V-Reds stun 5th ranked X-Men

After being torched twice in a week by the St. Francis Xavier X-Men, the University of New Brunswick Varsity Reds beat the fifth-ranked men's basketball team in the country at their own run-and-gun game.

With a relentless display of energy, tenacity and hustle, the V-Reds rocked the Pit yesterday with a 94-82 victory over the heavily favoured X-Men.

St. FX had beaten UNB 98-56 eight days earlier in Antigonish and won Saturday's game at the Pit, 102-85.

Down 42-36 at the half yesterday, the V-Reds outscored the X-Men 32-17 in a game-changing third quarter to raise their AUS men's basketball conference record to 6-7, alone in fifth. St. FX slips to 10-4.

Alex DesRoches came off the bench to drive for 19 points and haul down 11 rebounds - four on the offensive end. Will McFee and Dustin Anthony each scored 15 points, Daniel Quirion connected for 14, Jordan Irvine 13 and Andy Wright a dozen. Wright also was rewarded for pinpoint passes with 15 assists. "We knew we could play like this," DesRoches said. "We battle like this every single day in practice and we just have to execute it in games. What we did on defence is contagious.

"If one person hustles, someone else wants to hustle and next thing you know, everyone's there. The crowd feeds off it and we feed off it. It's great."

Fifth-year guard Christian Upshaw knocked down 25 points, including four from downtown, for St. FX. Jeremy Dunn and William Silver added 13 and 11 points, respectively.

"They really shot the ball well (49.3 per cent) and they outhustled us on the boards," St. FX head coach Steve Konchalski said. "We were outrebounding them by two at halftime and they ended up outrebounding us by 11 (35-24). DesRoches and Colton Wilson had four offensive boards and big number 44 (Lonzel Lowe) had three. That was the killer for us."

"When we get everyone rolling, we're hard to stop," DesRoches said. "You get five, six, seven guys scoring 10 points or more, it's hard for the other team to guard everyone."

"Last night we played scared," Reds head coach Brent Baker said. "We didn't play with a lot of energy. We came out hoping for a win. Wishing won't cut it. Today, we bought in and worked hard. I'm just proud of our effort level and what those guys accomplished.

"We've slugged pretty hard against X and been cranked pretty hard by them," Baker said. "It's nice to finally get the monkey off the back."

Baker said DesRoches was well-deserving of player of the game honours, but added, "It was a team victory, there's no doubt. We finished, we attacked, the guys shared the ball. It was fun to watch. I didn't do a lot of coaching today. Those guys deserve all the credit."

Konchalski said the X-Men respect the Reds for the strides they've made.

"Coach Baker has done a tremendous job since taking the program over. The biggest thing he's doing is making these kids believe they can win. When you take over a struggling program, you have to create a winning atmosphere and change the culture. That's what he's done here, obviously."

In Saturday's game, the X-Men raced out to a 51-29 halftime lead. Upshaw was 5-for-9 from long range and finished with 28 points. Alberto Rodriguez netted 19 points while Dunn connected for 16 points and nine rebounds.

Wright countered with 26 points, including 4 of 7 from three-point range. Anthony added 15 points and DesRoches scored 10.