(FREDERICTON, NB) First-year guard Marcus Barnes (Kitchener, ON) scored a game-high 22 points to lead the UNB REDS in an 81-70 Friday night win over the visiting Saint Mary's Huskies.

Barnes was named Subway Player of the Game.

"It feels good that we were able to pick up, somewhat, where we left off in the first half," said Barnes. "We felt that our play was, consistently, getting better and we're glad we've been able to pick that back up after the break."

After a closely contested opening quarter that saw the REDS build a 19-17 lead, the home team flexed some muscle in the second.

UNB pushed their lead to 17 points, leading 48-31 at half-time.

The Huskies pushed back in the third quarter, trimming UNB's lead to a dozen points at 66-54, but the REDS kept pace with the visitors in the fourth, sealing their 81-70 victory.

"It was man to man defence," said Barnes. "With a team like that, with so many talented players and weapons, it came down to us staying with our one-on-one match-ups, and helping and communicating."

The Huskies were forced to play Friday's game without their leading scorer, Dontae Mitchell (Vaughan, ON) after he suffered an injury during the pre-game warm-up.

"He's our top offensive player," said Huskies' guard Jayrell Diggs (East Preston, NS). "It was a big hit when we found out he couldn't play."

Diggs and Shae Linton-Brown (Toronto, ON) led the Saint Mary's offence with 20 points each. Diggs grabbed 10 rebounds too, recording a double-double.

"We started slow and knew we had to come hard in the second half," he said. "But we couldn't stop them and they out-rebounded us. That's what hurt us."

UNB's Norm Burry (Grafton, ON) posted a double-double too, grabbing 10 rebounds and scoring 11 points.

Malik Grant (Brampton, ON) added 11 and Eden Otshudi (Hamilton, ON) dropped 10.

With the win, the REDS improve to 4-and-6 this season, while the Huskies are now 5-and-5.

The teams will wrap up their weekend series on Saturday. Tip-off is scheduled for 4:00pm.

RECAP BY: Andy Campbell/UNB Athletics

PHOTOS BY: James West/for UNB Athletics