Antigonish, NS - The U SPORTS No.7 ranked STFX X-Men earned a thrilling 80-74 overtime victory on Coach K Court over the visiting Dalhousie Tigers on Saturday night.
It was the 11th win of the season for the X Men, who host nationals this year, and lead the AUS with 32 points. The Tigers (7-6) are tied for second place, with 18 points.
Subway player of the game Dondre Reddick (Antigonish, NS) netted 22 points for the home team, while chipping in five rebounds and going 3-5 from behind the arc. Avan Nava (Mississauga, ON) dropped 20 points for STFX, while dishing three assists, and David Muenkat (Brampton, ON) had a double-double on the night, with 13 points and 21 rebounds
Dalhousie player of the game Nginyu Ngala (Montreal, QC) lead all scorers with 26 points, while adding eight rebounds, while teammate Malcolm Christie (Fredericton, NB) added 13 points, including three three-pointers.
STFX scored the first bucket of the game but then Dalhousie went on a 9-1 run. The X-Men then went on a run of their own, with Nava hitting a pair from beyond the arc, cutting the Dalhousie lead to one point by the end of the quarter.
The Tigers lead 15-14 at the end of the first 10 minutes, with both teams limiting their turnovers and playing tight basketball.
The X-Men scored their first 10 points of the second quarter, and proved their high level defensive skills as well, not allowing the Tigers to hit pay dirt for the first seven minutes and limiting them to seven points in the quarter.
Dalhousie showed their frustration, and got hit with a technical foul. The X fans did their best too, giving the business to the Tigers free throw shooters whenever they hit the charity stripe. STFX led 30-22 at the end of the half, with Nava and Reddick knocking down nine points each in the first 20 minutes.
Nava kicked off the third quarter with his third three-pointer of the game, and both teams upped their pace. STFX extended their lead to 13 points in the first four minutes. The Tigers fought back but the X-Men kept up the scoring, with Reddick hit back to back three pointers, and finished the third quarter up by nine points, 51-42.
STFX again started the final quarter with a three-pointer, but the Tigers didn't back down and cut the X lead to three points in the first five minutes. Turnovers hurt the X-Men, and Dalhousie tied it up at 64-64 with just under two minutes to go with some timely offense.
A free throw put the Tigers up by one with about a minute to go, but Muenkat tied it up with a free throw of his own.
STFX had the ball with 11 seconds left. but weren't able to tickle the twine and the game went into overtime as the teams were locked at 65-65.
Muenkat hit the first bucket of OT, followed up by Reddick hitting a tough shot from in close to give X a four-point lead with just over a minute gone. The X-Men extended their lead to eight with less than two minutes to play but the Tigers kept up the pressure and cut the lead to three with 20 seconds left was some handy three-point shooting.
However, X held strong and walked away with the win, a key victory worth four points in the AUS standings.
The X-Men host the UPEI Panthers for a pair of games next weekend, with the first happening Friday night while the Tigers next take to the hardwood on Friday night to host UNB.
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Recap courtesy Matt Draper, STFX Athletics
Dondre Reddick picks up Subway Player of the Game honours with 22 points & 5 rebounds in the X-Men's thrilling 80-74 OT win over Dalhousie! #goxgo #SubwayFuel pic.twitter.com/jWXP7cDZUB
— StFX Athletics (@StFXAthletics) January 15, 2023