The Dalhousie Tigers won their first game of the season with an emphatic 84-58 victory over the Acadia Axemen on Saturday night, giving rookie head coach Rick Plato his first AUS regular-season victory of his career.
The Axemen were without their star forward Owen Klassen, and he was sorely missed in the paint. Devon Stedman had 20 points, 6 rebounds and 4 assists to lead the charge for the Tigers, who are now 1-3 on the season. Simon Marr had 18 points and 7 boards in the win.Lauchlan Gale had 12 points and 3 rebounds for the Axemen, who struggled offensively all game long against Rick Plato's Tigers. The Axemen were limited to 40% shooting from the field and struggled defensively. The Tigers had 22 assists on the night and used their crisp passing to their advantage, finding open shooters on the perimeter and pounding the ball down low.
The first quarter was a track meet as both teams were hot offensively and ran the court well. Devon Stedman had six points and Kashrell Lawrence ended the quarter with a huge buzzer-beater three to put the Tigers up 19-11 after ten minutes of play.
The Tigers opened the second quarter with a 12-4 run and looked solid defensively. Dartmouth, NS native AJ Simmonds hit a three to cut the gap to 13, but Jarred Reid quickly answered with a jumper from the corner.
Emotions flared in the second quarter, with Axemen Gianmarco Luciani and Tigers Ritchie Kanza Mata and Simon Marr battling hard down low and exchanging choice words for each other after the whistle.
Jarred Reid had an explosive first half for the Tigers, recording 11 points on 5-9 shooting.
Dal started the second half with two straight turnovers and AJ Simmonds made them pay, making both of his free throws to narrowed the gap to 13. Lauchlan Gale's shot cut the lead to single digits and Rick Plato quickly called a timeout as the Tigers led 43-34 with 6:29 left in the third quarter.
The Tigers' starting big men Simon Marr and Devon Stedman started to overpower the Axemen late in the game, drawing two consecutive fouls and helped open the shooting lanes along the perimeter. John Traboulsi hit a wide open three in the corner to push the lead to 19 for the Tigers.
With seven minutes remaining, Acadia's Anthony Ashe and Dalhousie's Derek Norris got involved a scuffle while diving for a loose ball. Both benches got off their feet and Ashe appeared to throw the ball at Norris, who was on the ground, prompting a strong reaction from the rest of the Tigers. Ashe was assessed a technical foul on the play.
Lauchlan Gale had a monster dunk with five minutes left in the game for the Axemen, but by then the game was all but over. The Tigers finished the game strong and won 84-58.