Panthers win sets up 2025 championship final rematch with STFX in Saturday afternoon semifinal

HALIFAX, NS (Feb. 20, 2026) - The defending champs are moving on. 

The UPEI Panthers received 22 points from veteran guard Kyree Thompson (North Preston, NS) as his team defeated the CBU Capers 66-59 in Friday afternoon's Atlantic University Sport (AUS) Men's Basketball Championship quarterfinal game played at Scotiabank Centre. 

The victory by UPEI now sets up a rematch of last year's championship final when the Panthers defeated the STFX X-Men, who will be seeking revenge in their semifinal matchup set for their Saturday afternoon at 3pm at Scotiabank Centre. 

UPEI entered the contest as the fifth-seed after finishing the regular season with an 8-12 record. The fourth-ranked Capers finished the season at 11-9, but will have to wait until next season to see if they can earn their first AUS crown since 2013. 

Despite losing three of four regular season games to the Capers, it was UPEI who came out on fire in the opening quarter. 

After going down 6-4, the Panthers went on a 16-3 run to lead 20-7 with 3:36 remaining in the opening frame. By the time the first quarter ended, UPEI led 30-21. 

The second quarter saw both teams slow things down, with the highlight of it being a buzzer-beating three-point shot by UPEI guard Owen Smith (Harvey York County, NB) to put his team up 44-31 at the break. 

CBU fought back after halftime, as they outscored the Panthers 17-12 in the quarter – five of those coming from rookie guard Tayshaun Thomas (Montreal, QC). Thomas finished the game with nine points and five rebounds. 

Now down just eight (56-48) going into the fourth, neither team did much to either catch up or pull away. After six minutes of play, the teams had combined for just five points as the basket on both ends of the court seemed to shrink. 

UPEI's Hugo Bermejo (Madrid, Spain) made back-to-back layups to put the green and white up 10 with a minute left, but CBU did not quit. 

A Jean Cardy (Montreal, QC) free throw followed up by layups by Tafarian Black (Scarborough, ON) and Aaron Cunningham (Orangeville, ON) cut the deficit to five with 22 seconds left but that is as close as they would get. 

Black led the Capers with 19 points while teammate Liai Tong (St. John's, NL) added 12 points and six rebounds. 

Sam Chisholm (Bridgetown, NS) added 11 points for the Panthers. 

Thompson was named Player of the Game.