Huskies top visiting X-Men 96-83

(HALIFAX, N.S.) Precision shooting lifted the Saint Mary's Huskies over the StFX X-Men 96-83 in Atlantic University Sport men's basketball action Friday night.

StFX used a 10-0 run to start the first quarter before the Huskies' Travis Adams and Vassell Boyd trimmed the StFX lead to four with four minutes to play in the quarter.

Points were 11-8 for StFX to end the quarter up seven 21-14.

Saint Mary's went 6-for-23 from the floor and 0-5 from three-point land in the first quarter.

Over the next thirty minutes Saint Mary's put on a strong shooting clinic and made 31 out of 58 shots.

For the game, the Huskies went 10-for-25 from beyond the three-point line while StFX shot 5-for-14.

Saint Mary's Riley Halpin scored eleven straight points to start the second quarter and StFX led 30-25 with 6:07 left in the half.

A 4-0 run by Saint Mary's had the Huskies trailing by a point before StFX went on a 4-0 run themselves with three minutes left in the second quarter 34-29.

Saint Mary's Jeremy McAvoy's three-point play and Terrence Taylor's layup tied the game at 34.

The Huskies ended the half up 37-36 on Riley Leonard's layup.

The start to the second half was a see-saw affair with Saint Mary's winning the third quarter 26-25 for a 63-61 lead after thirty minutes.

Halpin opened the fourth quarter with a three-pointer for a 66-61 lead before Theon Reefer shot out the Homburg Centre lights.

Reefer drained three treys in the quarter and finished 4-for-6 from beyond the arc. He led all scorers with 23 points on the night.

Saint Mary's outscored StFX 33-21 in the quarter and is 7-2 in AUS play while the X-Men fall to 5-4.

Marquis Clayton with 13 points and 12 assists and Terrence Taylor with 11 points and 11 rebounds each had double-doubles for the Huskies.

Adams finished with nine points and Vassell with seven points for Saint Mary's.

Also scoring for the Huskies were Riley and Ryan Augustine with four points each and McAvoy with three points.

Will Donkoh posted 20 points for the X-Men and added five rebounds, while Jordan Clarke contributed 16 points. Juilius Antoine chipped in 11 points for the blue and white and Kevin Bercy added another 10.

Saint Mary's returns to action Saturday Jan. 11 at 8 p.m. when they host the UPEI Panthers.

The X-Men resume play this Wednesday, Jan. 14 at 8 p.m. when they host the AUS defending champion Cape Breton Capers.

Source: Saint Mary's Sports Information