Huskies ride second half comeback to 76-74 win over Axemen to sweep season series

The Saint Mary's Huskies erased a 17 point first half deficit, coming all the way back to defeat the Acadia Axemen 76-74 in Wolfville on Sunday afternoon.

The Huskies started slow, missing 11 of their 15 first quarter shots, including all four three-point attempts, and a 65 foot buzzerbeater from Alex Muise gave the Axemen a 25-11 lead at the end of the first quarter. The Axemen shot 53% from the field (10/19) and 38% from three (3/8), compared to the Huskies 27% (4/15) from the field, and 0/4 from beyond the arc.

Acadia continued their strong play into the second quarter, and a lay-up by Muise gave the Axemen their largest lead of the game, 44-27 with 1:16 remaining in the first half. Huskies guards Dontae Mitchell (Vaughan, ON) and Shae Linton-Brown (Toronto, ON) hit a pair of layups to end the half, cutting the Axemen lead to 44-31 at the break.

Acadia's Rowan Power led all scorers with 11 first-half points, while Dontae Mitchell led the Huskies with 10.

When the second half began, the Huskies offence seemed to have woken up, as the team stopped settling for outside shots and attacked the rim. With 1:03 remaining, Linton-Brown hit a transition three to tie the game at 57-57, which would remain the score at the end of the third quarter. Saint Mary's doubled up the Axemen 26-13 in the third, led by 10 points from Linton-Brown.

The fourth quarter was a tight one, as Axemen guard Jack Tilley hit a three on the opening possession, only to be countered on the other end by Huskies first year Jonah Crowther (Dartmouth, NS). On the next Huskies possession, guard Johneil Johnson (Lake Echo, NS), made a layup to give the Huskies their first lead of the game 62-60. That seemed to wake up the 2019-20 All-Star guard, as Johnson scored four more lay-ups over the next three minutes, and the Huskies opened up their largest lead of the day, 72-65 with 4:32 to play.

The Axemen went on a run of their own, and an Alex Muise jump shot cut the lead to 73-72 with 1:48 remaining. After Mitchell made a second-chance bucket, Muise responded with another lay-up, and the score was 75-74 with :47 seconds to play. After a Johnson offensive foul, the Axemen regained possession, but Muise missed a jumper that could have taken the lead with 25 seconds to go. Huskies rookie guard Jayrell Diggs was fouled, and made one of two from the line.

With the Axemen needing a two to tie, guard Jack Tilley took the inbounds pass, lost his man on a screen, and seemed to have a step on Huskies forward Jace Colley, but Colley quickly closed the gap to make a tremendous chasedown block as time expired, and the Huskies secured a 76-74 win.

Jace Colley with a huge, game saving block on Acadia's Jack Tilley as time expires to secure the Huskies win! @JaceColley pic.twitter.com/SKX3JidnyU

— SMU Huskies (@SMUHuskies) February 27, 2022

Huskies guard Shae Linton-Brown was named Subway Player of the Game, scoring 12 of his game-high 20 points in the second half, and adding five rebounds and three assists. Mitchell added 19 points, and Johnson chipped in 12 points and 9 rebounds

Rowan Power and Alex Muise netted 17 points each in the Axemen effort. Eli Kraushar and Jack Tilley each added 11 points, while Brett Speedy added 8 points off the bench.

With the win, the Huskies sweep the Axemen 4-0 on the regular season, and improve to 7-5. The Huskies will be back on homecourt next weekend, as they host the Memorial Sea-Hawks on Saturday and Sunday at the Homburg Centre.

The Axemen loss drops them to 1-11 on the season, and will host the first place Dalhousie Tigers next Friday night at Stu Aberdeen Court.

Recap by Allan April / SMU Huskies Athletics

Photos provided by Acadia Athletics