CIS No. 3 X-Men remain undefeated

The CIS ranked No. 3 X-Men remain the only undefeated team in the country, improving their record to 13-0 after wins at home over UNB and UPEI.

Saturday evening the X-Men handled the UNB Varsity Reds 95-78, while on Sunday afternoon played a closer game with the UPEI Panthers, earning a 91-85 victory.

Against the Varsity Reds, the X-Men played a close first half with slim leads of 19-18 after the first quarter and 40-39 at half-time. The StFX bench helped power them through the second half where they outscored the Varsity Reds 45-39 en route to the win.

Jeremy Dunn scored 18 points for the X-Men, as did Chad Warren off the bench. Warren also had 3 steals in the game and was 3 for 4 from field goal range. Terrance Taylor and freshman Jordan Clarke contributed 11 and 10 points, respectively off the bench. Christian Upshaw scored 10 points.

Michael Anderson led the Varsity Reds with 17 points while teammate Daniel Quirion scored 14 and Colton Wilson contributed 13.

On Sunday afternoon at the StFX Oland Centre, the UPEI Panthers jumped out to an early 27-18 lead after 10 minutes of play and held a 40-38 half-time lead. The Panthers held the lead throughout the third quarter, as high as 9 points, though the X-Men were able to fight back and tie it up at 65-65 after three quarters of play.

As they have in many games to date, the X-Men took control in the fourth quarter and were able to pull out the victory, this one being their closest margin to date at 91-85. The 85 points against was a game-high allowed by the X-Men this season.

StFX was led by Christian ‘T-Bear’ Upshaw who scored 25 points and also contributed with 6 rebounds, 8 assists, 1 block and 5 steals. Alberto Rodriguez scored 16 points and had 8 rebounds while Terrance Taylor scored 15 and added 6 boards. Charlie Spurr chipped in with 11 points, including three from outside the circle. 

Replying for the Panthers was Manock Lual who scored a game-high 27 points and also had 6 rebounds and 5 assists. Matt Fennell scored 22 points and Calvin LeBlanc and Terrence Brown each tallied 12 points a piece.

With the two weekend wins, the X-Men improve their perfect record to 13-0 and currently sit with 36 points atop the AUS conference in a tie with Cape Breton (12-1). Next on the schedule is a Sunday, Feb. 7th afternoon game at home against the third place Dalhousie Tigers (9-5).

StFX Sports Information