Wolfville, NS – The STFX X-Men basketball team competed in the annual Stu Aberdeen tournament at Acadia University this weekend, playing to a 1-2 record. The X-Men faced AUS opponents Dalhousie, Saint Mary's and Acadia.
On Friday night against the AUS defending champion Dalhousie Tigers, the X-Men fell 84-79 in a close game that saw the Tigers mount a second half comeback for the win.
STFX opened the game with leads of 18-15 after the first quarter and 43-30 at half before the Tigers battled their way back and took the win by the five-point margin. (Game statistics were incomplete).
On Saturday evening the X-Men again played a close game, coming out on the losing end of a 93-89 results to the Saint Mary's Huskies.
The game was close throughout, STFX were up 25-22 after the first quarter as the teams went head to head. SMU lead by a narrow 46-44 margin at halftime and 74-70 after three quarters as they hung on for the eventual victory.
On Sunday afternoon the X squad tipped off against the host Acadia Axemen and played to a decisive 92-62 win.
STFX held leads of 21-17 after one, 40-29 at half and 66-47 after three quarters en route to the victory.
X-Men head coach Tyrell Vernon noted that the tournament was a great start for his team and "a great start in forming our identity and what we want to be."
"It was great to be playing against some of the best competition in the AUS this early on. Dalhousie were national medalists and the SMU roster is also full of talent. We lost those two games by only a combined eight total points and were only a couple of missed plays away from winning those games."
Vernon continued, "We still haven't formed our identity as of yet. This weekend was promising but it also showed us how much we have to work on. It was great to go against that talent right away and I felt our guys responded in the final game against Acadia and it was a footstep in the right direction."
"After two tough loses it showed us what was acceptable and unacceptable going forward and I think the games came down to defense. In that third game did what we were supposed to do and did our job. We're close, but not there yet."
The X-Men will be back in action on Saturday, October 9th when they host the UPEI Panthers in pre-season exhibition action. Tip-off is 4:00 pm at the STFX Saputo Centre.
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Courtesy Krista McKenna, STFX Sports Information