(ST. JOHN'S, N.L.) - The Memorial Sea-Hawks dominated the Acadia Axemen in the first game of the weekend series on Saturday with a 98-69 decision in AUS men's basketball action at the Field House.
The Sea-Hawks were on the board first in the opening quarter and almost four minutes into play were up 10-2 over the visiting Axemen.
Acadia started to close the gap when Sean Stoqua (Ottawa, Ont.) provided back to back three pointers half way through the quarter. The two teams finished the first with a deadlock at 25 points.
The second quarter was again tightly contested, with Memorial outshooting Acadia by just one point. They went into the half up 50-49 thanks to a dunk by Vasilije Curcic (Kragujevac, Serbia) with 19 seconds left on the clock.
The Sea-Hawks made a push in the second half, doubling the visitor's points in the third and outshooting them 22-7 in the last quarter.
Acadia missed all six free-throw attempts, while the home team was 50 per cent from the line. Memorial took the game by 29 points over Acadia with a final score of 98-69.
Curcic led the Sea-Hawks in the win with 29 points, nine rebounds and two blocks. He was followed closely by Caleb Gould (Aurora, Ont.) at 26 points, nine rebounds and five assists. Daniel Foo (Corner Brook, N.L.) contributed 22 of his own which included a trio of three-pointers earning him the Subway player of the game honours.
Third-year guard Sean Stoqua had a team-high 19 points and 10 rebounds for the Axemen. Shaquille Smith (North Preston, N.S.) was close behind, contributing 16 of his own and eight rebounds in the loss.
Memorial improves to 6-11 on the season while Acadia is now 4-14. The four-point victory gives the Sea-Hawks 18 points in the last playoff position, eight over seventh place Acadia.
The Axemen and Sea-Hawks are back for round two Sunday at 1 p.m. at the Field House.
Source: Memorial Sports Communications