RECAP BY: Ethan Hunt
(Halifax, NS) - The Saint Mary's Huskies narrowly beat the Dalhousie Tigers 83-78 Saturday night at the Dalplex in Halifax, NS.
Saint Mary's scored the first basket of the game off of Jackson Enyinna (Port Harcourt, Nigeria) powering a layup over Sam Maillet (Moncton, NB), to which Nginyu Ngala (Montreal, Que.) answered on the next possession with a three pointer.
Dalhousie continued to bank on Ngala as he had eight of their first 10 points, and Malcolm Christie (Fredericton, NB) slammed home a dunk for the Tigers to get out to a quick 14-4 lead.
A Jayrell Diggs' (East Preston, NS) layup and an acrobatic finish over the Dal defender by Shae Linton-Brown (Toronto, ON) cut into the Dal lead, but a three by Gabe Marotullio (London, ON) silenced the comeback.
Two foul shots at the buzzer by Jonah Crowther (Dartmouth, NS) ended the first quarter with Dalhousie pulling away 21-13.
Linton-Brown got the scoring done for the Huskies with a three pointer, and a layup off of his own offensive rebound, followed by Tjark Lademacher (Lunëburg, Germany) scoring on the fastbreak after stealing the ball from the Dal player to force a Tigers timeout.
The Huskies continued to claw back at the Dalhousie lead with Diggs making a corner three point shot with the defender all over him to tie the game at 28, and Lademacher knocked down a three of his own to give SMU the lead.
Down by two with two minutes left, Lydell Husbands-Browne (Halifax, NS) nicked the ball with his finger to misturn the layup by the SMU player, and on the offensive side, Ngala banked in a layup plus the foul.
The Tigers got a crucial stop at the end of the half to keep the score 40-38.
Husbands-Browne got the half going with a great defensive play, knocking the ball out of Enyinna's hands, and throwing it off him as Husbands-Browne fell out of bounds.
Saint Mary's countred immediately, with Marc-Denault Gabriel (Montreal, Que.) scoring four quick points, and Diggs being fouled on a three point shot, then splashing another three.
Christie splashed a three to cut the lead to 52-50, but on the Huskies' possession Linton-Brown blew past all the defenders, and scooped in the layup.
Down by six, with less than a minute remaining, the Tigers needed a basket, and they looked to Gabe Damey (Ypsilanti, Michigan), whose mid range missed, but Dolu Johnson (Caledonia, ON) skied for the rebound, and went up again for two points.
The teams went into the fourth quarter with Saint Mary's up 58-54.
The Huskies continued to add onto their lead making it an eight point lead, but a block by Spencer Riar (Montreal, Que.) stirred momentum for the home team.
Saint Mary's Devawn White (Montreal, Que.) then went to work, skying for a layup over multiple defenders, and then scoring a layup plus the foul, with an isolation bucket by Linton-Brown, SMU increased the lead to 16.
The Tigers clawed back into the game with an and one midrange by Christie, plus a three by Ngala, and three threes by Christie to cut the lead down to seven with a minute and a half remaining.
Linton Brown missed the second free throw, and Ngala scored an and 1 layup to cut the lead to three, but Saint Mary's put the game away with free throws to make it 83-78.
Christie took home the player of the game.
Dalhousie will travel to UNB on Friday, and Saint Mary's will travel there the next day.
PHOTOS BY: Milana Paddock