Huskies upend Acadia 104-96 in 2OT shoot-out

(HALIFAX, NS)—The Saint Mary's Huskies defeated the visiting Acadia Axemen 104-96 in double-overtime on Friday night in Atlantic university sport men's basketball action from the Homburg Centre.

Guard Nico Brauner (Wiesbaden, Germany) scored a game-high 26 points for Saint Mary's and added seven rebounds in the win while Nikita Kasongo (Montreal, QC) added 22 points and six rebounds for the Huskies.

Junior Maoku-Matia (Hamilton, ON) paced Acadia's offence with 22 points while Trevon Grant (Nassau, Bahamas) added 19 points and 10 rebounds for the Axemen.

Grant's double-double came on the heels of a last second game-tying three-pointer for the Axemen as time expired in the fourth quarter.

The bucket sent the game into overtime tied at 75-75.

Neither team led by more than two points in the first overtime, as both teams traded baskets thru the first six minutes.

A pair of three-pointers by both teams saw the game tied 83-83 with 2:30 left in the first overtime.

An Acadia layup extended the Axemen lead 85-83 with 2:09 left in overtime.

Kasongo nailed a three-pointer with 52 seconds left and two Brent Martindale (Kingston, ON) free-throws' saw SMU up 88-85 with 17 seconds left.

After an Acadia time-out, the Axemen had two looks from beyond the three-point land and Bedford, Nova Scotia's Nick De Palma hit a three-pointer as time ran out in the first overtime tied, 88-88.

SMU doubled-up Acadia 16-8 in the second overtime and took the victory 104-96.

De Palma finished with 16 points in the loss for Acadia, who drop to 12-4 on the year.

Kemar Alleyne (Scarborough, ON) chipped in 17 points in 48 minutes of action for Saint Mary's as teammate Osman Barrie (Ottawa, ON) contributed a double-double with 13 points and 12 rebounds.

Martindale (Kingston, ON) finished with 12 points for SMU, who improve to 10-6 in conference play.

Up next for both teams is the 2-14 Cape Breton University Capers.

CBU travels down to Wolfville Saturday February 10 for an 8 p.m. tip-off versus Acadia while SMU travels up to Sydney February 16-17 versus the Capers.

Dominic Nolasco

Photo Mona Ghiz