The Memorial Sea-Hawks (4-2) head to Antigonish this weekend as they face off against the St. FX X-Men (2-3). The Hawks are off to a very good start this season, with a record of 4-2, while the X-Men have struggled early, sitting at 2-3 through 5 games.
Memorial come into the matchup after sweeping their series with the Acadia Axemen with scores of 91-72 and 89-76 on Saturday and Sunday. The X-Men are coming off of two closely fought games against the Saint Mary's Huskies, in which they lost 95-88 on the road, and 66-65 at home.
The players to watch for the X-Men are Azaro Roker (8th in AUS scoring), Avan Nava and Dondre Reddick who are all averaging double digits in points. The Hawks will have to slow down this balanced attack in order to earn 8 points this weekend.
Leading the way for the Sea-Hawks has been 4th year forward/center Cole Long, who has been putting the AUS on notice this season after playing three years of NCAA Division-1 basketball. He has been averaging 20.8 points while shooting 52% from the field and 40.7% from three point range through six games this season.
When asked about the early success of the team, Long responded: "It's tough to name a single factor that has led to this early success. I think the biggest factor is our preparation over the last 6 months. There has been countless hours spent in the gym training, weightlifting, and simply trying to become better basketball players. I believe that's a huge component to the success."
Head Coach Peter Benoite commented on the addition of Long this season, saying: "Cole has obviously made a major impact on our team and has fit in exceptionally well. He is very competitive, but also very humble, and focused on team success. He is very coachable and we are certainly happy with what he has been able to bring to our team, both on and off the court."
The Hawks have a great supporting cast this season as well, with players like Boris Ristanovic, Nathan Barker, Jason Thompson, Daniel Foo and Emanuel Ring all contributing. Deng Ring, who threw down an early contender for dunk of the year on Saturday, has arguably been the most impactful bench player for the Hawks, bringing toughness and grit every time he steps on the court.
Daniel Foo, who is used to a bigger work load, has bought into a role off the bench this season. He commented on this saying: "I know I'm going to crank up our energy. Guys know they can rely on me to pick us up and keep things rolling so I just take pride in that role." It seems that the entire team has taken this team first mentality, which could mean big things for this group this season.
When asked about the importance of these games, 3rd year guard Jason Thompson said: "Going into the break on a win streak would be a huge confidence boost for our team. Getting 8 points on the road is big for any team, so this weekend is huge for our placement for the entire season."
According to Coach Benoite, the team will have keep working on the day-to-day things to improve, saying that they are preparing for St. FX, but also making sure that they are getting more efficient with what they want to do as a team.
The Sea-Hawks play St. FX on Saturday, November 23rd at 8:30PM NST and Sunday, November 24th at 3:30PM NST. You can watch the games live on www.austv.ca, follow the live scores of the games on www.goseahawks.ca or follow the games on Twitter.
Written by: Darnell Downs