The Seawolves Men’s basketball team welcomed the Mount Allison Mounties and Saint Thomas Tommie’s, to open the second half of the ACAA basketball season.
The Seawolves first game was against the Mountie’s who they defeated in a close 78-74 final. The second match-up of the weekend saw the Tommie’s taking care of business on the road, handing the Seawolves their first loss of 2016 with a final score 80-57 to end the weekend.
The matchup between the Mounties and UNBSJ saw both teams matching bucket for bucket ending 15-14 after one quarter. The high tempo game continued into the second with UNBSJ guard, Paul Gerges, taking control, and ending the half with a crowd pleasing circus shot while tacking on the foul putting the Seawolves up 37-36 at halftime.
Gerges performance held strong shooting 50% from the three point line, giving him 14 points while Seawolves teammate, forward Liam Sipkema, posted 20 points to lead the team.
Gerges spoke after the game, saying “we lost to (Mount Allison) before the break and we were hungry for this game, to win it.”
Out of half the Mountie’s Adam Spurrell returned the favor by draining a three to kick off the second half. UNBSJ managed to hang on, despite Spurrell leading the way for the Mountie’s with 14 points helped by four others reaching double figures as well.
At the end of three quarters the Seawolves held a 59-53 lead. Free throws were a major factor in the fourth quarter as the Seawolves shot 14-15 from the line while the Mountie’s shot 8-11.
“We played well over the whole 40 minutes in this, usually we have period during the game were we turn the ball over and have mental lapses, but this was much better” said Gerges after the game.
Sunday’s game featured the Saint Thomas University Tommie’s looking for revenge after the Seawolves handed them 82-62 loss before the holiday break.
The Tommie’s started the game connecting on an abundance of shots from beyond the three point line to lead UNBSJ 20-6 after the first quarter.
The Seawolves made a push entering third quarter to cut into the Tommie’s lead but wasn’t enough down the stretch. It was a game of threes, as the Tommie’s shot an impressive 80% from beyond the three point line helped by their pin point ball movement on the offensive end.
Top scorers for the Seawolves were forward Matt Brown with 13 points,also grabbing 6 rebounds, while guard Paul Gerges came away with 12 points and a pair of steals. The Tommie’s had five players reaching double figures with point guard, Dylan Gallant, doing a little bit of everything scoring 15 points and finding his teammate for 7 assists and ending with four steals.
UNBSJ point guard Gerges says “I felt our energy at first wasn’t there and we were content with how we played Mount (Allison) and we felt satisfied walking into the STU game expecting to win which we shouldn’t do.”
The UNBSJ Seawolves play undefeated Holland College this weekend for the Think Pink game, raising money for breast cancer.
“Holland College likes to run and so do we, so it will make for an up tempo game so it should be very fun.” Says an excited Gerges.
The Seawolves start the new year 1-1 and will be looking forward to add another win this coming weekend at home, Sunday at 3 pm.
