Basketball Axemen split weekend vs Memorial

(St. John's, N.L.) The Memorial Sea-Hawks beat the Acadia Axemen in the first game of the weekend series on Saturday with a 98-69 decision but fell short in the second matchup where the Axemen dominated from beginning to end in a 71-56 victory over the Memorial Sea-Hawks in AUS men's basketball action Sunday afternoon. The Axemen snapped an seven game losing streak.

In the first game, the Sea-Hawks were on the board first in the opening quarter and almost four minutes into play were up 10-2 over the visiting Axemen. Acadia started to close the gap when Sean Stoqua (Ottawa, O.N.) provided back to back three pointers half way through the quarter. The two teams finished the first with a deadlock at 25 points.

The second quarter was again tightly contested, with Memorial outshooting Acadia by just one point. They went into the half up 50-49 thanks to a dunk by Vasilije Curcic (Kragujevac, SER) with 19 seconds left on the clock.

The Sea-Hawks made a push in the second half, doubling the visitor's points in the third and outshooting them 22-7 in the last quarter. Acadia missed all six free-throw attempts, while the home team was 50% from the line. Memorial took the game by 29 points over Acadia with a final score of 98-69.

Curcic led the Sea-Hawks in the win with 29 points, nine rebounds and two blocks. He was followed closely by Caleb Gould (Aurora, O.N.) at 26 points, nine rebounds and five assists. Daniel Foo (Corner Brook, N.L.) contributed 22 of his own which included a trio of three-pointers earning him the AUS Subway Player of the Game honours.

Third year guard Sean Stoqua had a team-high 19 points and 10 rebounds for the Axemen.  Shaquille Smith (North Preston, N.S.) was close behind, contributing 16 of his own and eight rebounds in the loss.

Memorial improves to 6-11 on the season while Acadia is now 4-14. The four-point victory gives the Sea-Hawks 18 points in the last playoff position, eight over seventh place Acadia.

The Acadia Axemen claimed their first victory in eight games, splitting the weekend with Memorial in the second of a two game weekend.
 
The first quarter was a tight one with the home team squeezing out only a two point lead over Acadia. Memorial was 100% from the free-throw line while second year guard, Kieran Hawskley (St. John's, N.L.) put two in from three-point distance in his four minutes off the bench.
 
In the second quarter Acadia began to inch away from Memorial, out-shooting them 19-16. Going into the half the Axemen were leading 35-34 thanks to fourth year Shaquille Smith's (North Preston, N.S.) layup with 30 seconds to go.
 
The second half saw Acadia come back strong as Memorial was unable to find cohesion making only four of 28 field attempts in the last two quarters. In the third quarter the Axemen out-shot the Sea-Hawks 21-10 and finished the third up by 12 points over the home team.
 
The last quarter was more even between the two teams as Memorial attempted to close the gap. Second year Sea-Hawk, Davion Parnsalu (Ajax, O.N.) led the quarter with five points, all of which were from the free-throw line where the team was solid, capitalizing on Acadia fouls. The Axemen outshot Memorial by only three points in the fourth but their gains in the previous quarters solidified the 71-56 victory.
 
Acadia's Rhys Larry (Maitland, O.N.) had a game-high 17 points and an impressive 20 rebounds earning him Subway AUS player of the game honours. Shaquille Smith had 13 points of his own and three blocks in the win.
 
Caleb Gould (Aurora, O.N.) led the Sea-Hawks with 12 points and six rebounds while teammate Noel Moffatt (St. John's, N.L.) provided 10 of his own and 13 rebounds.
 
The Axemen improve to 5-14 on the season while Memorial falls to 6-12 with the loss.

Despite the loss the Sea-Hawks clinched the final playoff position in the AUS with four points over Acadia. While the Axemen have one game left to potentially catch the Sea-Hawks in a 18 point draw, Memorial's 29 point victory on Saturday would break the tie by point differential. This marks the first time in nine years the Sea-Hawks have made the playoffs.
 
Memorial will be off to Fredericton, N.B. next weekend for games against the first ranked UNB Varsity reds on February 20 and 21. Acadia plays next when they host the UPEI Panthers in their last four-point game of the season on Friday.

Provided by Memorial Sports Information