Tigers lose heartbreaker to X-Men in overtime

By: Jack Longo

The St. Francis Xavier X-Men Men's basketball team defeated the Dalhousie Tigers at Dalplex on Friday night in a four-point game. The X-Men's win extended their win streak to four games. This was Dalhousie's first four-point game of the season, and the third for St. Francis Xavier.

The Tigers came out the more aggressive of the teams to begin the first quarter, finishing through contact multiple times before forcing an early timeout from the visitors. First it was Nginyu Ngala (Montreal, QC) with the reverse and-one finish, then Malcolm Christie (Fredericton, NB) absorbed contact to get an and-one of his own. Meanwhile it was Deon Ejim (Brampton, ON) taking on the early scoring load for the X-Men as he had all five of the visitor's points through the opening five minutes.

The differentiator in the first quarter came in the form of turnovers. The Tigers took care of the ball well - only turning the ball over once - and took advantage of their opponents' mistakes with seven points off turnovers.

Thus, Dalhousie led 24-15 at the end of the opening quarter.

The second quarter began much like the first, although StFX were able to knock down a few more of their open looks to maintain their foothold in the game. However, the X-Men were let down by their free throw shooting. StFX got to the line at the same rate as their opponents but weren't able to make it count. The free throw shooting at halftime read: 10/12 for Dalhousie and 6/11 for St. Francis Xavier.

The visitors did however find some joy on the offensive glass. The X-Men's willingness to crash the offensive boards led to a 8-2 halftime lead in that category, but couldn't translate into enough easy second-chance buckets to close the gap at halftime.

The Tigers on the other hand continued to look solid through the second quarter and led 47-40 at the half.

Ejim led the X-Men with 14 points and seven rebounds at halftime; Ngala had 11 points and two assists for the Tigers.

The X-Men came out with more purpose after the break. Within two minutes to start the second half StFX had narrowed the score to 48-47 in Dalhousie's favour. The quick run forced the Tigers into a timeout to regroup. From there, the Tigers found their footing again thanks to some good shotmaking inside and outside of the three-point line. After being down by a point to the visitors for a moment, Dalhouise eventually built their lead back up to 62-51 and forced the X-Men to call a timeout themselves.

There wasn't much more positive offence from either side until the last minute of the quarter when StFX scored five points to cut the gap to 63-59 for Dalhousie going into the fourth quarter.

Ngala continued to pace the Tigers offence in the fourth quarter and brought the crowd to their feet with a deep three-pointer a few minutes into the frame. The bucket also led to a timeout from the X-Men.

The Tigers continued to play their game and were able to keep the X-Men at arm's length until the clock had around four minutes remaining. An offensive rebound and put-back from Michael Utsalo (Brampton, ON) cut the Tigers' lead to four points and created some tension in the building.

The teams traded baskets for the next two minutes before an offensive put-back from Ejim cut the score to 79-77 for Dalhousie and forced a timeout from the home side.

The X-Men then had a chance to tie the game at the free throw line, an area they struggled in earlier, and here David Muenkat (Brampton, ON) stepped up and made both to make it 79-79 with 29.7 seconds remaining.

The Tigers then had two chances to win the game thanks to an offensive rebound, but Shamar Burrows (Nassau, Bahamas) last-second layup attempt was blocked by Ejim to send the game to overtime.

Finding open shots proved difficult for both teams in overtime with lots of tough jumpers coming as the shot clock wound down. And much like the end of the fourth quarter, overtime produced another back and forth ending. After a free throw from Antoine Vernon (Hamilton, ON) grew the X-Men's lead to five points, Ngala made a three-pointer with a hand in his face to make the score 90-88 for StFX.

After Steven Levnaic (Stoney Creek, ON) went 1/2 from the free throw line with five seconds remaining, the Tigers threw away the front court inbound pass and time expired, giving the X-Men a 91-88 victory on the road.

St. Francis Xavier's Deon Ejim was named the Subway Player of the Game with 30 points and 13 rebounds.

Nginyu Ngala had 24 points, two rebounds and three assists to lead the way for Dalhousie.

Both teams are back in action tomorrow, although not against each other.

Dalhousie lines up against the University of Prince Edward Island in a four-point game at Dalplex with a 6pm tipoff.

St. Francis Xavier hosts the UNB REDS in a four-point game with tipoff also coming at 6pm.