Huskies top X-Men to earn AUS championship banner

(HALIFAX, N.S.) The No. 2-seeded Saint Mary's Huskies are the 2014 Subway AUS men's basketball champions having defeated the fourth-seeded StFX X-Men 81-72 in Sunday's final in front of 3,668 fans at the Halifax Metro Centre.

First-year StFX forward Cameron Walker scored 12 of the X-Men's 15 first quarter points with hard-nosed play in the paint, making six of his seven field goal attempts.

Saint Mary's was getting production from all over in the first quarter. Championship MVP Harry Ezenibe continued his strong play on the glass for the Huskies, battling down low with StFX's big men, earning crucial extra possessions which ended up being the difference down the stretch.

Walker kept the X-Men in the game early on, providing a much-needed post presence with 14 points at the break on 7-of-9 shooting. The rest of the team struggled from the floor shooting a combined 5-of-26 for a 19.2 field goal percentage.

All 10 Huskies that played in the first half put up points, paced by Theon Reefer with six and Marquis Clayton and Boyd Vassell with five each, to help Saint Mary's to a four-point lead at the break.

StFX continued their trend of strong starts to the second half with a scoring run that gave them the lead midway through the third quarter but Saint Mary's rallied back with a run of their own which started and ended with three pointers from Jeremy McAvoy.

Saint Mary's held onto their four-point lead heading into the fourth quarter, 56-52.

Both teams went blow-for-blow in the fourth quarter with Saint Mary's trying to push their lead and StFX trying to pull off yet another come-front-behind victory.

Jordan Clarke, Kevin Bercy and Will Donkoh took it hard to the paint in the final minutes, forcing their way to the free throw line, trying to keep StFX's title hopes alive.

Saint Mary's put it away in the last two minutes with big defensive stops leading to fast break opportunities for Marquis Clayton and a Theon Reefer slam dunk, giving the Huskies a 12-point advantage with just 1:44 remaining.

Saint Mary's Theon Reefer was named the Subway Player of the Game while Harry Ezenibe took home championship MVP honours. Both players were named to the championship all-star team along with StFX's Donkoh and Bercy and AUS MVP Owen Klassen from Acadia.

Reefer and Ezenibe led the Huskies in the win with 14 points apiece while Ezenibe also collected 10 rebounds and one block in 33 minutes of action.

Walker had a game-high 16 points for the X-Men in the loss. Donkoh contributed 15 points, 11 rebounds, six assists, a steal and a block in 39 minutes.

Saint Mary's now moves on to represent the Atlantic conference at the CIS Final 8 men's basketball championship being hosted by Carleton University March 7-9 in Ottawa, Ont.

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Courtesy Atlantic University Sport