(HALIFAX, NS) The UNB REDS men’s basketball team proved it’s not about how you start, but how you finish.
A slow start in the opening quarter was quickly erased in the remaining three as the fourth-seeded REDS defeated the fifth-ranked Memorial University Sea-Hawks 82-77 Friday afternoon in their 2025 Bell Atlantic University Sport Men’s Basketball Championship quarter-final game played at Halifax’s Scotiabank Centre.
“In the first half, we had a lot of jitters,” said REDS’ guard Marcus Barnes in a post-game interview. “The past two years, we had two really tough losses at the end. We got into halftime and we’re like, ‘Yo, this is just like any other game. We just have to do what we have practiced and prepared for, energetic, but controlled energy and poise, and that’s what we did.”
Friday’s win for UNB acts as a bit of revenge, as the Sea-Hawks defeated the REDS in this same No. 4 vs. No. 5 quarter-final game last season.
In the first quarter, the REDS had a tough time making a basket, going 0-for-8 from the three-point line and shooting just under 32-percent from the field as a whole. By the time the quarter came to an end, UNB trailed Memorial 17-12.
In the remaining 30 minutes, UNB shot an outstanding 50-percent from the field (25-for-50).
Leading the charge for UNB was Barnes, an AUS 2nd Team All-Star, who led all players with 27 points. He was named the Subway Player of the Game.
Barnes started to go off in the second quarter, scoring 12 of his 27 to help his REDS close the gap to just two, 39-37, at the half.
After the break, the Sea-Hawks went flat, shooting just 28-percent in the third quarter as UNB took their first lead since mid-way through the opening quarter on pair of Tim Ellison free throws with 1:35 left in the third.
It was a lead they would not relinquish.
Memorial stayed close the rest of the way thanks mainly to 1st Team AUS All-Star Flynn Boardman-Raffet, who scored nine of his team-high 23 points in the final quarter, but they could not find a way to overtake the REDS.
Barnes iced the win late in the fourth on a broken play when he heaved a long-distance three-point shot from near mid-court with the shot clock ticking down, bringing the UNB fans to their feet as it went through the net.
The victory propels the REDS to the semifinals on Saturday afternoon where they’ll meet the STFX X-Men, the tournament’s No. 1 seed.
Game time is slated for 3:00pm.
RECAP: Brody Mark/Atlantic University Sport
PHOTOS: Nick Pearce/for Atlantic University Sport
