Tigers win first game vs Axemen this season

WOLFVILLE, N.S. – In the third meeting of the season, the Dalhousie Tigers picked up a convincing 85-65 win against the host Acadia Axemen after losing the first two matchups in early November.

The Axemen pulled out to an early 5-0 lead, but Sven Stammberger and the Tigers tied the game at seven and pushed out to a 20-11 lead late in the opening quarter. Stammberger led the Tigers with 11 first quarter points.

Ahead 23-18 after the opening quarter, Dalhousie extended their lead to 32-21 on a 7-0 run and closed out the first half with a 45-28 advantage. The Axemen were a dismal 21.4% from the floor compared to Dalhousie's nearly 60% field goal percentage.

Stammberger cooled off in the third quarter and the Axemen mounted a 22-17 third quarter win, but the 17 point first half deficit would be hard to cut away at.

Acadia was unable to make up the loss in the opening half and played a more offensive minded game in the final frame, only to lose more ground. The Tigers would post their largest lead of 22 points in the closing minute of the game.

"All credit goes to Dal tonight, they were the aggressor and proved they wanted to win the game more than we did. We have to mentally be ready to play on Saturday or they are too good of a team to beat if we don't," noted Acadia head coach Kevin Duffie following the game.

Both teams are statistically close versus their AUS opponents this season and tonight's game was no different except for field goal percentage, points off of turnovers and three-point percentage where the Tigers led in all.

Subway Player of the Game, Sven Stammberger led the game with 23 points and nine rebounds. Alex Carson added 18 points and Xavier Ochu posted a game-high 10 rebounds.

Axemen Nick De Palma, Ben Miller and Erik Nissen netted 11, 12 and 12 points respectively. Nissen pulled down eight boards and added four blocks.

The Axemen and Tigers meet again on Saturday night in Halifax for their fourth matchup this season starting at 8:00 p.m. Acadia wraps up the regular season on the road next Friday night in Sydney against Cape Breton, while the Tigers travel to UNB and UPEI next weekend.