Acadia’s Total Team Effort Carves Up Dalhousie, Anthony Sears Leads With Game-High 29
NPH TOP PERFORMERS
Acadia
- Anthony Sears– 29 points, 9 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal
- Anthony Ashe– 17 points, 3 rebounds, 5 assists
- Owen Klassen 13 points, 8 rebounds, 5 assists
- Sean Stoqua 13 ppoints, 2 rebounds 2 assists
Dalhousie
- William Yengue -29 points, 6 rebounds, 1 Steal
- Casey Fox– 18 points, 2 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals
- Stephen Lopez– 14 points, 5 rebounds, 6 assists, 1 steal
- Robert Nortmann– 13 points, 6 rebounds
PHOTO COURTESY: ACADIA ATHLETICS
WOLFEVILLE, NS–The Acadia Axemen hosted the Dalhousie Tigers and completed the regular season sweep and obtained all eight points in the standings in a 99-90 win.
The Axemen came out of the gate with a flurry and utilized strong ball movement to get easy and open opportunities against the Dalhousie Tigers to take a decisive first quarter lead 33-18. Despite Dalhousie winning the remaining three quarters Acadia never relinquished control of the game and its outcome.
Players on the NPH radar included Robert Nortman of Dal and Acadia’s Owen Klassen, who had a good head to head battle. Despite the perceived contrast in styles, Acadia’s Klassen went in the paint and banged it out with Nortman which led to Nortman’s first half foul trouble and a relatively non productive and frustrating first half.
Klassen on the other hand had an excellent half and game by not only scoring but by distributing the ball out of the post for easy and open threes. Klassen’s play was highlighted by a high post rip where he posterized a Dal defender who ended up doing everything he could to protect himself under the rim.
After the game, Coach Baur spoke to NPH of his teams balanced scoring and excellent ball movement that created a lot of opportunity.
“Our ball movement allowed us to mix up the game well, not only in shot selection but also in who was shooting the ball, everybody had great opportunity and we were successful at a high rate because of our team play.”
This team play allowed Acadia’s top scorer Anthony Sears to pick his spots and knock down open look after open look with another excellent statistical output.
The second half became much more physical and a little bit more of a defensive battle with the Tigers utilizing a full court press to turn the Axemen over early and close the gap to nine. However, after freshman Brad States posterized yet another Dal defender on a dribble drive from half, the press seemed less effective.
Acadia extended its lead to 19 again and Dalhousie went to a zone and with William Yengue leading the offensive push, Dalhousie chipped away at the Acadia lead to close the gap and make the final score 99-90.
