Linton-Brown, Diggs lead Huskies to 83-78 win and weekend sweep over Tigers

HALIFAX, NS – Saint Mary's guards Shae Linton-Brown and Jayrell Diggs scored 21 and 20 points respectively, as the Huskies defeated the Dalhousie Tigers for the second straight night, 83-78 on Saturday at the Dalplex in Halifax.

Saint Mary's scored the first basket of the game off of Jackson Enyinna (Port Harcourt, Nigeria) powering a layup over Sam Maillet (Moncton, NB), to which Nginyu Ngala (Montreal, Que.) answered on the next possession with a three pointer.

Dalhousie continued to bank on Ngala as he had eight of their first 10 points, and Malcolm Christie (Fredericton, NB) slammed home a dunk for the Tigers to get out to a quick 14-4 lead.

A Jayrell Diggs (East Preston, NS) layup and an acrobatic finish over the Dal defender by Shae Linton-Brown (Toronto, ON) cut into the Dal lead, but a three by Gabe Marotullio (London, ON) silenced the comeback.

Two foul shots at the buzzer by Jonah Crowther (Dartmouth, NS) ended the first quarter with Dalhousie pulling away 21-13.

Linton-Brown got the scoring done for the Huskies with a three pointer, and a layup off of his own offensive rebound, followed by Tjark Lademacher (Lunëburg, Germany) scoring on the fastbreak after stealing the ball from the Dal player to force a Tigers timeout.

The Huskies continued to claw back at the Dalhousie lead with Diggs making a corner three point shot with the defender all over him to tie the game at 28, and Lademacher knocked down a three of his own to give SMU the lead.

HUSKIES HIGHLIGHTS ��

Devawn White with a big three-point play to put the Huskies up 67-55 in the fourth quarter! pic.twitter.com/fdRIdKp5MO

— Saint Mary's Huskies (@SMUHuskies) January 7, 2024

Down by two with two minutes left, Lydell Husbands-Browne (Halifax, NS) nicked the ball with his finger to misturn the layup by the SMU player, and on the offensive side, Ngala banked in a layup plus the foul.

The Tigers got a crucial stop at the end of the half to keep the score 40-38.

Husbands-Browne got the half going with a great defensive play, knocking the ball out of Enyinna's hands, and throwing it off him as Husbands-Browne fell out of bounds.

Saint Mary's countered immediately, with Marc-Denault Gabriel (Montreal, Que.) scoring four quick points, and Diggs being fouled on a three-point shot, then splashing another three.

Christie splashed a three to cut the lead to 52-50, but on the Huskies' possession Linton-Brown blew past all the defenders, and scooped in the layup.

Down by six, with less than a minute remaining, the Tigers needed a basket, and they looked to Gabe Damey (Ypsilanti, Michigan), whose mid range missed, but Dolu Johnson (Caledonia, ON) skied for the rebound, and went up again for two points.

The teams went into the fourth quarter with Saint Mary's up 58-54.

The Huskies continued to add onto their lead making it an eight-point lead, but a block by Spencer Riar (Montreal, Que.) stirred momentum for the home team.

HUSKIES HIGHLIGHTS ��

Devawn White with a big three-point play to put the Huskies up 67-55 in the fourth quarter! pic.twitter.com/fdRIdKp5MO

— Saint Mary's Huskies (@SMUHuskies) January 7, 2024

Saint Mary's Devawn White (Montreal, QC) then went to work, skying for a layup over multiple defenders, and then scoring a layup plus the foul, with an isolation bucket by Linton-Brown, the Huskies increased the lead to 16.

HUSKIES HIGHLIGHTS ��

Shae Linton-Brown hits the tough pull-up jumper for two of his team-high 21 points! Huskies defeat the Tigers for the second straight night, 83-78! pic.twitter.com/9g4dNBtUwp

— Saint Mary's Huskies (@SMUHuskies) January 7, 2024

The Tigers clawed back into the game with an and one midrange by Christie, plus a three by Ngala, and three threes by Christie to cut the lead down to seven with a minute and a half remaining.

Linton-Brown missed the second free throw, and Ngala scored an and 1 layup to cut the lead to three, but Saint Mary's put the game away with free throws to make it 83-78.

Linton-Brown led the Huskies with his second straight double-double, posting 21 points, 11 rebounds, four assists and three steals. Jayrell Diggs chipped in 20 points and added four steals, while Marc-Denault Gabriel posted a 17 point, 13 rebound double-double.

The Tigers were led by guard Malcolm Christie who scored 29 points including six three-pointers, and guard Nginyu Ngala's 23 points.

The Huskies win improved their record to 4-6 on the season, while the Tigers loss dropped them to 5-6.

Saint Mary's will be back in action next Saturday, Jan. 13 as they visit the UNB REDS at 8 p.m. in Fredericton, NB.

Recap by: Ethan Hunt / Dalhousie Tigers Athletics
Photos by: Milana Paddock / Dalhousie Tigers Athletics