The Tribune

By RENALDO DORSETT

Tribune Sports Reporter

rdorsett@tribunemedia.net

THE St Mary’s Huskies added to their Bahamian pipeline on the sidelines and on the court as they look to contend in the Atlantic University Sport conference and Canada’s U Sports Division.

Former junior national team standout and Empower Sports Network founder Ollen Smith serves as an assistant coach on the Huskies staff, Qyemah Gibson is entering his second year with the programme which also added Sebastian Gray in the offseason.

St Mary’s ended their 2019 preseason with a win over the visiting UNB Reds 83-77 as they look to follow up on a record setting 2018.

The Bahamian duo led the Huskies on the floor as Gibson finished with 16 points and a game high 15 rebounds, while Gray led the team in scoring with 17 points.

The Reds led 22-16 after the first quarter but the Huskies responded with a dominant second quarter when they outscored UNB by 10 to take a 41-37 lead into the half.

UNB held a slim 58-56 headed into the fourth but Gibson sparked a 27-19 period for the Huskies with his seven points in the quarter.

Earlier in the month, the Huskies captured the Stu Aberdeen tournament hosted by Acadia University and went 1-2 in the Mickey Place tournament hosted by UPEI.

St Mary’s opens the 2019-2020 AUS men’s basketball season on the road November 1-2 versus UPEI and hosts a home-and-home series with Dalhousie - at the Tigers November 6 and home on November 9 at 8pm.

The Huskies finished one game shy of an undefeated regular season and suffered the only blemish on their record in the finale, an 88-76 loss to the Reds. They concluded the season at 19-1 and finished in first place in the AUS standings. In the conference finals the Huskies were the subject of the biggest upset of the season when they lost to Jordan Wilson, Shamar Burrows and the Dalhousie Tigers.

Despite the loss, the Huskies advanced to the U Sports Men’s Basketball Final Eight last season and finished sixth overall at the tournament hosted at the Scotiabank Centre in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

St Mary’s opened the tournament with a 94-78 loss to the Calgary Dinos in the first quarter-final and were relegated to the consolation round where they lost the final.

In the consolation semi-final, they defeated the Concordia Stingers 84-67.

Gibson finished with eight points and seven rebounds.

In his first season with the Huskies, Gibson averaged 5.9 points and 2.5 rebounds per game in 20 appearances.

Gray spent two seasons with the Northern Oklahoma-Enid Jets at the Junior College level.He appeared in 25 games as a freshman last season and averaged 11.9 points, 8.1 rebounds and 2.2 assists per game.

He shot 43 per cent from the field, 75 per cent from the free throw line and 33 per cent from three. As a sophomore, he averaged 9.5 points on 40 per cent shooting from the field and 6.6 rebounds per game. He originally committed to Texas A and M International for his junior season, before eventually making the shift from America to Canada and the Huskies.