Dalhousie's defence overpowers UPEI on way to win

Written by Joe Thomson

The Dalhousie men's basketball team beat UPEI 80-73 on November 26, at Dalplex.

The Tigers put the pressure on UPEI to start the game and opened up a 7-0 lead by attacking the rim. A fastbreak slam from Alex Ruiz (Valencia, Spain) energised Dalhousie as they held a 21-14 lead at the end of the quarter.

UPEI began to close the gap in the second quarter as their leading scorer, Elijah Miller (Rexdale, ON) settled the game down by getting to the free throw line, where he has yet to miss this season. Sam Chisholm's (Bridgetown, NS) defensive hustle helped bring the Panthers within a point, but timely threes from Dalhousie's Malcolm Christie (Fredericton, NB) and Nginyu Ngala (Montreal, QC) kept the UPEI comeback at bay entering halftime.

Some costly turnovers by the Tigers and an emphasis on pushing the pace by the Panthers let UPEI take the lead midway through the third quarter. Kamari Scott (Malton, ON) routinely managed to find the soft spot in the Tigers defence with well-timed backdoor cuts. Dal rallied late in the quarter behind solid play from Samuel Wade (Wallace, NS) who's rebounding and finishing stabilised the Tigers as they led entering the final quarter.

Wade continued his impressive play in the fourth, and Shamar Burrows (Nassau, Bahamas) did a good job setting up his teammates with scoring opportunities as the Tigers built their lead back up. The Panthers made their final push, with Miller managing to put pressure on the defence with his combination of shooting and slashing, but Dalhousie held on to win the game.

Wade earned Subway player of the game honours for Dalhousie after scoring a team high 17 points and snagging three rounds.

With the win, Dalhousie moves to 5-3 on the season as UPEI falls to 6-3.

Both Dal and UPEI will spend this week preparing to face Acadia, as Dal hosts the Axemen on Thursday and UPEI on Friday. Both games tip-off at 8:00 p.m.