Antigonish, NS – The STFX X-Men defeated the Saint Mary's Huskies 112-102 Saturday night on Coach K Court at the Saputo Centre in a high scoring, fast-paced affair.
The teams split a home-and-home series as they played another exciting game Wednesday night in Halifax that saw the Huskies come away with 96-93 win.
A fast-paced first quarter saw the X-Men get out to a 31-24 lead. Both teams hit several three-pointers in the opening frame.
The Huskies were paced early on by Qyemah Gibson (Eleuthera BH) who scored 12 and Jayrell Diggs (East Preston, NS) with 10.
Dondre Reddick (Antigonish, NS) netted 12 points for the X-Men, include a pair from beyond the three-point arc.
Justin Andrew (Hamilton, ON) extended the X-Men lead to 10 early in the second quarter as he started it off with a three.
STFX maintained their lead throughout the second quarter and were up 51-43 at halftime.
Despite the energy of the home crowd at Coach K Court, the Huskies battled their way back into the game in the third quarter and were trailing by four, 59-55 with six minutes to play.
Shea Brown (Vaughan, ON) was key for the Huskies, while Reddick continued his strong play for the X-Men, drawing fouls in the paint and cashing in at the free throw line.
Turnovers were costly for the X-Men as the Huskies made them pay at the basket. Despite this, the X-Men led 77-74 after the third quarter.
SMU pulled even at 78-78 less than two minutes into the fourth quarter thanks to a Brown three-pointer.
Andrew hit a couple of key three-pointers for the X-Men, including one with just over four minutes to play that put the X-Men up 94-86.
A David Muenkat (Brampton, ON) dunk with under two minutes to play brought the crowd to their feet as the X-Men held onto a 102-94 lead down the stretch.
Muenkat was key for the X-Men in the paint on both offense and defense throughout the night and he finished with a true double-double scoring 16 points and hauling in 16 rebounds.
The Huskies could not close the gap in the final minutes and the X-Men closed out the 112-101 victory.
Reddick had a career-highlight night, posting up 35 points and nabbing 13 rebounds as his double-double effort earned him Subway Player of the Game honours.
Andrew had 25 points, including 5 from three-point range. Avan Nava (Mississauga, ON) added 16.
For the Huskies, Gibson finished with 34 points and nine rebounds while Brown had 24. Diggs added 17 points and Nikita Kasongo ( Montreal QC) scored 16 and had nine boards.
Both teams will be back in AUS action on Wednesday night, November 17th. The Huskies will travel crosstown to play Dalhousie, while the X-Men will host Cape Breton. Tip-off for both games is 8:00 pm.
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Courtesy Krista McKenna, STFX Sports Information
Shout out to Dondre Reddick, Subway Player of the Game in STFX's 112-101 win over SMU! Massive double-double night with 35 PTS & 24 RB! #SubwayFuel pic.twitter.com/nE9i8mbVJn
— StFX Athletics (@StFXAthletics) November 14, 2021