2025 Bell AUS Men's Basketball Championship: UNB muscle their way past Memorial

Barnes drops 27 as REDS reach AUS semis

HALIFAX, NS (Feb. 28, 2025) – The UNB REDS men's basketball team proved it's not about how you start, but how you finish.

A slow start in the opening quarter was quickly erased in the remaining three as the fourth-seeded REDS defeated the fifth-ranked Memorial University Sea-Hawks 82-77 Friday afternoon in their 2025 Bell AUS Men's Basketball Championship quarter-final game played at Halifax's Scotiabank Centre.

"In the first half, we had a lot of jitters," said Barnes in a post-game interview. "The past two years, we had two really tough (quarter-final) losses at the end. . . We got into halftime and we're like, 'Yo, this is just like any other game. We just have to do what we have practiced and prepared for – energetic, but controlled energy and poise', and that's what we did."

The victory propels the REDS to the event's semifinal on Saturday afternoon where they will meet the awaiting STFX X-Men – the tournament's No. 1 seed. Game time is slated for 3 p.m. 

Friday's win for UNB also acts a bit of revenge, as the Sea-Hawks defeated the REDS in this same 4-5 quarter-final game last season.

In the first quarter, the REDS had a tough time making a basket – going 0-for-8 from the three-point line and shooting just under 32 percent from the field as a whole. By the time the quarter came to an end, UNB trailed Memorial 17-12.

In the remaining 30 minutes, UNB shot an outstanding 50 percent from the field (25-for-50).

Leading the charge for UNB was AUS Second Team All-Star Marcus Barnes, who led all players with 27 points to be named the Subway Player of the Game.

Barnes started to go off in the second quarter, scoring 12 of his 27 points in the period to help his REDS close the gap to just two, 39-37, at the half.

After the break, the Sea-Hawks went flat, shooting just 28 percent in the third quarter as UNB took their first lead since midway through the opening quarter on pair of Tim Ellison free throws with 1:35 left in the third.

It was a lead they would not relinquish.

Memorial stayed close the rest of the way thanks mainly to AUS First Team All-Star Flynn Boardman-Raffet, who scored nine of his team-high 23 points in the final quarter, but they could not find a way to overtake the REDS.

Barnes iced the win late in the fourth on a broken play when he heaved a long-distance three-point shot from the Bell logo with the shot clock ticking down, bringing the UNB fans to their feet as it went through the net.