SCORES AND GAME REPORTS FROM WEDNESDAY NIGHT
St. FX (7-2, 20 pts) at Acadia (7-4, 22 pts) The X-men came back from a 4 point halftime deficit by shooting 62% after the intermission as Tyler Richards led the way with 22 points before a full house of 1,500 in Wolfville. X got a huge lift from the bench, especially in the first half when starters Garry Gallimore, Dwayne Johnson and Christian "T-Bear" Upshaw all went to the bench with fouls as 5'9" fiery sparkplug Will Silver had 7 points including a 3 to offset a 19 point first-half performance by Acadia's Paolo Santana. Coach Steve Konchalski started a smaller lineup, inserting 6'4" Johnson into the starting 5 and bringing former starter 6'6" Terrance Taylor off the bench and the move worked as Taylor contributed 9 points in 18 minutes. But the key to the game was a second half surge led by Upshaw (19 points/5 assists), who dominated the freshman point guard matchup with Andrew Kraus by getting free in transition for easy scores and finding cutters with crafty looks. When it mattered, 6'10" Neil McDonald was money inside, finishing with another double/double (19 points/10 rebounds/3 blocks) while playing all 40 minutes. Peter Leighton went 4-8 from 3 to finish with 12 points for the Axemen, who shot only 36% for the game while 6'4" Luckern Dieu had 13 points/9 rebounds and 6'8" center Achuil Lual had an 11-point, 10-rebound double/double. X hosts St.Mary's on Saturday in Antigonish while Acadia doesn't play again until they host X again a week from Saturday. McMaster (6-6) 68 at Guelph (6-6) 65 In a foul-filled, defensive struggle that had its share of dramatics, the Marauders outlasted Guelph. With Mac up 1 and about 1 minute remaining, Guelph's Borko Popic missed a wide-open layup that Marauder's point guard Martin Ajayi ripped away from 6'10" J.R. Bailey, who committed his fifth foul on the play. Ajayi subsequently missed both free throws and then Gryphs Jay Mott missed a good look at 3 with 20 seconds remaining. Ajayi was then fouled and calmly sank both free throws to give Mac a 3 point lead before Nick Pankerichan's 3 at the buzzer came off, handing Guelph their second straight loss. The game was a defensive struggle in first 10 minutes but then got some flow toward the end of the half with Guelph up 32-29 at intermission. Five straight points by freshman Jermaine DeCosta gave Mac their first lead at 36-35 and their largest lead at 4. The teams went back and forth from there, mostly at the foul line, as 18 fouls were called in the first 10 minutes of the second half. Ajayi had 22 points including 13-18 from the line to lead Mac while 6'8" Adam Steiner added 12 and DeCosta, who provided the early second half spark, finished with 11. Bailey and Pankerichan each had 14 for Guelph while Popic added 10 off the bench. Mac hosts Brock on Saturday while Guelph visits Western in the wild, wacky OUA West.
#4 Windsor (9-3) 64 at Brock (7-5) 79 The Badgers, using a game-breaking 17-3 run between the 8 minute and 4 minute marks near the end of the second half led by 2 threes from Brad Rootes and another from Mike Kemp, comfortably defeated the Lancers. The Badgers built leads as large as 20 and came away with 21 offensive rebounds including six by 6'7" Owen White (13 points, 12 rebounds) in a strong performance that denied Windsor a chance to grab a 4 game lead on the pack in the OUA West. After falling behind by six at halftime, the Lancers grabbed a two point lead early in the second half, primarily behind 6'8" Greg Surmacz (23 points, 10 rebounds), the only Lancer to hit double figures on the night. However Windsor, which shot 60% from 3 point land in their win at Western this past Saturday, shot only 32% tonight including only 2/11 from 3 as usual offensive stalwards Kevin Kloostra (9 points) and Ryan Steer (5 points) couldn't get going in the face of Badger "d" especially Kemp on Kloostra. For the third consecutive game, the undersize Badgers, who inserted White into the starting lineup for tonight's game, won the rebounding battle (55-42 tonight). Kemp broke an offensive slump with 20 points (including 4 3's) and 7 rebounds while Rootes (16 points, 9 rebounds, 6 assists), relatively quiet for much of the night, got it going when it mattered down the stretch with the pair of 3's during the run. Next up for Brock is another in the heated rivalry at Mac where a capacity crowd is expected while Windsor plays their third consecutive road game at Waterloo. Both games go Saturday afternoon.
Western (5-7) 69 at Waterloo (6-7) 55 6'3" freshman wing Andrew Wedemire and 6'2" Matt Curtis both broke out of mini slumps as Wedemire had a game-high 19 points on 9-13 shooting and Curtis pushed up against a triple double with 16 points, 8 rebounds and 8 assists as the 'Stangs came up with an important road win breaking a 3 game losing streak with their first victory in the new year.
UQAM (2-6) at McGill (5-3) Matt Thornhill had 19 points, 6 assists and 4 rebounds as the Redmen came back from a 10 point halftime deficit, scoring 58 points after the break to win a key home game, breaking Citadins mini two-game winning streak. Fellow 6'4" freshman Paul Herra added 13 point including a pair of 3's for McGill while veteran Sean Anthony added 17 for McGill. QAM forced 9 McGill turnovers in the first half with their combination of zones and took care of the ball themselves (only 1 first-half turnover) as the "Killer Bees" trio of 6'0" Marc-Olivier Beauchamps, 6'4" Bruno Bernier and 6'4" Kevin Boucher got it going. But the Redmen turned up the "d" after the intermission and took advantage of evening-long foul trouble for 6'4" Mario Joseph to get out in transition for easy scores and make 3's. Prized freshmen Thornhill, who distributed plus made big shots, and Herra were the catalysts in the second half, as Herra scored 9 of 11 points during a key run with a pair of threes and an old-fashioned three point play. Freshman Arthaud Plesius had a career-high 13 points including 2-3 from 3 for UQAM. The Redmen go across town on Saturday to face Concordia for a 6 PM start (note starting time).OUA WEST STANDINGS AFTER TONIGHT'S GAMES
Windsor 9-3
Brock 7-5
McMaster 6-6
Guelph 6-6
Waterloo 6-7
Western 5-7
Laurier 4-7
Lakehead 1-11
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