STFX dominate Panthers in 104-54 win to claim conference banner

Halifax, NS – The defensive-minded STFX X-Men are the 2023 Atlantic University Sport conference champions after a decisive 104-54 victory over the UPEI Panthers in the championship game Sunday afternoon at Scotiabank Centre.

The first place and U SPORTS No. 5 ranked X-Men dominated the second place UPEI Panthers from the opening tip-off, never letting them get into the game as they avenged a 105-88 loss to the same Panthers squad in last year's AUS semi-final game.

The victory marked the first AUS championship title for the X-Men in 17 years, dating back to 2006 when they won three consecutive championships in 2004, 2005 and 2006.

STFX head coach Tyrell Vernon noted after the game that his team did a "great job of buying into the scout. Everything that we wrote on that paper those guys tried their best to do. They really bought into the 'KYP' - knowing your personnel, and how we were going to defend, who we were going to make shoot, who's going to beat us, who's not going to beat us, and we stuck to the game plan."

The X-Men opened the game with a three-pointer from Avan Nava (Mississauga, ON) then the teams took the next couple minutes to burn off some nervous energy, exchanging scoring chances but not many baskets. STFX opened the game on a 7-0 run.

Thanks to six consecutive points by Nava and some slick offensive moves, the X-Men found themselves up 14-2 midway through the first quarter. The Panthers called a timeout to re-group and Kamari Scott (Malton, ON) tried to ignite their offense after sinking a three, but the X-Men built up a 26-13 lead after the first quarter of play.

The X-Men offense continued their strong play into the second quarter. Bennett Grumbach (Toronto, ON) was consistent from three-point range and the blue and white had scoring threats from all over the court.

UPEI struggled against the tough STFX defense and were held to nine points in the second quarter, compared to 29 for the X-Men who took a 55-22 lead into the locker room at halftime.

Nava scored 13 first half points for the X-Men and Steven Levnaic (Stoney Creek, ON) added seven. Scott was the top scorer for the Panthers with seven. STFX held AUS most valuable player and first team all-star Elijah Miller (Rexdale, ON) scoreless in the opening 20 minutes.

The third quarter continued in the X-Men's favor as they opened on a 7-0 run. The Panthers continued to struggle on offense and a Dondre Reddick (Antigonish, NS) three-pointer midway through the quarter gave STFX a commanding 70-26 lead.

STFX outpaced the Panthers 28-16 in the third to go up 83-38 after three, essentially putting the game out of reach.

Bettering the Panthers 21-16 in the final quarter, the X-Men coasted to the 104-54 victory and their 13^th conference banner in team history.

The X-Men had five players in double scoring digits, including Subway player of the game, tournament all-star and tournament most valuable player David Muenkat who had a double-double game with 15 points and 10 rebounds.

Fellow tournament all-stars Nava and Reddick netted 16 and 14 points, respectively, while Deon Ejim (Brampton, ON) contributed 14 and Gatluak James (Windsor, ON) had a big game off the X bench with 11 points and 12 rebounds.

Darren Clarke (Hamilton, ON) scored 12 points to lead the Panthers while Scott finished with eight points.

Panthers guard Elijah Miller was also named to the tournament all-star team, along with Cape Breton's Osman Omar.

Both the X-Men and Panthers will advance to the U SPORTS Final 8 national championship being hosted in the same Scotiabank Centre venue in Halifax March 10-12. STFX University is hosting the tournament and will also enter as the top seed from the AUS conference with their championship win. UPEI will represent the conference as the AUS runner-up.

Looking ahead to the national championship, Coach Vernon noted that, "It feels great, this is the way we were supposed to go in."

Joining the two teams at the Final 8 will be Canada West representatives Victoria and Winnipeg, along with two teams from the OUA conference, one from the RESQ and one more at-large berth. The U SPORTS Final 8 schedule will be finalized on March 4^th.

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Recap courtesy Krista McKenna, STFX Athletics

GAME NOTES:

• In regular season action, STFX and UPEI split the four games they played against each other, each winning a game at home and on the road. In early November in Charlottetown the X-Men lost to the Panthers 89-84 then won the following day 96-67. In late January, the X-Men defeated UPEI 89-58 on home court then dropped a 76-71 game the next day.
• UPEI's point total of 54 in the AUS championship game was their lowest offensive output this season, with the previous low coming in the 96-67 loss to the same STFX squad.
• Today's game marked the first time STFX and UPEI have ever met in an AUS championship conference final game.
• X-Men now have 13 AUS championship banners in their school history. UPEI has four AUS championship wins and remain in search of their first conference banner since 2003.
• X-Men head coach Tyrell Vernon will return to the U SPORTS national championship, but this time behind the bench. He was a member of the STFX team that won the U SPORTS bronze medal in 2012, their last on the national stage.

STFX X-Men named to the tournament all-star team (L to R): Dondre Reddick, Avan Nava and David Muenkat