UNB tops SMU 83-72, Masters breaks AUS record

(HALIFAX, NS)—The UNB Varsity Reds defeated the Saint Mary's Huskies 83-72 on Friday evening from the Homburg Centre in Atlantic university sport men's basketball action.

Both teams came into the game with unblemished records and UNB's Javon Masters (Kitchener, ON) made sure his game-high 37 points were more than enough for SMU to handle.

Masters set the all-time AUS career record for points, breaking UPEI's Curtis Anderson's 2,069 points in 100 career games from the 1991/92-1995/96 season.

Saint Mary's ended the first quarter with a 26-17 lead and outscored UNB 21-13 in the second quarter and had a 47-30 cushion at half.

The second-half was a reversal of the first, with UNB outscoring the Huskies 26-12 in the third quarter and trailed the Huskies by three, 59-56 after thirty minutes.

The fourth quarter saw a 27-13 score for the Varsity Reds and UNB took the 83-72 victory.

Masters scored the trying bucket on a lay-up under the basket and broke the mark on a three-pointer in true scorer fashion.

Masters has 2,072 points in 82 career games.  

Dylan Baker (Narre Warren South, Australia) had 14 points for UNB while Tyrell Leotaud (Ajax, ON) and Chris Spurrell (Quispamsis, NB) each had nine points as the V-Reds improve to 5-0 on the year.

Nikita Kasongo (Montreal, QC) paced Saint Mary's with 20 points while Osman Barrie had a double-double with 17 points and 10 rebounds in the loss for SMU, who drop to 4-1 on the year.

Nico Brauner (Wiesbaden, Germany) finished 11 points and Kemar Alleyne (Scarborough, ON) had 10 for the Huskies.

Both teams conclude their weekend series Saturday afternoon at 6 pm from Halifax.

Dominic Nolasco, SMU Communications

Photo Nick Pearce