X-Men drop 80-60 game to Reds

FREDERICTON, NB - The UNB Reds outscored StFX in every quarter on route to an 80-60 win over the visiting X-Men on Friday.

UNB's Chris Spurrell (Quispamsis, NB) scored 10 of his 13 points in the second half, earning the Subway Player of the Game nod.

"We know our offence is going to come. We put up 80 points, but the biggest thing for us is bucking up on defence," said Spurrell. "We only allowed them to score 60 points, so that's probably the biggest thing."

The Reds connected on their first two shots of the game, both three pointers, to take an early 6-0 lead.

UNB continued to build on that lead throughout the opening quarter, pushing it to 14-4 midway through.

The X-Men closed the gap to 18-12 late in the quarter, but UNB hung on to lead 20-14 after the first ten minutes.

Despite a much closer second quarter, the X-Men weren't able to eat into UNB's lead and the Reds went to the half up 35-28.

Spurrell's second half spurred the home team, who held off the X-Men 80-60.

"There's not a game that we're going to play this year that's going to be easy," said Spurrell. "Everyone can play in this league. I don't think the scoreboard really reflected how the game really was."

Ibramhima Doumbouya (Calgary, AB) led all scorers, with 21 points and 14 rebounds for the Reds. Tyrell Leotaud (Ajax, ON) came off the UNB bench to score 10 points.

Daniel Passley (Mississauga, ON) led the X-Men, scoring 13 points and grabbing 10 rebounds.

Tristen Ross (Truro, NS) and Justin Andrew (Hamilton, ON) each had 11 points.

"We couldn't string together some stops," said Passley. "They were hitting threes and that was the thing that separated them. The three ball was big for them and we couldn't convert opportunities."

The game was played before a large crowd of more than 900.

Passley says the X-Men weren't intimidated by the strong support for the Reds.

"They were loud, they support the team here, but I don't think they were a factor in a negative way for us," he said. "I think we, point blank, just shot ourselves in the foot on offence. The support was, obviously, here for a good cause, I think that was the biggest thing, so that was great to see."

With the win, the Reds are now 9-and-5, and second in the Atlantic University Sport standings. The X-Men are 4-and-8, and tied for fourth place.

UNB and St FX meeting again Saturday, in the finale of their two-game weekend series. Game time is 8:00 pm.

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Courtesy Andy Campbell, UNB Athletics