little bit of adversity there in the third quarter but it was good to see them battle back and steady the ship."
He continued, "There was games within the game, and challenges within the game that I found the boys for the most part overall did a good job."
Although official game statistics were not recorded for the exhibition match, Justin Andrew and Avan Nava led the X-Men in scoring, each netting 15 points.
Dondre Reddick scored 14 points, Bennett Grumbach netted 13 and David Muenkat added 12.
Rounding out the X scoring attack was Handy Disanka (7), Sidney Okeke (4), Jamie White (4), Antoine Vernon (2) and Gatluak James (1).
Coach Vernon commented, "This was a team effort and I think team defense is going to be what helps us win games. Everyone gave all their effort tonight."
The X-Men will next see action next weekend when they travel to Acadia for the Stu Aberdeen Invitational tournament October 1-3. They will meet AUS opponents Dalhousie, Saint Mary's and Acadia.
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Courtesy Krista McKenna, STFX Sports Information
STFX University President Dr. Andy Hakin presents X-Men Basketball head coach Tyrell Vernon with the game ball following the X-Men's 93-58 exhibition victory over King's College, marking Coach Vernon's first career victory as a U SPORTS head coach.