Play got underway shortly after 8 p.m. at the Field House, and the Sea-Hawks looked eager to put on a show for their home crowd after playing on the road the past two weekends. Within minutes the Sea-Hawks had sprung to a 14-6 lead, emphasized by a Boris Ristanovic slam-dunk. The Panthers seemed a step behind for large parts of the opening frame, and the Sea-Hawks rode their early lead to end the first quarter 26-18. Key in the opening frame were the team's four offensive rebounds and Flynn Boardman-Raffet's two steals.
The tides changed in a big way to open the second quarter, however, with the Panthers playing some fierce defence and pouring in baskets to put together a 13-0 run that saw the Sea-Hawks go scoreless for the first half of the quarter. Despite the 31-26 deficit, the Sea-Hawks wouldn't go away and clawed their way back. Boardman-Raffet's halftime buzzer beater gave them back the lead, heading into the break up 39-38. UPEI's Isaiah Ankra led the way in scoring of the bench after two quarters, matching Cole Long's game-high 11 points.
Coming out of the break, the Sea-Hawks looked to build on their momentum and grew their lead to 7 thanks to an and-one by Nathan Barker in the opening minutes of the second half. Barker came alive in the frame and compiled 14 third quarter points. Back-to-back three-pointers by Boardman-Raffet and Barker near the mid-point of the quarter pushed the Sea-Hawk lead to 15, at which point both teams traded baskets until the end of the frame. The Sea-Hawks entered the final frame leading 73-58.
A Jason Thompson-Boris Ristanovic alley-oop brought the crowd to their feet on the first Sea-Hawks possession of the quarter, and the team seemed to ride this momentum to a big fourth quarter and close out the game comfortably, by a final score of 99-80. The Sea-Hawks 60 second-half points proved to be the difference in this game. Subway Player of the Game Nathan Barker instrumental in this big second half, finishing with 24 points – 16 of which came in the second half.
For the Panthers, Elijah Miller went a perfect 8-8 from the free throw line and put together a solid performance on 16 points, 6 assists, and 4 rebounds. However, if UPEI hopes to take the second game of this series, they'll have to make more shots, as they only converted on 39.2% of their field goals tonight, compared to the Sea-Hawks 51.4% shooting.
These two teams will be back in action tomorrow afternoon to close out the AUS regular season, 3 p.m. at the Field House.