Huskies remain undefeated at Stu Aberdeen Tournament
WOLFVILLE, N.S. - The Saint Mary's Huskies rallied from behind to beat the Manitoba Bisons 75-66 in the first game of Saturday's double-header at the Stu Aberdeen tournament.
The scoreboard showed a close game in the first, but the stat sheets showed that the Huskies were far outshooting the Bisons. Manitoba missed all five of their attempted three-pointers, while Saint Mary's shot 4/8. The score after the first quarter was 22-17.
The narrative completely changed in favour of the Bisons in the second quarter. They exploded for 31 points and held the Huskies to only 10. Manitoba took a 48-32 lead into the second half.
Manitoba's James Wagner (Winnipeg, Man.) shot an almost-perfect 7/8 from the field in the first half, including 2/2 from beyond the arch and 4 rebounds. Wagner finished with 19 points and 8 rebounds, earning him a Subway Player of the Game award.
The Huskies made their push in the third quarter to come back, and brought themselves within 6 by the end of the period. The Bisons were shooting 22/45 from the field after 30 minutes and led 61-55.
After 4 minutes into the fourth quarter, the Huskies were back within 1 and looking to take the lead. With three minutes to play in the game, the Huskies commanded a 6 point lead. The Bisons were unable to respond and the Saint Mary's Huskies took the victory.
The final score was 75-66 for SMU.
Everyone on the Saint Mary's team contributed to their victory, both by scoring and picking up rebounds. Nikita Kasongo stood out with an 11-5-3 statline and was named his team's Subway Player of the Game.
The Huskies improve to 2-0 and will look to make the clean sweep against Acadia Sunday at 2 p.m.
The Bisons are now 1-1 and play their next game against York on Sunday at noon.
Axemen pick up first win of the Stu Aberdeen Tournament
The Acadia Axemen outperformed the York Lions and took the win 101-72 on Saturday's second game of the Stu Aberdeen tournament.
The Axemen kept it close for most of the first quarter until they snatched the lead from the Lions right before the first break. Acadia missed 3/4 of their chances from the free-throw line in the first - easy points they wish they had gotten.
Acadia was up after the first half 24-22. Both teams were shooting excellently from three; the Lions shooting 4/7 and the Axemen 5/8.
Both teams kept on a similar pace during the second quarter before Acadia got hot at the end of the quarter again. The Axemen built themselves a 46-37 point lead at halftime. Ryan Munro (St. Margaret's Bay, N.S.) shot only threes in the first half, but made 4 out of 6 of his attempts.
The Axemen whacked two consecutive threes to start off the second half and extended their lead to 15 points. The Axemen kept them coming for the rest of the quarter and began to bury the Lions. It appeared as if the Axemen could not miss.
After dominating most of the third quarter, the Axemen sat up 75-56. Acadia shot an outstanding 14/23 (60%) from three in their first three quarters.
The threes did not stop for the Axemen in the fourth and they put their opponents away.
Munro stepped off the court having shot 10/15 from three and got a standing ovation from the crowd. Monro finished with an unbelievable 34 points. He was, without a doubt, Acadia's Subway Player of the Game.
The Axemen easily took this game 101-72.
Connor Laronde (Barrie, Ont.) lead the Lions offensively with 15 points and sank 4 of his 5 attempts at the free-throw line. Laronde was named the Lions' Subway Player of the Game.
Acadia will play the undefeated Saint Mary's Huskies Saturday at 2 p.m.
York, still looking for their first win, will play against the Manitoba Bisons Sunday at noon.
Provided by Theodore Giesen, Acadia Athletics Communications