X-Men steal 85-83 victory over Saint Mary’s

(Halifax, N.S.)—The StFX X-Men defeated the Siant Mary's Huskies 85-83 Friday night in AUS men's basketball action from the Homburg Centre.

Kevin Bercy (Kanata, Ont.) led all scorers with 26 points and 17 rebounds in the victory.

The 6-foot-7 power forward had 12 of his 26 points in the fourth quarter, as the X-Men trailed Saint Mary's by four points heading into the final frame, 61-57.

The X-Men went on a 13-0 run in under four minutes and built a 70-61 lead in the final frame.

The Huskies scored their first points of the quarter on a lay-up 4:16 into frame, then proceeded on a 10-3 run in 81 seconds and tied the game 73-73.

Both teams had 5-0 runs and remained tied at 78-78.

Two foul-shots and a jumper by StFX had the X-Men up 82-78 with 2:07 left in the game.

A Saint Mary's three-pointer had the Huskies within one, 82-81 with 1:02 to play.

Bercy's final point came on a free-throw with 48 seconds left, putting the X-Men up 83-81.

Marquis Clayton (Halifax, N.S.) tied the game on two foul-shots, 83-83 with 32 seconds left.

Cameron Walker (Dallas, Texas) hit his baseline jumper with 13 seconds left, giving St. Francis Xavier the lead, 85-83 as the Huskies called timeout.

The Huskies had two good looks at the net and came up short as StFX held-on for the 85-83 win.

Saint Mary's led 18-12 after 10 minutes and StFX used a 28-17 second quarter score to take a 40-35 halftime lead and the third quarter saw SMU outscore StFX 26-17 in the frame.

Julius Antoine (Woodbridge, Ont.) added 19 points for StFX, who improve to 8-6 with 26 conference points.

Walker finished with 14 points and Tristen Ross (Truro, N.S.) had 13 off the X-Men bench.

Brian Rouse (Mississauga, Ont.) had 24 points for Saint Mary's, who drop to 10-6 and have 28 conference points.

Theon Reefer (Toronto, Ont.) added 18 points for the Huskies and Clayton finished with 12 points and Kemar Alleyne (Scarborough, Ont.) had 11.

StFX trails the U Sports No. 10 Dalhousie by two points in the standings and the X-Men host the 11-4 Tigers February 7^th in a four-point game.

Up next for Saint Mary's is a February 11^th home game versus the 7-7 Acadia Axemen.

Tip-off for both games is 8 p.m.

Souce, Dominic Nolasco SMU Communications

Photo Nick Pearce