Fredericton, NB - The St. Thomas University Tommies survived a thrilling finish to beat the Holland College Hurricanes 97-93 Sunday evening at the Lady Beaverbrook Gym.
Tre Campbell (Scarborough, ON) went off from beyond the arc, nailing 7-12 three-point attempts - finishing with 26 points. Geoffrey Lavoie (Ottawa, ON) had 18 points amd five rebounds while Gayo Isaya (Fredericton, NB) had an all-around stat line of 16 points, eight rebounds and five assists, playing all 40 minutes. Harrison Florean posted a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds.
On Holland's end, Jalen Menzies led all Hurricanes with 22 points and six assists, going 3-5 from three. Logan Rempel followed with 20 points and nine boards, a near double-double. Kyree Thompson had a steady 18 points.
The Tommies lead was pushed to three late in the game after Isaya's putback off a rare miss from Campbell. As the Hurricanes rushed, seemingly finding a wide-open Jack MacAulay for the layup, Lavoie rushed down the court, meeting MacAulay at the rim. A huge block from Lavoie followed by a fastbreak finish from Lavoie off Isaya's feed nearly put the Hurricanes out of reach.
Trailing 94-87 with 36 seconds left, Thompson hit a three to cut the lead to four. He'd come back down after Lavoie hit two free throws to rush another three - hitting it with 17 seconds left. The Hurricanes had life.
A quick steal off the inbound would give Thompson another shot from beyond the arc. But Thompson's hot hand had cooled off, as the rebound had multiple Hurricanes and Tommies hit the floor for the loose ball, ultimately finding the hands of Tyrese Paul (Fredericton, NB) who sealed the game with a free throw.
STU head coach John Hickey said the Tommies battled hard and had to fight for the win.
"We made timely plays," he said. "And they're a great team that can make plays. You saw it in the final minute ... they got guys that can make plays ... we got out on the good end tonight."
The two went back and forth all 40 minutes with three lead changes and four ties. The Tommies took the lead with just under three minutes left and would hold onto it to defeat the top seeded team in the ACAA.
STU moves up to a 12-5 record to take over as the first-place team. They'll finish their regular season at Mount Allison University Feb. 25. Scheduled tip-off is 3:00 PM. The Hurricanes, now 10-5, drop to second place. They travel to Halifax on Feb. 22 for an 8:00 scheduled tip-off against the University of King's College Blue Devils.
