Written by Ryan Hyndman

The Dalhousie Tigers defeated the UNB REDS 72-62 in men's basketball action on Saturday night at Dalplex.

The game began with both teams defending hard with several shots from both teams not making it to the bucket. As the teams began sinking shots it was the Tigers getting out to an 11-7 lead, capped by a nice three-point shot by Malcolm Christie (Fredericton, NB). Vegas Evans (Brampton, ON) would respond for UNB with a three of his own to keep it close. Eden Otshudi (Hamilton, ON) hit a three with under a minute left for the REDS, just to be matched by Benjamin Gory (Mont de Marsan, France) for an exciting end to the first quarter, ending 18-15 in favour of the Tigers.

The REDS would start the second hot as Otshudi hit an open three to tie it at 18-18. UNB continued to see baskets drop as Norm Burry (Grafton, NB) hit another three to extend the REDS lead to 29-23 with a few minutes left before halftime. The Tigers did not go down without a fight though, taking a 33-32 lead into the half.

The Tigers continued the third quarter where they left off as Samuel Maillet (Moncton, NB) got the slam dunk to extend their lead to 42-34 just a few minutes into the second half. Malik Grant (Brampton, ON) for the REDS hit a nice pull-up shot to get UNB back within seven points. Joshua Koulamallah (Gatineau, QC) for Dal responded right away with a nice under-the-basket move to make it 48-39 heading to the final quarter of play.

UNB's Jeven Eddy (Ajax, ON) started the fourth quarter strong, dropping a shot to cut the lead to seven points. Marcus Barnes (Kitchener, ON) for the REDS kept it going with a clean three-point shot to make it a five-point game at 55-50 with seven minutes to play. However, Christie would bring the Tigers back into the scoring with a three-point shot to push the lead back to nine points. The teams then exchanged 3-point shots to maintain Dal's nine-point lead. Christie put an exclamation point on the game when he smashed home a pass from Maillet to seal the 72-62 victory for the Tigers.

Christie ended the night with 30 points and four rebounds to earn the Subway Player of the Game award for the Tigers.

The Tigers improve to 9-6 and are back in action against Acadia in Wolfville next Friday.

The REDS fall to 5-9 and will look to rebound against the Panthers, at UPEI next Thursday.