The Tigers dominated inside, especially on the glass at both ends, and held Christian Upshaw scoreless for the first 19 1/2 minutes of the second half to advance to within one win of their second AUS championship in 3 seasons, locking up a berth at the Final Eight. X had no answers for 6'9" Joe Schow and 6'8" Sandy Viet inside as both Tiger bigs finished with double doubles while defensively the Tigers, mainly 6'2" Stephen Lopez, locked up Upshaw in his final game of his fine career as Dal kept X under 70 points for the second time this season.
Tigers built leads as large as 20 early in the third quarter, leading 49-29 before 5'9" Will Silver, also playing his final game, knocked down a three and then followed with a lay-in, to start an 18-8 run that got the game back to 10 by the end of the third. Silver had a valiant effort with 20 points and several rebounds and assists with a gritty effort while 6'5" Jeremy Dunn (19 points) made several big shots that helped get the game back to within 5 midway through the fourth. But Schow (23 points, 16 rebounds) had a big block, several in traffic rebounds and a couple of layups while Viet (13 points, 11 boards) shook off 4 consecutive free throw misses with a 7 point fourth quarter including a couple of clutch elbow jumpers that restored a double digit lead and Tigers were celebrating. 6'2" Simon Farine was a rock once again for Dal with 21 points playing virtually the entire game.
Dal looks for the AUS championship tomorrow afternoon against upstart Acadia.
1 comment:
What were the AUS coaches thinking in not selecting Simon Farine as POY.
He proved once again in the StFX game that he is the guy you want leading your team.
Joe Schow was a beast! Sandy Veit was huge.
Dal will be a strong team in the Nationals.
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