X-Men secure second place with win over Axemen

Antigonish, NS – The STFX X-Men wrapped up AUS regular season play with a 101-82 victory over the Acadia Axemen Saturday night at the Saputo Centre, locking in second place in the AUS standings.  

The X-Men opened the game on a 9-0 scoring run as they gained an early lead.

The Axemen clawed their way back however, and with just over two minutes left Ryan Munro sank a three-pointer to pull the Axemen to within three at 18-15.

The Axemen then took their first lead of the game, 19-18 a minute later but a Justin Andrew three-pointer reversed that for X.

STFX held a slim 23-21 lead after the first quarter. Andrew scored eight points for X including a pair of treys. Alex Muise had seven points for the Axemen.

The second quarter featured more back and forth action with the lead see-sawing between each team but not straying more than four to six points either way.

Avan Nava sank a three pointer at the end of the quarter for the X-Men to give them a 48-41 lead at halftime.

David Muenkat was the top X-Men scorer in the first half with 16 points, while Andrew added 13.

Rowan Power netted nine points for the Axemen in the opening half and Thomas MacDonald had eight.

The X-Men pulled away further in the third quarter as they outscored the Axemen 28-21.

The home team held a 54-48 lead four minutes into the frame and expanded that lead to 13 points, 68-55 after Nava drained a three-pointer with three minutes left.

David Muenkat picks up Subway Player of the Game with 32 pts & 10 reb in the X-Men's 101-82 win over Acadia tonight! #goxgo #subwayfuel pic.twitter.com/LepH6T2elI

— StFX Athletics (@StFXAthletics) March 13, 2022

STFX held a 74-62 advantage after three quarters.

The fourth quarter saw more contributions off the STFX bench as they built up a 19-point lead a couple minutes in.

The lead was not relinquished as the X-Men closed out the 101-82 victory.

Subway player of the game Muenkat finished with a game-high 32 points and pulled in 10 rebounds for a double-double night for the X-Men.

Andrew netted 14 and had six rebounds, while Nava scored 11. Michael Utsalo added 10 points and seven rebounds.

For the Axemen, Power was the player of the game and topped the scoring with 19 points. He also had five rebounds and eight assists in the game.

Muise finished with 14 points and five rebounds and Brett Speedy contributed 13 off the Acadia bench.

Acadia wraps up the season with a 1-15 record in 8^th place in the AUS standings. They will tip-off against the No. 1 seeded Dalhousie Tigers on Thursday night, March 17^th at 8:30 pm in the Subway AUS Championship quarterfinals at the Halifax Scotiabank Centre.

StFX closes out the year at 10-6 in second place in the AUS with 16 points. They will meet the No. 7 seeded UNB Reds in Thursday's AUS quarterfinal at 3:00 pm at Halifax Scotiabank Centre.

The complete Subway AUS Championship schedule can be found by clicking here.

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Recap courtesy Krista McKenna, STFX Athletics

X-Men head coach Tyrell Vernon honours graduating student-athletes Jamie White (left) and Justin Andrew (right) pre-game.