Antigonish, NS – The STFX X-Men completed the weekend sweep over the UNB Reds Sunday afternoon with an 82-69 victory at the Saputo Centre.
The X-Men defense came ready to play Sunday afternoon as they held the Reds to only eight points in the first quarter.
STFX held a 15-6 lead midway through the opening frame thanks to back-to-back three pointers from Bennett Grumbach (Toronto, ON) and Avan Nava (Mississauga, ON).
The home squad closed out the quarter with a 23-8 lead.
The X-Men kept up their strong defensive efforts as the Reds were held off the scoreboard for the opening two minutes of the second quarter as STFX extended their lead to 28-11.
The Reds closed the gap and trailed by 10 points, 35-25 with two minutes left in the half.
The 10-point lead held up at halftime as STFX was up 37-27. Dondre Reddick (Antigonish, NS) led the X-Men with 11 points in the opening half, including a pair from three-point range.
Brandon Laryea (Crawley, UK) and Norm Burry (Grafton, NB) each scored seven for UNB.
The Reds slowly chipped away at the STFX lead in the third quarter, closing the gap to three points, 52-49 with three minutes to play after a Burry three-pointer.
Nava and Reddick replied with treys for the X-Men and they held onto a 62-52 lead after three quarters as each squad scored 25 points in the frame.
In a physical fourth quarter the Reds were unable to gain ground on the X-Men who held onto their advantage for the remainder of the game en route to the xx victory.
Subway player of the game Reddick scored a game-high 26 points for the X-Men. Nava scored 19 and Antoine Vernon (Hamilton, ON) added 10.
Burry earned player of the game honours for UNB, netting a team-high 25 points. Tyrell Leotaud (Ajax, ON) and Ibrahima Doumbouya (Calgary, AB) each had double-double afternoons for the Reds. Leotaud scored 11 and had 10 rebounds while Doumbouya netted 11 and pulled in 10 boards.
With the win, the X-Men improve to 7-6 on the season and now sit in a four-way tie for second place with 18 points, along with UPEI, Memorial and Cape Breton.
The Reds drop to 5-7 and are in sixth place. They next see action on Friday, March 4th when they host the Cape Breton Capers.
The X-Men will travel to Charlottetown on Sunday, March 6th to take on the UPEI Panthers.
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Courtesy Krista McKenna, STFX Sports Information
Congrats to Dondre Reddick, Subway Player of the Game with 26 pts in the X-Men's 82-69 victory over UNB today! #GoXGo #SubwayFuel pic.twitter.com/2xd6LFq7Y6
— StFX Athletics (@StFXAthletics) February 27, 2022