Bell AUS Men's Basketball Championship: Capers survive scare, keep AUS title hopes alive

Tong, Pryce combine for 44

HALIFAX, NS (Feb. 28, 2025) – The Cape Breton University (CBU) Capers men's basketball team made things hard on themselves. But, in the end, they did what they came to do.

After spotting the No. 6 seed Saint Mary's University Huskies a 24-point lead in the second quarter, the third-ranked Capers came all the way back and avoided an upset with an 86-81 victory in their Friday night 2025 Bell AUS Men's Basketball quarter-final game played at Scotiabank Centre in Halifax.

"We just stuck to it – hard work. And that was the outcome," said Capers rookie sensation Liai Tong, who was named the Subway Player of the Game after scoring 20 points in the win, in a post-game interview. "At half (head coach Matt Skinn) basically told us that it was up to us now and we were the only ones who could change it."

CBU will undoubtedly be hitting the hay as soon as possible as they are now set to square off against the No. 2 seeded UPEI Panthers in Saturday night's semifinal. Tip-off is slated for 8:30 p.m.

The Capers will be in search of their first AUS banner since the 2012-13 season.

The game started ok for the Capers, as they held a 17-14 lead with just over three minutes left in the first quarter. The rest of the quarter was all Huskies, though, as they went on a 15-2 run the rest of the way to lead 29-17 after 10 minutes of play.

That momentum carried through into the second quarter, when a Jasha'jaun Downey free throw extended SMU's lead to 24 points – 49-25 – with 2:40 left until halftime.

CBU showed signs of life, however, cutting the deficit to 17 before the break.

That spark continued to build in the third quarter as CBU stayed within striking distance for most of the period. They started chipping away bit by bit and with 4:19 left in the quarter, Tong hit a pair of free throws to cut the Saint Mary's lead to single digits – 59-50.

Tong, who was named to the AUS All-Rookie Team earlier in the week, followed that up with a three-pointer to cut the lead to six. CBU would get the lead down to as much as four points before SMU extended their lead to 68-61 heading into the final quarter.

In the fourth, SMU seemed gassed. Shots that fell in the first half were not falling now for the Huskies.

On the other side of the court, AUS First Team All-Star guard Shak Pryce took over, scoring 10 of his 24 points in the final 10 minutes to boost his Capers – his biggest a three-pointer with 4:37 left to tie the game at 75-75.

Tong followed up with a trio of free throws to give CBU their first lead since the opening quarter, and Saint Mary's could not find a way to claw back.

Downey, an AUS First Team All-Star led the Huskies with 24 points while teammate, and Second Team All-Star, Eliel Nsoseme added 12 points and 16 rebounds.