The St. Francis Xavier X-Men bent but didn't break in their AUS men's basketball matinee Sunday in Wolfville.
The X-Men escaped with a 95-93 victory over the Acadia Axemen. St. F.X. entered the fourth quarter with a 10-point cushion only to see Axemen pull to within a point on three sepearte occasions.
Jacques Lukusa's three-pointer with 3:58 left actually gave Acadia a short-lived 87-85 lead.
But a made jump shot by Dondre Reddick, who had seven points off the bench in the quarter, put St. F.X. back in front 40 seconds later. The X-Men were able to maintain that lead to the final whistle.
Thomas Legallais topped all scorers with 31 points for the X-Men (6-5). Avan Nava had 18 while Azaro Roker collected 10 points and 17 rebounds.
Lukusa led Acadia (5-7) with 24 points.
On Saturday, the UNB Reds defeated the Saint Mary's Huskies 76-72 and the Cape Breton Capers clipped the UPEI Panthers 76-66.
In AUS women's hoops on Sunday, conference leading scorer Haley McDonald tallied 29 points as Acadia upended St. F.X. 93-51.
Rachel Clouatre-Trudeau added 16 points and Mia Roberts 14 for the Axewomen (9-3). Aliyah Fraser had 12 points off the bench for the X-Women (2-9).
On Saturday, UNB beat SMU 62-50 and UPEI slipped past Cape Breton 62-57.
HOCKEY
UNB has moved five points ahead of Acadia in the men's standings after the Reds secured a 4-1 win over Saint Mary's in a rare Saturday afternoon tilt in Fredericton.
Patrick Watling notched a goal and had two assists to lead the U Sports No. 1 Reds (20-4). Connor McGlynn had the lone goal for the Huskies (13-11), who are tied for third with the Moncton Aigles Bleus.
Aigles Bleus 2, Axemen 1: At Moncton, Vincent Millette and Maxime St-Cyr scored 27 seconds apart in the first period to pace Moncton past Acadia.
Cristiano Digiacinto answered for the Axemen (17-6-1).
X-Men 4, Panthers 2: At Charlottetown, Blade Mann-Dixon stopped 25 shots as St. F.X. doubled UPEI.
In AUS women's hockey on Sunday, Faith Steeves snapped a 3-all tie when she scored with 1:23 left in the third period to lift UPEI past the Dalhousie Tigers 4-3 at the Halifax Forum.
Two other games slated for Sunday - SMU at UNB and the Mount Allison Mounties at St. F.X. - were postponed.
On Saturday, Dal edged Mount A 2-1, St. F.X. dropped Moncton 6-2 and UPEI beat the St. Thomas Tommies 5-1.
VOLLEYBALL
Sarah Dawe had 11 kills and 11 digs as Dalhousie defeated UNB 3-0 (25-14, 25-18, 27-25) Sunday at Dalplex.
On Saturday, Acadia blanked SMU 3-0 (25-23, 25-17, 25-21) and UNB topped Moncton 3-1 (25-14, 21-25, 25-18, 25-14).