Source: Dominic Nolasco, Saint Mary's Athletics
(Halifax, N.S.)—For two schools located less than two kilometres apart, Saint Mary's versus Dalhouse in anything never disappoints.
Sunday afternoon was no exception as the host Huskies defeated the U Sports No. 8 ranked Dalhousie Tigers 75-71 in AUS men's basketball action from the Homburg Centre.
Clayton, the fourth-year Halifax native paced all scorers with 25 points and added six rebounds and four assists in the win.
Saint Mary's improves to 6-5 (16 points) in conference play after splitting two games in Newfoundland last weekend versus Memorial University and losing to Acadia University January 13th.
A 15-12 opening quarter score had the Huskies up after 10 minutes.
Saint Mary's outscored Dal 16-15 in the second quarter and led 31-27 at the half.
Dalhousie took a 22-21 third quarter frame and trailed the Huskies 52-49 after thirty minutes.
The final frame saw Saint Mary's outscore the Tigers 23-22 and hold on for a 75-71 victory.
Ritchie Kanza Mata (Toronto, Ont.) and Jordan Aquino-Serjue (Montreal, Que.) each scored 15 points for Dal, who drop to 7-3 (18 points) in conference play.
Kanza Mata also had five assists in the game, giving him 536 career assists, setting a new AUS career assist record, previously set by Cape Breton's John Ryan in 1995 who ended his career with 535.
Kashrell Lawrence (Brampton, Ont.) added eight points and six rebounds for the Tigers.
Mississauga, Ontario native Brian Rouse finished with 14 points and five rebounds for SMU while Achuil Lual (Ottawa, Ont.) added 11 points and seven boards in the win.
Up next for Dalhousie is a January 19th road trip versus Acadia University (5-5, 14 points).
Saint Mary's hosts Cape Breton University (0-10) January 20th and 21st.
Tip-off for all games is 8 p.m.