Wednesday, December 21, 2011

Mustangs fall to St. Francis in Daemen College Tournament

Mustangs Athletics

AMHERST, N.Y. -- The Western Mustangs were outshot down the stretch Wednesday afternoon and lost their opening game of the Daemen College Holiday Classic, 66-54, to the University of St. Francis Cougars (NAIA) at Lumsden Gymnasium in Amherst, NY.

Trailing by two points at the half, the Mustangs shot just 35.7% (10-for-28) in the second period, while the Cougars went 13-for-25 (52.0%) to surge ahead and secure the 12-point victory in the exhibition contest.

Q Owens led all scorers with 23 points on 9-of-21 shooting. Kevin Dawson had 16 points and eight rebounds for the Cougars, while Scott Kohne produced a double-double with 12 points and 11 rebounds.

Western's Quinn Henderson (Dundas, Ont.), a second-year guard, led the Mustangs with 14 points and eight rebounds. Rookie Jermaine Bernard (Toronto, Ont.) had 13 points and a pair of steals, while Peter Scholtes (London, Ont.) finished with 11 points and four assists in the low-scoring affair. Western's leading scorer, Ryan Barbeau (Belleville, Ont.), did not play in Wednesday's game.

In a close first half, the Mustangs took a lead for the first time, 24-22, with 2:35 left on the clock. But a pair of jumpers by Kohne and Owens sent the Cougars into halftime with a 26-24 advantage. The game remained close for the first eight minutes into the second half, and Nick Berardi (Barrie, Ont.), a first-year forward, pulled the Mustangs even at 36-36 with 12:19 left. But St. Francis began to pull away at that point, starting with an Owens three-pointer. Just over three minutes later, Western was down 12.

Mustangs played without Ryan Barbeau, Charlie Drouin and Adam Jespersen all due to injury.

The Mustangs are back in action tomorrow, Thursday, Dec. 22, for another exhibition contest -- this time against the host Daemen College Wildcats at 6 p.m. at Lumsden Gymnasium.

No comments:

Post a Comment