Photo Credit: Nick Pearce
What will be remembered as one of the most thrilling games in a AUS men’s championship final history, the # 1 ranked and defending champions, St. Francis Xavier X-Men took on the # 2 ranked Dalhousie Tigers in a rematch of the 2023 AUS championship final.
As many expected, both the X-Men and Tigers came out fast looking to push the pace of the game and jump out to a hot start. Dalhousie’s game plan from the opening tip-off was clear, try and get AUS MVP Malcom Christie going early and often. However, the story of the first quarter for the X-Men was their struggles on offence (shooting just 19% from the field in the opening quarter) and early foul trouble putting the Tigers in the bonus just over halfway through the opening quarter. The woes on both ends of the floor for STFX initiated a Dalhousie 14-2 run to close out the first quarter that was led by Nginyu Ngala who scored 6 points and 3 rebounds, Malcom Christie also contributed with 4 points in the quarter. The lead could have been a much bigger for the Tigers, but fifth year STFX player Dondre Reddick had 5 points in the quarter that helped keep them within striking distance. Dalhousie took a 14-9 lead into the second quarter.
The second quarter started with a massive dunk in transition from Dalhousie big man Jayden Parker to bring the audience in attendance to life. STFX found their scoring touch in the second quarter led by AUS rookie of the year Koat Thomas who scored 10 points in the quarter and big man Gatluak James. STFX stopped settling for outside shots and began driving the ball into the paint and both STFX players found success in doing so. Lydell Husbands-Browne of Dalhousie came off the bench to score 4 quick points and played stellar defence to slow down the surging X-Men. However, even with that spark for the Tigers, it couldn’t stop what might be play of tournament by Koat Thomas, who absolutely posterized Jayden Parker with 1:30 left in the second quarter. The X-Men outscored the Tigers 24-16 in the quarter and took a 33-30 lead into the halftime break.
Koat Thomas Posterizes Jayden Parker
The third quarter started with both teams trading buckets, but the X-Men found themselves in foul trouble again leading to a 9-2 Dalhousie run to start the quarter. Dondre Reddick, once again stepped up for his team hitting back to back three pointers (finished with 8 points in the quarter) to end the Tigers run and swung all the momentum back in favour of STFX. Both teams shot poorly from the field but STFX was still able to get on a 16-5 run to end the quarter and were up 52-45 heading into the final quarter.
The fourth quarter began with Dalhousie catching fire from three point range and were able to cut the STFX lead down to just three points early on in the quarter. Malcom Christie was crucial for the Tigers by scoring 7 points in the quarter along with Samuel Maillet (6 points in the quarter) who hit a three pointer with four minutes and thirty seconds left in the game to put Dalhousie in the lead. With the excellent play of Christie and Maillet, Dalhousie were able to go on a 15-4 run, putting them up by 4 points with just one minute and thirty seconds left in the game. With the game on the line and STFX needing a bucket desperately, the coaching staff could only turn to one man, Dondre Reddick who hit a massive three pointer with one minute and twenty seconds left in the game to set the stage for a thrilling finish. With ten seconds left, STFX had a inbound in Dalhousie’s half down by three points and the stage was set for an all time classic AUS finals moment. The X-Men ran a play that found Bennett Grumbach in the corner and he missed the three pointer with 5 seconds still left on the clock. Luckily two X-Men players were there to rebound the ball and find their go to man… Dondre Reddick, who hit the most clutch shot of the game from three point range to send the game to overtime tied 65-65.
Dondre Reddick Buzzer Beater to Send Game to Overtime
Heading into overtime, emotions were high and both teams did not want to fall short of bringing home a championship. With two minutes and thirty seconds left in overtime, Dalhousie head coach Rick Plato turned to one of his most experienced players, Samuel Maillet and he delivered by scoring an AND-1 giving the Tigers a 4 point lead. The overtime continued to belong to Maillet who scored another crucial bucket (6 points in OT) for the Tigers and secured a jump ball on the defensive end that gave Dalhousie possession with a minute and twenty-nine seconds on the clock. Dalhousie went on a 12-2 run in extra time, holding STFX to no points through the first four minutes of overtime. Nginyu Ngala scored the dagger bucket with under a minute left in the game to give Dalhousie the 77-67 win and reclaiming their throne as the 2024 AUS men’s champions.
Under head coach Rick Plato, Dalhousie have become one the greatest dynasties ever in the AUS, winning 7 out of the last 10 AUS championships, something the conference hasn’t seen since the STFX X-Men won 6 out of 7 championships in the early 2000’s. The Tigers are now off to the Usports Final 8 in Laval, Quebec where they will look to bring home their first ever national championship.
Key performers from the game were, Malcom Christie (Dalhousie) who scored a game high 21 points, 8 rebounds and also took home tournament MVP and tournament all star honours. Game MVP belonged to Samuel Maillet (Dalhousie) who scored 19 points, 8 rebounds and was 6 of 7 from the field (3 of 3 from three point range). In a hard fought loss, Dondre Reddick (STFX) did all he could to help his team win scoring 19 points, 4 rebounds and took home tournament all star honours. Gatluak James recorded a double-double with 16 points and 11 rebounds.
This concludes our coverage of the 2024 AUS men’s championship final!