Tigers down Sea-Hawks 97-91

The Dalhousie Tigers defeated the Memorial Sea-Hawks 97-91 Saturday night at Dalplex.

The two teams faced off Friday night, with Memorial winning 85-81.

Nginyu Ngala (Montreal, QC) grabbed the ball from the jump ball and drove to the rim. Ngala was fouled and split his free throws.

Nick Tuff (St. John's, NL) opened the scoring for Memorial with a 3-pointer on the left wing. He would hit another moments later to give Memorial a 12-5 lead.

Malcolm Christie (Fredericton, NB) caught the ball while cutting to the basket and threw down the dunk to cut the lead to 13-7.

In the quarter's final minutes, Emmanuel Ring (St. John's, NL) chased down a Tigers layup attempt, blocking it off the backboard. Ring then came down the other end, caught the basketball and layed it in. Memorial led 24-13 with 1:35 left of the first quarter.

Gabe Marcotulio (London, ON) scored a layup at the end of the quarter as the Tigers finished the quarter behind nine points.

Spencer Riar (Montreal, QC) hit a 3-pointer from the top of the key to cut the lead to six points at the start of the second quarter.

The play after, Ngala hit an off-the-catch 3-pointer on the left wing to bring Dal within three points.

Memorial began to add back to their lead with Flynn Boardman-Raffet (London, UK) euro stepping down the lane. Memorial led 35-26 with 6:14 left of the quarter. He ended the half with 19 points, missing just one field goal.

Ring had another chase-down block, rejecting it into the ground with 4:55 left of the quarter.

On the other end, the Memorial player pump-faked the ball, which Jayden Parker (Milton, ON) read well, getting a block of his own.

With just above two minutes left of play, Lydell Husbands-Browne (Halifax, NS) hit a 3-pointer. Memorial still led 43-38.

Ring hit a 3-pointer with just under a minute left of the half, giving Memorial a 46-38 lead going into the half.

Maillet opened the scoring in the third quarter with a scoop layup to cut the lead to six points. Boardman-Raffet responded with a shot under the basket for Memorial's first points of the quarter, giving Memorial a 48-40 lead.

Ring then crossed up his defender and got to the rim. He gave Memorial a 10-point lead.

Ngala stepped into an open 3-pointer, cutting the lead to seven points.

Parker passed the ball to Maillet on the fastbreak with about seven minutes left, who lobbed it up to Christie for the slam. Dal trailed by five points after the beautiful play.

Ring scored an and-one following a Christie 3-pointer. Ring made the free throw, giving Memorial a 61-51 lead.

Christie hit another 3-pointer with just above three minutes left of the third quarter, making his first two 3-pointers of the game.

Moments later, Ngala hit a 3-pointer of his own, bringing the Tigers within six points.

Marcotulio hit a 3-pointer the next play, making it a three-point game.

Marcotulio, with 40 seconds left of the quarter, received a pass from Maillet and took the ball to the rim. He was fouled on the play and made the and-one. He converted the free throw to make it a two-point game.

With eight seconds left of the quarter, Jason Thompson hit a 3-pointer to put the Sea-Hawks up five points.

Ngala made a jump shot in the dying seconds to bring the Tigers within three points.

With under seven minutes left of the game, Maillet threw a full-court pass to Christie, who slammed it down, cutting the lead to three points. It was Maillet's eighth assist of the night.

Christie hit a 3-pointer to tie the game 72-72 with 6:03 left of the quarter. After a cold start, Christie scored his 17th point of the night.

Ngala then hit a 3-pointer of his own, giving Dal the lead. Jason Thompson responded with a mid-range basket on the baseline, giving Memorial a one-point lead.

Marcotulio then made a 3-pointer to give Dal a two-point lead with under five minutes to go.

With under three minutes left, Josh Reimer (St. John's, NL) stepped into a 3-pointer, bringing Memorial within two points.

With 1:12 left of the game, Maillet dove out of bounds and saved the ball, leading to a Christie 3-pointer. It was Christie's fifth 3-pointer of the night as Dal took a 91-86 lead.

With 51 seconds left, Maillet found Christie on the cut for a layup, making it 93-86 Tigers.

Thompson then made a jumper to cut the lead to five points with 26 seconds left.
Moments later, Ring then a 3-pointer to trim the lead to three points. The Sea-Hawks had to foul and fouled Christie. Christie went to the line and made both free throws to give the Tigers a four-point lead.

The Tigers came away with the victory with 30 points from Christie.

Marcotulio won Player of the Game with 16 points off the bench.

Boardman-Raffet scored 27 points in the loss.

The Tigers next play Saturday in UPEI, taking on the UPEI Panthers at 8pm.

Memorial next plays on Feb. 9 against UPEI at 8pm.