(HALIFAX, N.S.) The CIS No. 10-ranked Acadia Axemen made key fourth quarter shots and defeated the Saint Mary's Huskies 75-74 Tuesday night in Atlantic University Sport men's basketball action.
Acadia's Owen Klassen scored 11 of his game-high 25 points in the fourth quarter, including the Axemen's last five points down the stretch.
The game started with Acadia jumping out to a 19-8 lead after 10 minutes and a 36-28 halftime cushion.
The second half saw the Saint Mary's chip away at the Acadia lead and the Huskies built themselves a 54-51 lead after thirty minutes due in large part to a 26-point outburst in the quarter.
Spectators were treated to a frantic paced fourth quarter as Acadia opened up with a 4-0 run to take a 55-54 lead with 9:08 left in the game.
Saint Mary's buckets by Harry Ezenibe and Brian Rouse restored the Huskies lead to 55-58 when Klassen nailed a three-pointer to tie the game 58-58 with 7:04 left.
Acadia then made three foul shots before Saint Mary's Theon Reefer's bucket trimmed the Axemen lead to 61-60 with 5:14 left on the scoreboard.
Four straight free throws by Saint Mary's gave the Huskies a 64-61 lead with 4:19 left in the game.
Both teams traded baskets before a three-pointer from Acadia tied the game at 66-66 with 3:22 left to play.
Two Saint Mary's free throws followed by a free throw from Acadia gave the Huskies a 68-67 lead with 2:48 left to play.
Another Rouse bucket with 2:09 left gave Saint Mary's a three-point lead when Acadia hit another three pointer to tie the game up once again at 70-70 with 2:02 on the clock.
With 1:18 on the clock, Klassen fired up a three-pointer for Acadia's biggest lead of the quarter, 73-70.
Saint Mary's basket at the 1:12 mark closed the Acadia gap to 73-72 when Boyd Vassell hit two foul shots to give Saint Mary's a 74-73 lead with 0:15 seconds left to play.
Acadia inbounded the ball and it found the hands of Klassen, who was fouled with 0:02 seconds left.
Klassen made both free throws for the 75-74 Acadia win, who improve to 10-3 in AUS play.
Saint Mary's falls to 9-5 on the year and is now in a three-way tie for second place with UPEI and STFX.
Brian Rouse led Saint Mary's with 16 points, Marquis Clayton with 13 points and Terrence Taylor and Theon Reefer had 12 points each.
Rounding out the Saint Mary's scoring was Harry Ezenibe with 11 points and Boyd Vassell had 10 points.
The Huskies travel to StFX Friday, Jan. 31 for their only game of the weekend, set to begin at 8 p.m.
The Axemen will visit the UNB Varsity Reds in another Friday game, also beginning at 8 p.m.
Source: Saint Mary's Sports Information