Game recap by Kirk Jessome
(Halifax, NS) – In the Tigers final home game of the 2019-20 season, they hosted the UPEI Panthers on Sunday at the Dalplex. With strong defensive play, the Tigers were able to secure a 103-75 win in their final appearance at home.
The Tigers offence exploded to open the game, with Matt McVeigh (Halifax, NS), Sascha Kappos (Miami, FL) and Alex Carson (Lower Sackville, NS) all knocking down a shot from deep in the early minutes of the quarter, going 4-5 from three.
Glen Cox (Scotsburn, NS) and Elijah Miller (Etobicoke, ON) were trying to keep the Panthers close with a pair of shots from deep as well, but the Tigers pressure defence was giving them some troubles getting set up in their half-court offence.
The Tigers hot shooting gave them a 26-11 lead at the end of the first.
The slashing play of the Tigers opened space on the outside for their shooters to knock down wide-open jumpers to extend their lead.
Jack MacAulay (Charlottetown, PEI) found his touch late in the half, knocking down a few tough midrange jumpers, but team turnovers were catching up with the Panthers as the Tigers picked up 20 points off turnovers in the first half.
Though both teams were shooting well, the Tigers were using those turnovers and offensive rebounds to give themselves nearly double the shot attempts of the Panthers to take a 48-33 lead into the break.
The pace slowed greatly in the third quarter, both teams taking full clock possessions, but the Tigers shooters will still knocking down their shots to open the second half as the lead increased.
The Panthers were able to make a run to end the third quarter with Adam Ryan (Stratford, PEI), Vicente III Balitaan (Surrey, BC) and Emmanuel Ndatuje (Ottawa, ON) all hitting from three to force a timeout from the Tigers.
Coming out of that timeout with seconds left in the quarter, Jordan Brathwaite (Milton, ON) found Sascha Kappos with a great lob from the paint for Kappos to throw down a big two-handed dunk and give the Tigers a 76-55 lead going into the fourth.
With the lead growing out of hand, both teams slowed the pace of play again to work through offensive sets.
As the final buzzer blew, the Tigers came away with a 103-75 victory to take back to back on the weekend.
Emmanuel Ndatuje led the Panthers scorers with 13 points and 4 rebounds, while Alex Carson went 4-6 from deep to finish with 22 points in the win for the Tigers.
The Tigers will wrap up their regular season next weekend with a 4-point game against UNB, while the Panthers will play a pair of games at Memorial next weekend. Jordan Wilson (Nassau, BAH) earned himself the Subway Player of the Game in his final home game for the Tigers, finishing with 14 points and 6 rebounds.