X-Men to face Carleton in Shoveller final

The CIS ranked #3 StFX X-Men are set to face the #1 ranked Carleton Ravens in the championship game of the Dalhousie Rod Shoveller Invitational tournament after a 98-81 semi-final win over the Saint Mary’s Huskies Saturday evening in Halifax.

Game time for the exhibition final is set for 3:00 pm Sunday afternoon at the Dalplex in Halifax.

In the semi-final game, the X-Men were once again led by Player of the Game Christian T-Bear Upshaw who scored an amazing career-high 48 points in the game. He also contributed 11 rebounds, 4 assists, 4 steals and 1 block.

Rookie Jeremy Dunn continued his strong tournament play, scoring 20 points off the bench and adding 2 rebounds, 2 assists and 3 steals. Captain Dwayne Johnson scored 13 points for the blue and white and had 5 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 steals.

Joey Haywood led the Huskies with 27 points and 10 rebounds, while Mark McLaughlin scored 19 points, had 7 assists and 6 rebounds. Ikeboi Uchegbu posted 15 points and 9 rebounds for SMU and Ronald Vanel scored 14.

The X-Men jumped out to a 26-17 lead in the first quarter, but the Huskies came back in the second quarter and were down by a field goal at half-time with the X-Men leading 40-38. After scoring 19 of his game-high 48 points in the first half, T-Bear Upshaw picked up the pace for X scoring his additional 29 points in the game in the second frame. Fourth quarter play proved to be the difference in the game with the X-Men outscoring the Huskies by a 26-15 margin to secure a berth in Sunday’s championship game.

The X-Men are the three-time defending Shoveller tournament champions and have dominated the Dalplex floor as of late, winning the annual invitational event five out of the past six years. They will be up against a tough opponent in the final game as they face the CIS #1 ranked Carleton Ravens. The Ravens led the OUA East division, are 7-1 in league play and hold a 13-1 record against CIS opponents this year.

The X-Men are 6-0 in league play atop the AUS conference and hold a 12-2 record against CIS competitors to date. The championship game is slated for 3:00 pm Sunday afternoon at the Dalplex in Halifax.