Tigers top REDS 70-67 in tight opener

Written by Andy Campbell, UNB Athletics

(FREDERICTON, NB) The Dalhousie Tigers rallied from a four-point half-time deficit to beat the UNB REDS 70-67 on Friday, at UNB's Richard J. Currie Center.

It was the Atlantic University Sport regular season opener for both teams.

"It feels amazing," said Tigers forward Joshua Koulamallah (Gatineau, QC), named Subway Player of the Game. "A win is a win. We'll take it."

Koulamallah led the Dal effort with a game-high 20 points and added eight rebounds.

After falling behind early in the opening quarter, the REDS got a late bucket from Marcus Barnes (Kitchener, ON) to take an 18-16 lead. On the next possession, Barnes drained a three pointer and UNB went up 21-16.

Through one quarter, the REDS held a 23-16 lead.

At the half, UNB was up 38-34.

The Tigers roared out of the dressing room to being the second half, going on a 9-0 run to fashion a 43-38 lead.

Dal continued to pull away and held the REDS to just 10 third quarter points. The Tigers led 60-48 through three.

In the fourth, UNB used a 15-2 run to go up 63-62 with less than four minutes to play.

What ensued was a wild back and forth that saw the Tigers score last.

UNB's Brett Speedy (Fredericton, NB) got a last second three-point shot to fall, but officials waved it off and Dal held on for the 70-67 victory.

"I'm a little deflated," said REDS head coach Joe Salerno. "We'd have loved to have made a statement on opening night. Just as a confidence booster for our guys, to knock off the defending champs, would've been nice."

Barnes and Speedy led the REDS with 14 and 11 points respectively, while Norm Burry (Grafton, NB) grabbed a game-high 11 rebounds.

"That's a really good team," said Salerno, of the Tigers. "You have to expect they're going to be in every game. We went extremely cold in the third quarter. There was some poor decisions by our guys. I think we were in a position to win, and we didn't win, so it might've got away from us."

Malcolm Christie (Fredericton, NB) contributed nine points and eight rebounds for the Tigers, while Shamar Burrows (Nassau, BAH) dropped eight points in a balanced Dal attack.

"We knew if we got stops defensively, we knew we'd be able to take care of things offensively," said Koulamallah. "Give them credit, they made a lot of shots."

"I thought Brandon Laryea had his best game in a REDS uniform," said Coach Salerno.

Laryea (Crawley, UK) scored 13 points and grabbed six rebounds for UNB.

"I thought he was good, really, at both ends of the floor. He had a tough turnover late, which I know is eating at him now, but it was his best game. I thought he was great tonight."

Despite the loss, Salerno hopes his young charges learned they can compete with and beat the Tigers.

"We can win," said Salerno. "We can win right now."

The REDS host the Tigers in a re-match on Saturday. Tip-off is scheduled for 8:00pm.