Mounties defeat Seawolves in exhibition play, will open season vs STU this Saturday
The Mount Allison Men's basketball team were on the road again this past weekend coming out on top with a 93-81 win over the hometown UNBSLJ Seawolves. The Mounties improved their exhibition season record to 5-2 and now prepare to enter ACAA league play this Saturday when they host the St. Thomas Tommies in an 8:00pm start. Due to continued gym renovation delays, the Mounties / STU game will be held at Crandall University.
In Saint John, the Mounties overcame a sloppy first quarter start but managed to gain a narrow 44-40 lead after the game's first 20 minutes. A strong 3rd quarter defensively saw the Mounties hold the Seawolves to just 12 points while scoring 27 of their own to break the game open. Ten Mounties played double digit minutes in the team's final preparation for league play starting this Saturday. The Mounties had four players in double digits lead by standout guard Noah McCarthy with 23 points, Jonas Munroe 19, Tim Ellison 17 and Emanuel Adugna with 15. Ethan Szemerda led the Seawolves with 22 points while veteran forward Colin Loughery had 13 points and 8 rebounds.
On the pre-season, Coach Chapman noted, "It certainly has been the most unimaginable start up one can even think of with all the challenges and obstacles placed before our team, a very young team, without their own gym to practice in or even host a single game. We learned a lot about each other through scrimmages, exhibition games, travel to tournaments, etc. There is not a team in the country has been asked to what they or deal with such adversity. The guys have been resilient to say the least and will have to be even more so when even greater challenges lie ahead with our first 8 games in league play on the road. We went 5-2 and made some progress but we have so much more to work on yet. Now games really count, exhibition is over, and the ACAA is so parity filled that every game, every team must be sharp. It could be heading towards an ACAA shaping up to be a very strong conference where anyone can win on any night"
Mountie action can be followed on acaa.tv and mountiepride.ca
Go Mounties!