Acadia split home-and-home games with X-Men

Wolfville, NS - The Acadia Axemen took a home-and-home split with the STFX X-Men with a 90-82 win Friday night.

The X-Men started by getting the first score on the board with hopes of repeating the results of their Wednesday night win (73-64), but unwilling to let that happen again, Acadia immediately picked it up on defense and started shutting them down.

Acadia and X traded points and ended the first quarter with a 23-17 Axemen lead. This would be the closest score difference throughout the game. 

The Axemen built up a 48-36 lead at halftime.

The second half saw a lot better ball and player movement around the court for the Axemen as players began to free themselves and hit more open threes.

After Alex Muise hit three consecutive three-pointers for Acadia and had two solid plays on defense, it started to signify a momentum shift in their favour. Muise finished the game with 21 points.

There were quite a few players with strong performances for Acadia. Eli Kraushar had 21 points, followed by Jack Tilley with 18 and Rowan Power with 15. 

Twenty-one points, three rebounds, three steals, and four assists made Alex Muise the Subway Player of the Game for Acadia.

"It was big (win) and obviously we wanted to do it for Coach (Leslie). We were close Wednesday night and couldn't close it out, but tonight we came out focused, lots of energy and got the job done," noted Muise after the game.

The X-Men started to find their footing partway through the fourth quarter and started to close the gap in the final few minutes, but it wasn't enough as Acadia pulled off the win with a final score of 90-82. 

Justin Andrew of X-Men was selected as the StFX Player of the Game. He put up an impressive game-high 30 of the StFX's 82 points. 

David Muenkat scored 11 points and had eight rebounds while Handy Disanke added 10.

The win gives the Axemen a 1-3 record, while the X-Men fall to 2-2.

The Axemen find themselves on the road next weekend for two games at UNB, while the X-Men host Saint Mary's next Wednesday.

-30-

Courtesy Michaela Haley, Acadia Athletics Communications