Panthers defeat X-Men in key four-point game

Charlottetown, PE – The StFX X-Men fell 96-77 to the UPEI Panthers in AUS action Friday evening on the road. The game was worth a key four points in the AUS standings.

With the loss the X-Men drop to 11-8 on the season and sit in third place with 30 points, four points back of second place Saint Mary's (12-6). The Panthers (11-9) are in fourth spot with 28 points.

The Huskies appear to have second place locked up, securing them a second round bye at the AUS championship slated for next weekend, Feb. 28 to Mar. 2 at the Halifax Metro Centre.
The X-Men have one game remaining on the AUS schedule worth four points as they travel to Fredericton Saturday night to play UNB (9-10). The Huskies will host Memorial Saturday in a two point game. A StFX win coupled with a SMU loss would see each team finish with 34 points in the standings however, the Huskies hold a 3-1 regular season record against StFX, and therefore own the tiebreaker.

In Friday night in PEI, the Panthers held a slim 15-13 lead after the first quarter then increased it to 43-32 at half-time after outscoring the X-Men 28-19 in the second quarter.

The X-Men came back 26-24 in the third quarter to trail by nine after three quarters (67-58) but the home team Panthers were able to hold on for the win.

Donathan Moss was the player of the game for UPEI with 15 points and 9 rebounds, while Ellis Ffrench, a former X-Man, paced the Panthers with 18 points.

Geoff Doane scored 17 points and had 4 rebounds while Lorenzo Parker contributed 10 points.

Veteran X-Men guard Will Donkoh scored 14 points, while freshman Julius Antoine netting 13 off the bench for StFX. He also had 4 rebounds, 5 assists , 3 steals and a block in a good all-around effort.

Fellow freshmen Cameron Walker and Kevin Bercy scored 12 and 11 points, respectively and each hauled in 8 rebounds.

The X-Men will close out AUS regular season play with another four-point game in Fredericton Saturday night against UNB. Tip-off is 8:00 pm.