Huskies win 92-74 over Panthers in men's basketball

(HALIFAX, NS)—The U Sports No. 5-ranked Saint Mary's Huskies defeated the visiting UPEI Panthers 92-74 on Friday night in Atlantic University Sport men's basketball action from the Homburg Centre.

Johneil Johnson (Lake Echo, NS) paced all scorers with 26 points in 19 minutes of action for the Huskies, who led 25-21 after the first quarter.  Johnson was named the Subway player of the game.

SMU outscored UPEI 20-14 in the second quarter and took a 45-35 halftime lead.

The third quarter saw the Huskies extend their lead to 17 points with a 55-72 cushion after thirty minutes.

Saint Mary's used a 20-19 fourth quarter score to post a 92-74 final score.

Amin Suleman (Toronto, ON) paced UPEI with 25 points in 12 minutes and shot 9-11 from the floor and went 6 for 8 from beyond the three-point arc.

Judy Georges (Montreal, QC) scored 16 points on 7 for 10 shooting while Moshe Wadley (Toronto, ON) chipped in 12 points and Milorad Sedlarevic (Jesenice, Slovenia) had 11 for UPEI, who drop to 3-6 on the year.

Nikita Kasongo (Chateauguay, PQ) had 17 points for SMU while Nico Brauner (Hettenhain, Germany) had a double-double with 11 points and 13 rebounds in the win as the Huskies improve to 8-0 in conference play.

Both teams return to the Homburg Centre at 8 p.m. on Saturday as they complete their weekend series.

Dominic Nolasco, SMU Communications

Photo Nick Pearce