WOLFVILLE, N.S. – Kemar Alleyne led the Huskies in an 82-79 edging of the hometown Acadia Axemen with 22 points and eight rebounds. Alleyne posted 17 second-half points and grabbed the honours as the Subway Player of the Game in the 4-point win.
A game that saw 11 lead changes, the largest lead of 11 points by the Axemen with just under eight minutes remaining in the game, closed in dramatic fashion as the Huskies worked back from an 11 point deficit in the final frame to a three-point win.
The Huskies not only bettered the Axemen in field goal percentage of 41.8% compared to Acadia's 35.3%, but they also posted a 24-18 points in the paint advantage and took advantage of a low number of free throw opportunities.
But an 11-2 run with over seven minutes remaining in the final frame gave the Axemen what most saw as an insurmountable lead considering how close the game had been up to this point.
Three-point baskets by Alleyne and Brent Martindale closed the gap to three points and Nico Brauner's layup brought Saint Mary's to within one. Nikita Kasongo's slam dunk with just over four minutes remaining in the game gave the Huskies a lead that would faulter only once in the closing two minutes when Trevon Grant's made layup gave Acadia a brief 78-76 lead.
Alleyne put the final nail in the coffin with a three-point jump shot with 1:10 remaining to give the Huskies a 79-78 lead. The lead would hold for the win.
Acadia's senior center Erik Nissen led all scorers with 31 points and nine rebounds. Ben Miller led the Axemen in rebounding with 10 and netted 13 points.
Huskies' Nikita Kasongo and Brent Martindale had 16 and 15 points respectively, while off the bench, Asher Lewis added 10.
The Axemen and Huskies will tango again next Friday, February 9th in Halifax. Saint Mary's will have one game before the rubber-match when they travel to StFX next Tuesday night. Acadia drops to 12-3 and remains in second place – two points ahead of UNB, while the Huskies improve to 8-6 and trail UNB by eight points.