There have been plenty of songs about Monday being the least favourite day of the week.
Don’t expect Memorial Sea-Hawks basketball players to be singing any of them.
On Monday, both Memorial’s men’s and women’s hoops teams played what for them were rare non-weekend games and both came away with victories over the visiting Cape Breton Capers at the Field House in St. John’s.
The Sea-Hawk men prevailed 103-86, while the Memorial women’s side registered an 84-76 victory.
The Monday games between the Capers and Sea-Hawks were originally set for Saturday night, but Cape Breton's travel plans were altered by delays associated with the recent winter storm that hit the Maritimes, necessitating the change in the schedule.
Men
A different day, a different scoring hero for Memorial.
Nathan Barker drained 35 points as the Sea-Hawks posted their second win over the Capers in as many days for the Sea-Hawks, who had beaten the visitors from Sydney, N.S., 88-73 on Sunday, when guard Daniel Gordon put up 30 points to lead the way for Memorial.
In the rematch, Barker was a remarkable 15-for-16 from the floor for a .938 average on his way to earning player of the game honours.
With his output, the second-year forward from Massey Drive, just outside Corner Brook, moved into fifth place in per-game scoring average in the AUS, with 18.4 ppg, just ahead of Gordon (18.0)
Overall, Memorial shot nearly 60 per cent Monday. That, coupled with a fast start — the Sea-Hawks were up 26-10 after the first quarter — kept the home side in control throughout.
Both Memorial wins over Cape Breton were worth four points as these will be the only regular-season games between the Sea-Hawks and Capers. Games against opponents the Sea-Hawks will face four times this season are worth the regular two points.
Memorial is 4-6 on the season, but since three of the victories came in four-point games, the Sea-Hawks have 14 points, tying them with the Acadia Axemen for third place. However, MUN has played two more games than any other team in the conference.
In Monday's game, Davion Parnsalu added 17 points for the winners, who also got 14 points from Austin Chambers and 10 each from Greg Manuel and Gordon.
Workhorse Martin Campbell, who played a game-leading 36 minutes, led Cape Breton with 21 points, just about hitting his season average of 22 points per contest, second-best in the conference.
Paul Watson added 17 off the bench, but overall, the Capers (2-7) had tough day offensively, shooting just 35 per cent.
Women
In a morning matchup at the Field House, the Memorial women rallied to gain a split of their two games with Cape Breton. The Capers had won 64-50 on Sunday, but in that one, the Sea-Hawks were missing leading scorer and AUS all-star Sydney Stewart, who was serving a league-imposed one-game suspension for accumulation of technical fouls.
Stewart returned to action Monday to top the Lady Birds in scoring with 20 points as Memorial (6-4) got past Cape Breton both in the game and the standings to regain possession of second place in the AUS.
It was a strong third quarter that proved to be the key for the home side, which trailed 38-36 at the half, but outscored the Capers 32-17 in the frame.
Brooklyn Wright had 19 points and a team-leading nine rebounds for Sea-Hawks, while Lindsay Taylor had 12 and Jane Baird added 10.
Hannah Brown was Cape Breton's top scorer with 15 points. She also had a game-high 12 boards, improving here conference-leading rebounding average to 10.8.
Mackenzee Ryan came off the bench to provide 14 points for Cape Breton (5-4).
Stewart added eight boards and three steals fin a player-of-the-game performance for the winners.
The Monday games between the Capers and Sea-Hawks were originally set for Saturday night, but Cape Breton's travel plans were altered by delays associated with the recent winter storm that hit the Maritimes, necessitating the change in the schedule.
The Sea-Hawks hoops teams are on the road next weekend — they'll both take on the Dalhousie Tigers for a couple of games in Halifax.
