Both Memorial Sea-Hawks basketball will be participating in the 2020 Atlantic University Sport championships beginning Friday in Halifax.
The Sea-Hawks men did what they had to over the weekend at the Field House in St. John’s, winning a pair of four-point games against the University of Prince Edward Island Panthers, beating the visitors 87-76 on Friday and 85-72 on Saturday.
The results lifted Memorial (8-12) from seventh to fifth place in the standings, moving them past the Cape Breton Capers and Acadian Axemen in the process.
Six of the conference’s eight teams are advancing to the post-season tournament, where the Sea-Hawks will take on the fourth-place Saint Mary’s Huskies (11-9) in a first-round quarter-finals. Memorial and SMU played twice this season, with the Huskies winning both games, one of them in overtime.
The Sea-Hawks women’s hoopsters entered their weekend meetings against the Panthers already knowing they were heading to the AUS championships, but had a chance to claim a first-round playoff bye; the top two finishers in the regular-season standings advance directly to the semifinals next Saturday at the Scotiabank Centre in Halifax.
Memorial and UPEI had been tied for second place, but the visiting Panthers decisively won both matchups at the Filed House, prevailing 91-72 Friday and following up with a 103-78 victory Saturday.
As a result, Memorial (13-7) finishes third and, like their male counterparts, have a first-round playoff date against Saint Mary’s. The Sea-Hawks won both their regular-season meetings against the sixth-place Huskies (9-11).
The two wins by the Panthers (17-3) not only gave them the first-round bye, they also became the top seed in the women’s championship. UPEI and the Acadia both finished with 46 points and also split their season serious, but the Panthers were awarded first place by having outscored the Axewomen in their season series.
Men’s results
Memorial 87, UPEI 76 (Friday)
Memorial 85, UPEI (Saturday)
After missing 10 straight conference games with injury, Nathan Barker returned to help Memorial to the crucial weekend sweep, scoring 13 points — including the 1,000th of his Sea-Hawks career — and grabbing nine rebounds Friday, then recording a team-leading 20 points in Saturday’s rematch
Boris Ristanovic had 20 points and nine rebounds, while Cole Long added 17 points for the Sea-Hawks on Friday.
Long had a double-double (19 points, 14rebounds) on Saturday, but agonizingly finished one point short of claiming the conference scoring title.
Deng Ring and Daniel Foo each had 15 points for Memorial in the regular-season finale.
Glen Cox led the last-place Panthers (3-17) by averaging 15 points in each of the weekend games.
Women’s results
UPEI 81, Memorial 72 (Friday)
UPEI 103, Memorial 78 (Saturday)
The Lady Hawks honoured graduating seniors Haille Nickerson and Jane Baird during the weekend series against UPEI, although Baird, the team’s starting point guard did not play; her season and collegiate career are finished after she broke her ankle in a non basketball-related fall earlier this month. Reese Baxendale had a huge weekend for UPEI, scoring 35 points Saturday the day after she and teammate Jenna Mae Ellsworth each had 32 points for the Panthers.
