By John DeCoste
The Acadia basketball Axemen showed a flair for the dramatic in sweeping the UPEI Panthers in university basketball action this past weekend in Wolfville.
After trumping the Panthers 90-74 Friday, the Axemen trailed UPEI 76-67 with 3:55 left on the clock Saturday before roaring back for an 85-82 win.
After Acadia fought back to within three, Anthony Ashe drained a three-pointer with 1:09 left to tie the score at 82. After the Axemen forced a turnover, Ashe nailed the game-winning three with 5.6 seconds left.
The Axemen led 18-11 after one quarter, but the Panthers won the second quarter handily 23-14 to take a 34-32 halftime lead. After Acadia won the third quarter 26-24, the teams were tied at 58 with 10 minutes to play.
Ashe, in addition to his late-game heroics, led the Axemen offensively with 21 points, including five threes and four-for-four free throws.
Owen Klassen added 18 points and 15 rebounds for his second double-double of the weekend. Jonathan Tull chipped in 15 points and Tyler Scott 11 for Acadia, which played for the third straight game without the injured Anthony Sears.
Donathan Moss had 29 points and 10 boards to lead the Panthers.
The officials whistled a total of 57 infractions, sending the teams to the foul line for 67 attempts. Acadia finished 23-of-36 from the foul line, while UPEI went 21-of-31.
For a second straight game, the short-staffed Axemen did a great job of holding on to the ball against the athletic and often-explosive Panthers, committing just 13 turnovers for a total of 25 for the two games.
On Friday, despite being outshot badly from the floor (32 per cent to 47 for UPEI), Acadia led 25-15 after one quarter and 40-30 at halftime en route to a 16-point victory.
The keys were taking more shots (75 to 63), making three-pointers (13 compared to just three for the Panthers), and foul shots (Acadia hit 29-of-41, while UPEI was 11-of-23 as the officials called 50 fouls).
Klassen had a huge game for Acadia, scoring 28 points (including a trio of three-pointers) and hauling down 16 rebounds. He was supported by Ashe (16 points, four threes), Sean Stoqua (11 points), Tull and Scott (10 points each).
Manock Lual performed nobly in a losing effort, leading all scorers with 30 points and adding 13 rebounds.
Friday’s game was billed as the return to the area of longtime Horton coach Tim Kendrick, now in his first year as men’s head coach at UPEI.
A large crowd turned out for Kendrick’s homecoming, and he was recognized by Acadia prior to the game for his contributions to basketball in the Valley.
Unfortunately for Kendrick, the rest of the evening was disappointing. Not only did UPEI lose the game, he was assessed a pair of technical fouls and ejected from the contest – which under conference rules, meant he was suspended for Saturday’s game as well.
Standings:
Team GP 4W 2W L Pts
StFX 19 6 9 4 42
UPEI 19 4 8 7 32
CB 19 5 6 8 32
Acadia 17 5 6 6 32
SMU 18 3 6 9 24
Dal 18 4 4 10 24
UNB 18 3 3 12 18
MUN 18 0 1 17 2
As of Tuesday, Feb. 21
Schedule:
Feb. 22
Acadia at Saint Mary's*
Saturday, Feb. 25
Memorial at Acadia, 8 p.m.
Sunday, Feb. 26
Memorial at Acadia, 3 p.m.
Playoffs**
Friday, March 2
Quarter-finals at 6 and 8:15 p.m.
Saturday, March 3
Semfinals at 6 and 8:15 p.m.
Sunday, March 4
Final at 2 p.m.
Nationals**
March 9 to 11
* Score not available at press time
** Both the conference playoffs and nationals will be held at the Halifax Metro Centre
