STFX in search of 14th AUS title
Men's Semifinal #1
#5 MUN vs #1 STFX
(HALIFAX, N.S.) – The STFX X-Men are on their way to the AUS Men's Basketball Championship title game.
The defending champs, and first-seeded, X-Men booked their ticket by beating the fifth-ranked Memorial University Sea-Hawks 86-70 in Saturday afternoon semifinal action played at the Scotiabank Centre.
STFX will have a chance to repeat as champs for program's first time since hoisting the trophy three years in a row in 2003-04, 2004-05 and 2005-06.
They will play the winner of Saturday's night's game between crosstown rivals, Saint Mary's and Dalhousie. Tip-off is set for 4pm.
The X-Men were led by guard Dondre Reddick (Antigonish, N.S.) and forward Bennett Grumbach (Toronto, Ont.)
Reddick scored 15 of his 21 points in the first half, including a made three-pointer with just seconds on the clock to put his team up 24-20 at the end of the first quarter. Reddick was later named Player of the Game.
Grumbach did most of his work in the second half, scoring 15 of his game-high 26 points in the third and fourth quarters.
Jodick Moudiandambu (Hamilton, Ont.) led the Sea-Hawks with 19 points.
Flynn Boardman-Raffet (London, UK) and Emanuel Ring (St. John's, NL) led Memorial to the semifinal by combining for 50 points in Friday night's quarterfinal victory over UNB.
Saturday was a different story, however, as the STFX defence kept the duo to just 21 points on a combined 7-for-23 shooting from the field.
Memorial fell behind as much as 27 points in the third quarter before outscoring STFX 24-18 in the fourth to cut into the lead as much as they could before the final buzzer went.