The Memorial Sea-Hawks men’s basketball team won its first game of the back half of the Atlantic University Sport 2017-18 season Sunday, coming away an 88-73 decision over the Cape Breton University Capers at the Memorial Field House in St. John’s.
The Sea-Hawks’ women’s team wasn’t so lucky, dropping a 64-50 decision to Cape Breton.
The teams play again today, with the women’s game at 10 a.m. followed by the men’s tilt at noon.
Games slated for Saturday were postponed until today due to the Capers’ travel schedules being disrupted as a result of the big storm which hit the Maritimes late last week.
At the Field House, Daniel Gordon was the big man on campus for Memorial Sunday with 30 points. The 6-2, fifth-year guard from North York, Ont., is now fifth in conference scoring, averaging 18.9 points per game. Austin Chambers backed up Gordon with 13 points, while Greg Manuel and Davion Parnsalu both scored 10.
The Sea-Hawks improved to 3-6, and sit in fifth place in the eight-team AUS, two points up on Saint Mary’s. Another win today, worth four points, would provide more cushion for the Sea-Hawks on the 2-6 Capers and 0-8 UPEI Panthers.
Memorial went into the lengthy exam/Christmas break on a high note, beating first-place UNB 105-92 in Fredericton the end of November. It’s the Varsity Reds’ only loss so far this season.
It was a different story in the women’s game as the Lady Birds shot just 24.6 per cent from the field Sunday.
A part of the problem stemmed from the fact the Sea-Hawks were without the services of Sydney Stewart, their leading scorer, and the conference’s third-leading point-getter, with 16.5 per game.
Stewart picked up two technical fouls in Memorial’s last game against UNB in November, which meant an automatic one-game suspension.
Stewart will be back in the Sea-Hawks’ lineup this morning.
Haille Nickerson was the only Sea-Hawk to score in double figures Sunday, coming off the bench to put up 12 points.
