(HALIFAX, N.S.) The CIS No. 10 ranked Acadia Axemen made key fourth quarter shots and defeated the Saint Mary's Huskies 75-74 Tuesday night in Atlantic University Sport men's basketball action.
Acadia's Owen Klassen scored 11 of his game high 25 points in the fourth quarter, including the Axemen's last five points down the stretch.
The game started with Acadia jumping out to a 19-8 lead after 10 minutes and a 36-28 halftime cushion.
The Huskies chip away at the Acadia lead in the second half, building themselves a 54-51 lead after thirty minutes due in part to a 26 point outburst in the quarter.
Spectators were treated to a frantic paced fourth quarter as Acadia opened up with a 4-0 run to take a 55-54 lead with 9:08 left in the game.
Huskies' buckets by Harry Ezenibe and Brian Rouse restored the Huskies lead to 55-58 when Klassen nailed a three-pointer to tie the game 58-58 with 7:04 left.
Acadia then made three foul shots before SMU's Theon Reefer's bucket trimmed the Axemen lead to 61-60 with 5:14 left on the scoreboard.
Four straight free throws by Saint Mary's gave the Huskies a 64-61lead with 4:19 left in the game. Both teams traded baskets before a three-pointer from Acadia tied the game at 66-66 with 3:22 left to play.
Two Huskie free throws followed by a free throw from Acadia gave the Huskies a 68-67 lead with 2:48 left to play.
Another Rouse bucket with 2:09 left, gave Saint Mary's a three point lead when Acadia hit another three pointer to tie the game up once again at 70-70 with 2:02 on the clock. With 1:18 on the clock, Klassen fired up a three-pointer for Acadia's biggest lead of the quarter, 73-70
.
Saint Mary's basket at the 1:12 mark closed the Acadia gap to 73-72 when Boyd Vassell hit two foul shots to give the Huskies a 74-73 lead with 0:15 seconds left to play.
Acadia inbounded the ball and it found the hands of Klassen, who was fouled with 0:02 seconds left. Klassen made both free throws for the 75-74 Acadia win, who improve to 10-3 in AUS play.
Anthony Ashe's second game since his return from injury resulted in 12 points while Anthony Sears and Kyle Arsenault added 12 and 11 points respectively. Klassen led Acadia's rebounding effort with 12 while second year post Rhys Larry added 6 along with Arnsenault.
Saint Mary's fall to 9-5 on the year resulting in a three-way tie for 2nd place with UPEI and STFX, while the Axemen hold onto first place heading into UNB for a double header weekend in Fredericton. The Huskies travel to StFX Friday January for their only game of the weekend.