Axemen continue postseason hunt with victory over Huskies

HALIFAX, NS – The Acadia Axemen hit 17/27 three-pointers as they poured in 57 second half points on their way to defeating the Saint Mary's Huskies 96-77 in Atlantic University Sport Men's Basketball action on Thursday night at the Homburg Centre in Halifax. 

Axemen guards Gabe Davignon (Whites Lake, NS) and Miguel Perez Boskovic (Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Spain) came off the bench to combine for 49 points including 13/19 from three, as they put on a shooting display to spoil the Huskies final home game of the 2023-24 regular season. 

In the early minutes, the Huskies looked to make an impact in their paint as guard Marc-Denault Gabriel (Montreal, QC) and forward Jackson Enyinna (Port Harcourt, Nigeria) dominated the offensive glass and got several lay-ins to go. A jump shot from senior guard Shae Linton-Brown (Toronto, ON) gave the Huskies an early 11-5 lead, but was answered with Acadia's first three-pointer of the night, courtesy Gabe Davignon. The two teams traded buckets for the remainder of the quarter, with a jump shot from Jayrell Diggs (East Preston, NS) giving the Huskies a 19-18 lead after 10 minutes. 

Saint Mary's continued to grind away in the second quarter, with guard Devawn White (Montreal, QC) making an impact with several baskets off the Huskies bench. An and-one lay-in by Linton-Brown put the Huskies up 28-18, which would be their largest lead of the night. That's when Miguel Perez Boskovic started to heat up for the Axemen, as he hit three three-pointers in the quarter on his way to 11 points. The Huskies were able to hold on to the lead, finding Enyinna in the pick-and-roll, and forward Jonah Crowther (Dartmouth, NS) hit a three-pointer with just 15 seconds remaining to give the home team a 45-39 lead at the half. 

The Huskies saw balanced scoring in the first half with six players – Gabriel, Linton-Brown, Enyinna, Diggs, White and Tjark Lademacher (Luneburg, Germany) – each recording at least six points. Meanwhile the Axemen bench duo of Davignon and Perez Boskovic each poured in 14, combining to score 28 of Acadia's 39 first half points. 

The third quarter saw Enyinna continue to find success inside, as he had two early lay-ups, but the Axemen countered with an and-one from centre Thomas MacDonald (Rothesay, NB). Another lay-in from Enyinna put the Huskies up 57-54, but that's when the Axemen started firing from distance, with Perez Boskovic and Davignon hitting back-to-back threes to give Acadia their first lead of the night, 60-57. A tough and-one from Shae Linton-Brown cut the lead to 67-66, but once again, back-to-back threes from Davignon and Perez Boskovic closed out the corner with Acadia in front 73-66. 

The red-hot Axemen shooting continued into the fourth quarter, including contributions from AUS leading scorer Glen Cox (Scotsburn, NS) who hit a three-pointer on his way to seven fourth quarter points. Tjark Lademacher had a fastbreak dunk for one of the Huskies few second half highlights, but once again, Davignon and Perez Boskovic responded with three-pointers as the Axemen ran away with it down the stretch, coasting to a 96-77 victory.  

Axemen guard Gabe Davignon was named Player of the Game, lighting up the Huskies for 26 points including 6/8 from beyond-the-arc. Miguel Perez Boskovic was just as good, dropping 23 points on 7/11 three-point shooting and adding three steals, while Glen Cox (17 points, 11 rebounds) and Thomas MacDonald (13 points, 11 rebounds) each chipped in double-doubles. 

The Huskies were led by Marc-Denault Gabriel (14 points, eight rebounds) and Jackson Enyinna (14 points, seven rebounds), who did most of their damage in the paint, as the Huskies shot just 2/19 from beyond-the-arc. Guard Shae Linton-Brown stuffed the stat-sheet with 13 points, six rebounds, four assists and five steals in his final regular season game at the Homburg Centre. 

The Axemen win improves their record to 8-9, while the Huskies loss drops their record to 9-8. The two teams will match-up again on Saturday, Feb. 10, this time in Wolfville, NS, with tip-off scheduled for 8 p.m.