Axemen fall to first place Tigers

WOLFVILLE, N.S. – The first place Dalhousie Tigers extended their winning streak to six and improve to 9-2 with a 100-74 win over the hometown Axemen (1-12).

Keevan Veinot (Port Williams, N.S.) was named the Subway Player of the Game for his 26 points and five rebounds in the Tiger win.

The Tigers pushed out to an early 6-2 lead, but the Axemen worked back to take a 9-8 lead on an Alex Muise (Bedford, N.S.) shot from the distant arc, but Veinot dropped a layup combined with one free throw with 3:29 remaining in the opening quarter to give Dalhousie at 15-13 lead and eventual 20-19 first-quarter advantage.

A back-and-forth opening two minutes of the second frame made its way to a 28-24 Axemen lead off of a Ryan Munro (Timberlea, N.S.) three-point basket and a Kraushar layup. But the Tigers worked back to a 32-28 lead that would be extended to 35-28 on a Caleb Sooley (Mount Pearl, Nfld.) three-point basket.

Dalhousie's seven-point cushion extended to a 44-35 halftime lead.

Veinot posted 18 points in the first half, while Acadia's Kraushar recorded eight of his team-high 20 points in the opening half.

Turnovers became an issue for the Axemen in the third quarter. Coughing up the ball seven times in the third frame, Acadia quickly became ineffective in scoring. The Tigers grew the lead to 49-39 after four minutes of play.

An Alex Muise layup with just over three minutes remaining in the third quarter narrowed the Tiger led to 59-52.

With a 67-55 advantage after three-quarters of play, the Tigers extended their lead to a game-high 26 points with just over a minute remaining in the game and grabbing a 100-74 win.

While Acadia outrebounded the Tigers 26-17, turnovers were the telltale of Acadia's loss. The Axemen turned over the ball 15 times compared to Dalhousie's five.

Dalhousie was also effective off the bench with 25 points from the non-starters.

Shamar Burrows (Nassau, Bahamas), who had 17 points in the second half, lead the Tigers with 27 points.

Kraushar had 20 points, while teammates Alex Muise and Thomas MacDonald (Rothesay, N.B) added 17 and 12 respectively. MacDonald led all on the boards with six rebounds.

Acadia travels to UPEI tomorrow for one game, while the Tigers host UNB on Sunday at 3:00 p.m.