Cole drops 29 off the bench to lead X-Men over Panthers
Alastair Cole's layup with one second remaining sealed the deal for the StFX X-Men as they defeated the UPEI Panthers 84-82.
Game 1: Ottawa 115 vs Saint Mary's 72
After opening the first quarter up 30-14, the Ottawa Gee Gees powered their way to a 115-72 blowout victory in the opening game of the Rod & Joan Shoveller tournament. Ottawa had their way with the Huskies and connected on over half their shots (53.8%) while holding the Huskies to just 39.3% from the field.
Osman Barrie led the Huskies in the loss with 17 points, seven boards and three steals on 7-13 shooting, while Achuil Lual added 16 points and six boards.
Johnny Berhanesmeskel had a game-high 19 points on 7-9 shooting to top the Gee Gees, and Caleb Agada was named the player of the game after narrowly missing out on a triple-double with 16 points, 12 rebounds and eight rebounds.
Ottawa will go on to face the StFX X-Men in the first semi-final game tomorrow night at 6:00pm, while the Huskies will face the UPEI Panthers in the first game tomorrow at 1:00pm.
Game 2: StFX 84 vs UPEI 82
While the first game had a clear winner nearly from the opening tip, the second game was the polar opposite as the X-Men and the Panthers trading buckets and leads as the X-Men edged the Panthers 84-82 on a last second layup by Alastair Cole.
The Panthers jumped out to a 13-4 lead early in the first quarter but the X-Men fought back to regain the lead when Cole hit a three in the dying seconds of the frame to give the X-Men a 21-18 lead after ten minutes of play.
The X-Men held the lead until Tyler Scott tied the game at 66 with 7:19 remaining in the fourth quarter. With 16 seconds left, Shane Coupland nailed a three to put the X-Men up 82-80. The Panthers called a timeout immediately and executed a perfect inbounds play and Lorenzo Parker nailed a layup to tie the game at 80 with 14 seconds left.
The X-Men took the ball up the court, and Alastair Cole hit a layup with just 1.2 seconds left to seal the deal for the X-Men as they defeated the Panthers 84-82.
Cole was named the player of the game after he dropped 29 points off the bench on 10-17 shooting, while Tyler Scott led the Panthers with 27 points, seven rebounds, four assists and four steals.
With the win, the X-Men will advance to the semifinals to face the Ottawa Gee Gees tomorrow at 6:00pm, while the Panthers will face the Saint Mary's Huskies at 1:00pm.