After one of the most entertaining finishes of the season the Seawolves men’s basketball team’s win against the 4th place Crandall Chargers has secured a berth in the ACAA championships for the 6th place Saint John squad.
Dropping an early 10 points in the first quarter the Seawolves were playing catch up for the first quarter. It wasn’t until the final minute that the wolves were able to pull ahead of the Chargers with a jumper from guard, Nick Huggard.
The second quarter was point for point with Seawolves Huggard and Brandon Fields of the Chargers battling back and forth for points.
Steve Ryan drained a three point shot just before the half to give the Seawolves the lead over the Chargers that lead into a crucial 15-minute recharge break for both teams.
“sometimes the basketball God’s smile down on you”
Ryan continued to play strong, scoring 18 points in the second half, giving the Seawolves a 3rd quarter push that saw them up by 9 points early on.
The Chargers would not give up with Trenity Burdine and Trey David combining for 11 points and the team netting 9 steals from the home team.
The Chargers pressure on the court didn’t shake the Seawolves however, as they continued to make shots, frustrating the Chargers with 71% conversion from the three point line.
The Chargers managed to down to two points on errors from the Seawolves but ran out of time after missing a three point shot in the final seconds of play.
“First and foremost we dodged a bullet.” Says Seawolves head coach Peter Vincent.
“We had an opportunity to close the game down a couple of times and over dribbled in those situations. But sometimes the basketball god’s smile down on you and you get away with a few mistakes at the end of the game,” he continued.
“If we think that performance is the standard that we are normally used to let alone a championship then we have to get better,” says Patrick Havard, Crandall head coach
The last game of the season is Saturday February 27 at 3pm at Saint Thomas University in Fredericton. Championships are held the following weekend March 4 – 6 at Mount Saint Vincent University in Halifax.
