Huskies end X-Men unbeaten streak

McLaughlin nets 27 as Huskies top X-Men

The Saint Mary’s Huskies finally solved the St. Francis Xavier X-Men in dramatic fashion on Thursday, but Huskies coach Ross Quackenbush could only name one thing as the deciding factor.

"Dumb luck, honestly," Quackenbush said. "I can’t really pretend it’s anything more than that."

Saint Mary’s certainly benefitted from a fortunate bounce in the final seconds. After St. F.X.’s Alberto Rodriguez missed the go-ahead layup with three seconds remaining, Mark McLaughlin sank a pair of free throws with two ticks on the clock to give the Huskies a 76-74 win in front of an animated, bipartisan crowd at The Tower.

The win was the first in four tries for Saint Mary’s against the CIS No. 3 X-Men this season, and it came just five days after dropping a 98-81 decision to St. F.X. at Dalhousie’s Rod Shoveller Tournament.

"We got embarrassed a little by their press (on Saturday), so we spent three days working on that," said McLaughlin, who scored 17 of his game-high 27 points in the second half.

"It still wasn’t perfect and we had a lot of turnovers, but they’re a great team, they’re No. 3 in the country, and anytime we can beat them it’s a good win."

Joey Haywood just missed a triple-double with 25 points, nine rebounds and eight steals for the Huskies (4-2), who never trailed after taking a 9-3 lead but survived a white-knuckle ride for the next three quarters.

Saint Mary’s saw its 22-7 first-quarter lead evaporate quickly after the X-Men opened the second quarter with a 14-2 run.

St. F.X. finally drew even when Rodriguez split a pair of free throws with 15 seconds to play.

Rodriguez had a chance to give St. F.X. the win after the Huskies turned the ball over, but his breakaway layup rolled off the rim and then he fouled McLaughlin on the rebound attempt to complete the wild turnaround.

Rodriguez had 17 points and 11 rebounds to lead the X-Men (6-1), who took their first regular-season loss. Christian Upshaw scored 15 and Dwayne Johnson had 12.

Story courtesy Chad Lucas, The Chronicle Herald