(FREDERICTON, NB) The UNB Reds spoiled the Saint Mary's Huskies perfect season, handing them their first loss of the season 88-76.

"We knew we can compete with anyone in this league. We're the defending champs, we have the target on our back," said Reds forward Will Legere (Amherst, NS). "We knew we could do it and it's a big confidence builder coming into next weekend."

Legere went 7-for-9 on field goals, scoring 16 points and grabbing seven rebounds.

"He [Legere] was huge for us tonight, he came out and he was ready to go, got some good putbacks, good rebounds, hit a tough three, he was massive for us," said Reds guard Daniel Pitcher (Sydney, AUS).

Pitcher was named Subway Player of the Game, scoring 12 points and adding five rebounds.

The Huskies will hang on to first place in the Atlantic University Sport standings, finishing with a 19-1 record and will have a bye to the semi-finals in next weekend's AUS Championship.

The Reds remain in second place with a record of 12-7 and continue to hold on to the second bye, heading into their final game of the regular season.

"That's a really big win for us, I'm just really proud of how we battled. We got down a number of times in double digits and the guys stuck together," said Reds head coach Brent Baker. "There was a lot of stepping up by a lot of people."

Both teams justified their position in the standings with a hard-fought game at both ends of the court.

The Huskies came out strong, as expected, in the first quarter leading 23-16.

The Reds would battle back in the second to trail by just three at the half, 41-38.

Both teams would wrestle for the lead back and forth in the third quarter, with UNB holding a slight edge 59-56 heading into the final frame.

The Reds would play hard zone defence and continue to knock down impressive shots to pull away and grind out their biggest win of the season.

 "UNB is a good team," said Huskies head coach Jonah Taussig. "They threw a zone at us, which didn't completely catch us off guard, but I don't think we played very well against it. They just did whatever they wanted on the offensive end and individually got the best of us for sure."

Ibrahima Doumbouya (Calgary, AB) led the Reds with 19 points and 15 rebounds, while Chris Spurrell (Quispamsis, NB) put up 17 points of his own.

Kemar Alleyne (Toronto, ON) had 17 points and four rebounds for Saint Mary's while Nikita Kasongo (Chateauguay, QC) had 14 points and five rebounds.

The Reds play their final game of the regular season on Saturday, welcoming the Acadia Axemen to UNB's Currie Center. Game time is 8:00pm.

RECAP BY: Jonathon James/for UNB Athletics

PHOTOS BY: James West/for UNB Athletics