Panthers advance to finals with statement win over Acadia

By Thomas Becker
Photo by Nick Pearce

After semifinal exits in their pervious two seasons, the UPEI Men's Basketball Panthers are finally headed to the AUS Finals.

The Panthers dominated the opening half as they pulled away with an 87-66 win over the Acadia Axemen Saturday night at Scotiabank Centre.

"It hasn't even sunk in yet, but I'm sure it will hit in later tonight," said captain Lorenzo Parker, who will suit up for the finals for the first time in four years. "It's been a long time coming."

Acadia struggled from the field all night, as the league's best perimeter shooting team was held to just 23.1 per cent (9-of-39) from three.

"Our main goal was to defend the three-point shot and we did that tonight," said Parker.

Known for their prolific offence, the Panthers jumped on the Axemen throughout the contest. After starting the game on an 11-0 run, UPEI continued their torrid pace and extending the lead 27-6 after one.

Forward Dut Dut scored 10 of his game-high 21 points in the opening frame. Dut also added 19 rebounds for the double-double.

The Axemen closed the gap to 18 early in the second quarter, but the Panthers potent offensive attack was too much to contain as they pushed the lead 50-20 at halftime.

Instead of hanging their heads in disappointment, the Axemen came out of the break firing and put together a 27-12 run, cutting the deficit to as few as 15.

But the hole was too deep to climb out of, as the Panthers pushed the lead back up to 20, en route to the 87-66 win.

Panthers Brad States (15 points), Amin Sulemin (14 points), Parker (14 points) and Tyler Scott (12 points) each finished in double figures in the win.

"We were a real team tonight," said Panthers head coach Tim Kendrick. "We've had some tough things happen to us, but we battled through it and now we're right where we want to be."

The Panthers now turn their attention to Sunday's final matchup against the top-seeded Dalhousie Tigers, who narrowly escaped with a 75-74 win over the Saint Mary's Huskies.

Head-to-head, the two teams split the season series with one win apiece.

"Dalhousie's a great team, but we think our players are pretty tough and we're going to give them everything we've got," said Kendrick.