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Eric Garland Tourney |Veteran trio leads locals to 2-1 mark

The St. Francis Xavier X-Men may have won the ARC Financial Eric Garland men's basketball tournament -- but the host University of New Brunswick Varsity Reds may have felt like they did.

The X-Men, expected to be an Atlantic University Sport Men's Basketball Conference powerhouse again this season, won the four-team round robin event with a perfect 3-0 record.

But the rebuilding Varsity Reds finished 2-1 and gave the X-Men a good game Saturday night before dropping a 77-75 decision before some 500 fans at the Aitken Centre. X outscored the hometown V-Reds 23-17 in the final quarter after UNB led 21-20 after one and 39-38 at the half. They outscored the X-Men 19-13 in the third quarter to take a four point lead into the final frame, but couldn't complete the upset.

UNB Player of the Game Colton Wilson connected for 25 points and pulled down eight rebounds. Veteran teammates Michael Anderson and Alex DesRoches each added a dozen, with DesRoches pulling down 10 rebounds.

For X, Christian Upshaw struck for 27 points and dished five assists and Jeremy Dunn had 13 points and 11 rebounds. Jordan Clarke tossed in 14 and Alberto Rodriguez added 11.

The X-Men shot 50 per cent from the field for the game to pull out the victory.

X completed the weekend sweep by defeating the University of Quebec at Montreal Citadins 81-70 Sunday. Six players were in double figures for the X-Men in that fixture, led by Jeremy Dunn with 16. He added a dozen rebounds. Arthaud Plesius had 19 for UQAM, which finished the tourney with a 1-2 record, including an 81-67 loss to the V-Reds in Friday night's late game.

The V-Reds won their tourney opener against University of Quebec at Montreal 81-67.

Desroches led the way for UNB in that game with 18 points, 11 rebounds and four assists, Wilson collected 15 points and Anderson added 13 to the winning mix as the V-Reds opened up a 31-20 lead after one quarter and led 48-32 at the half.

Rookie Daniel Quirion of Moncton hit for 14 points in 21 minutes. Gregory St. Amand led UQAM with 18 points.

They closed out the tourney with an 83-72 victory over Lee Academy. DesRoches once again led the way for the V-Reds with 29 points and 11 rebounds. Wilson and Antwann Parks each potted 14, David Hanson had 14 to lead Lee Academy. V-Reds led 21-16 after one quarter and 37-33 at the half.

StFX ran the table, with wins over UQAM (80-71) and Lee Academy (95-62) in addition to their narrow win over the V-Reds.