The STFX X-Men were in Ontario this past weekend for a trio of pre-season exhibition games. The blue and white went 2-1 with a 94-87 win over Laurier, 85-73 loss to McMaster, and an 81-74 win over Guelph.
In Thursday night's game against Laurier, the X-Men held leads of 22-18 after one quarter and 49-43 at halftime in Waterloo.
They outpaced the Golden Hawks 24-13 in the third quarter but the home team outscored the X-Men 31-21 in the fourth but fell short of the comeback as STFX closed out the 94-87 victory.
Deon Ejim scored 21 points and had eight rebounds for the X-Men, while Avan Nava netted 18 and had four steals in the game, going 3 for 4 from three-point range.
David Muenkat had 16 points and hauled in eight boards for X, and Antoine Vernon and Dondre Reddick were also in the double scoring figures with 12 and 11 points, respectively.
Friday night, the X-Men lost 85-73 to the McMaster Marauders.
The visiting X-Men held a 24-21 lead after the first quarter, but were outscored 28-17 in the second as McMaster were up 49-41 at halftime.
The home team maintained their lead throughout the third quarter and though the X-Men played a tighter final quarter, 16-16, they were unable to make up the deficit.
Muenkat was the leading scorer for X with 28 points, and he had eight rebounds. Nava scored 11 and Vernon added eight.
On Sunday afternoon the X-Men took on the Guelph Gryphons and won 81-74.
The X-Men played a dominate opening quarter, 25-7 before the Gryphons settled into the game and played better in the second quarter to pull the score to 40-29 at halftime.
Guelph outscored the X-Men 21-16 in the third quarter and after a close fourth, the X-Men were able to hang on for the win.
Vernon scored 19 points and had five steals in the game. Reddick scored 16 and Gatluak James netted 14 off the X-Men bench. Nava added 11 and Muenkat scored eight points and also led the team in rebounds with nine.
The X-Men currently have a 4-1 record in pre-season play. They will host their own Coach K Invitational tournament on the weekend of October 21-23.
The tournament schedule includes games against Calgary on Friday at 8:00 pm, Memorial on Saturday at 6:00 pm and Cape Breton Sunday at 4:00 pm.
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Recap courtesy Krista McKenna, STFX Sports Information
MBB Final: X-Men take an 81-74 victory over Guelph in the final game of this weekend's Ontario exhibition run! #goxgo pic.twitter.com/Fw5ZFLWerr
— StFX Athletics (@StFXAthletics) October 9, 2022