(HALIFAX, N.S.) – The third-seeded Saint Mary's Huskies defeated the sixth-seeded Memorial Sea-Hawks 99-91 in the second quarter-final matchup of the Subway AUS Men's Basketball Championship on Friday evening.
The first quarter was highlighted by the hot shooting of Huskies guards Marquis Clayton (named an AUS second team all-star Friday) and Jeremy McAvoy who were a combined 7-for-11 from three-point range.
AUS second team all-star Caleb Gould and fellow Sea-Hawk Noel Moffat were Memorial's answer scoring 11 points apiece in the opening frame.
After one quarter of play the score was tied at 29.
The game continued to be an offensive affair as both teams went back and forth trading baskets in the second quarter.
The Sea-Hawks were able to bring Clayton and McAvoy back down to Earth with tight defensive pressure.
Memorial's bigs crashed the boards hard, out-rebounding the Huskies 25-16 at the end of the first half.
After two quarters of play Memorial led Saint Mary's 50-48.
The Huskies' Ryan Augustine joined in on the three-point shooting knocking down two triples of his own in the third quarter.
The Sea-Hawks' big men kept their team in the game with their strong play down low – both Caleb Gould (20 points and 11 rebounds) and Noel Moffat (19 points and 11 rebounds) had double-doubles after 30 minutes of play.
At the end of the third quarter Saint Mary's had regained the lead 75-72.
The Huskies were able to push their lead to as many as 11 in the fourth but the Sea-Hawks just wouldn't quit, pulling back within three points with 4:25 to play after two big three-pointers by Davion Parnsalu and Daniel Foo.
Both teams traded three after three in the final four minutes of the game, neither wanting to go home early in the championship.
Eventually the Saint Mary's shooters became too much for the Sea-Hawks and the Huskies were able to put the game out of reach, securing their spot in Saturday's semi-finals.
Marquis Clayton was the Subway player of the game for the Saint Mary's Huskies with 28 points, 10 assists, five rebounds and two steals.
Caleb Gould was named the Subway player of the game for the Memorial Sea-Hawks with 22 points, 15 rebounds, three assists and three steals.
The Huskies will move on to play the second-seeded UPEI Panthers in the second semi-final matchup on Saturday, Feb. 28 at 8:15 p.m. at the Scotiabank Centre.