Hoop Axemen impressive in rolling over St. F.X.

BY JOHN DECOSTE

jdecoste@kentvilleadvertiser.ca

NovaNewsNow.com

The Acadia basketball Axemen have played some entertaining games this season, but none as much so as Tuesday’s contest in Wolfville.

St. F.X. was in town for its only visit of the season and while the X-men are a couple of years removed from their last championship, they entered the game with an 11-4 record and are still a talented team.

Sparked by the ‘inside-outside’ tandem of Shawn Berry and Leo Saintil, the Axemen came back from an early deficit to lead 28-16 after one quarter. St. F.X. won the second quarter by a 19-17 margin, but the Axemen still led 45-35 at halftime.

However, the X-men weren’t about to go away. Led by some hot shooting from Tyler Richards, they clawed their way back to within one, 60-59, after three quarters. St. F.X. continued to chip away and gained a 66-64 lead with 5:58 to play.

The advantage went back and forth until Andrew Kraus hit a clutch three-pointer with 2:06 remaining and time running out on the shot clock to put the Axemen up 75-72.

After Berry hit for two, Saintil converted an offensive rebound then added a foul shot to put Acadia up 80-74 with 27 seconds left.

Kraus named Player of the Game

Saintil finished with 26 points, including nine in the final quarter, and 21 rebounds, moving to within 12 of Matt Chapman’s AUBC record of 258 (set while Chapman was a member of the Axemen in 2000) with three regular season games to play.

Berry added 17 points, but it was Kraus, with 20 points - 15 in the second half and seven in the final 5:07 of play - who earned Player of the Game honours for the Axemen.

Richards finished with 24, including four three-pointers, for St. F.X., which deserved credit for coming back from a sizeable deficit. Christian Upshaw with 14, Islam Luiz Toledo with 13 and Dwayne Johnson with 12 also finished in double figures.

Acadia shot 51.9 per cent for the game to 43.2 per cent for St. F.X., went 6-11 from three-point range and, thanks in large part to Saintil, outrebounded St. F.X. 42-26.

The win, which was worth four points in the standings, improved Acadia’s record to 15-2 and moved the Axemen to within two points of first-place Cape Breton. It also allowed them to sweep both their games with St. F.X. this season.

Cape Breton continued to have played (and won) one more four-point game than the Axemen, but Acadia is scheduled to make that up this weekend as part of a two-game weekend series at Memorial against the winless SeaHawks. The Axemen will then close out the regular season Saturday afternoon, Feb. 23 at home against UPEI.

In women’s play, Acadia lost 63-50 to St. F.X., dropping the Axewomen record to 6-11. St. F.X. won all four quarters by narrow margins and Acadia didn’t help its cause by committing 20 turnovers. The Axewomen outshot the X-women 31.4 per cent to 30.5, and the rebounding was even at 33.

Shannon Matheson led all scorers with 19 points for St. F.X. and Sheryl Chisholm added 13. Becky Mutch had 13 points and eight rebounds for Acadia, and Jennifer Bishop and AUBC rookie-of-the-year candidate Emma Duinker each finished with 11 points.