Ngala leads Tigers in loss to Huskies

Written by Joe Thomson

The Saint Mary's men's basketball team beat Dalhousie 79-76 on February 8.

The Huskies got off to a blistering start, scoring nine straight points before Nginyu Ngala (Montreal, QC) settled Dalhousie down by drilling a three. The three-headed monster of Dontae Mitchell (Vaughan, ON), Shae Linton-Brown (Toronto, ON) and Jayrell Diggs (East Preston, NS) provided the offence for Saint Mary's as they combined to score 23 of the Huskies 29 first quarter points.

Saint Mary's made a run early in the first quarter as they looked to pull away from the Tigers. Dalhousie responded with Ngala seeing several of his shots drop while under pressure. He hit five three-pointers on his way to 20 first half points. Saint Mary's led 45-41 at the half.

The two teams continued to battle in the second half, with both sides picking up the intensity on the defensive end. A last second three from Diggs gave the Huskies a 63-56 lead and energised the rest of his team going into the fourth. Diggs scored 10 of the Huskies 18 points in the third quarter. 

Both squads were locked in during the fourth quarter. Diggs' big night kept getting bigger and it looked like Saint Mary's might upset their cross-town rivals. Looking for any advantage they could, Dalhousie began to press the Huskies. 

The Tigers press generated steals and gave the Tigers their first lead late in the game. But their efforts came up short as Saint Mary's found their way to the free throw line six times in the final minute of play to walk away with a 79-76 win.

Diggs was named the Subway Player of the Game for shooting 100% from the free throw line resulting in a 33 point night. 

The Tigers will get another chance to take down the Huskies when they face off again this Saturday at Saint Mary's.