Axemen squeeze past winless Sea-Hawks in physical contest

(WOLFVILLE, N.S.) - In a high intensity matchup against the last place Memorial Sea-Hawks, the Axemen set the tone from opening tip, but lost the lead for a portion of the third quarter before coming back to defeat the winless Seahawks 75-70 before a crowd of 923 at the War Memorial Gymnasium.

Acadia led 15-12 at the end of the first frame, but the young Sea-Hawks squad did not let up. The Axemen were able to maintain a 35-32 advantage at half, Memorial answered with a 12-1 run midway through the third to take an eight-point lead with 1:24 remaining in the third. Acadia finished the quarter strong and pulled the score to 55-49, igniting a youthful Minor Basketball Night crowd.

With the Sea-Hawks up by their largest lead of nine following a Jacob Ranton three pointer with 7:30 remaining in the game, the Axemen found themselves in a bonus situation with seven minutes to go in the fourth. 

Acadia's Subway Player of the Game, Owen Klassen, had nine of his 17 points in the fourth quarter. Klassen had to battle through some aggressive forwards and a lot of contact but reclaimed the lead on a driving layup to give Acadia a 71-70 lead with under a minute remaining in the game.

Shaquille Smith with 16 points, nine rebounds and three assists also had a big game for the Axemen. Anthony Sears and Kyle Arseneault also chipped in 11 points apiece and Sears added seven boards. Acadia outscored their opponent 26-15 in the final frame.

Memorial's Player of the Game, Davion Parnsalu led all scorers with 18 points in the loss. Caleb Gould had 12 points and six boards and Vasilije Curcic added 12 points and eight boards to the effort.

Both teams will face each other again Sunday afternoon before Memorial heads home to host UNB next weekend. The Axemen will await the arrival of UPEI next weekend for the annual Shoot for the Cure weekend.

Source: Ashley Hasler for Acadia Sports Information