Tigers Men’s Basketball open AUS title defense with a win

Playing their first AUS game since their thrilling AUS Championship win last season, the 2015 Men’s Basketball Tigers won 68-63 over the UNB Varsity Reds.

The game was played in front of an energetic and nearly packed house at the Dalplex on Friday, Nov. 6.

“It’s a great way to get off to a good start,” said Tigers head coach Rick Plato. “UNB (was) first place in the league last year. The key was controlling the tempo, these guys like to score 80 and we kept them in the low 60s.”

The Tigers used a balanced attack against the Varsity Reds on Friday night. Sven Stammberger led the way with 14 pts, Kashrell Lawrence had 12pts, William Yengue 9pts, Cedric Sanogo and Sascha Kappos each added 8 pts. In all 10 of 11, Tigers players scored a point.

The game was a back-and-forth affair with plenty of lead changes and neither team able to pull away. The Varsity Reds had the biggest lead of the game of 8pts in the third quarter.

The perimeter shooting was weak for both teams in their opening games of the season, as a vast majority of points came from in the paint.

The Varsity Reds roster boasts two-time CIS scoring leader Javon Masters. The Tigers were able to keep Masters in check for most of the night, holding him to 17pts, 11 of which came in the third quarter.

“Masters is a killer in transition,” said Plato. “You just can’t turn it over and you gotta get back. They were hurting us a bit so we went to the zone and the zone slowed them down.”