The UPEI Panthers have begun the season on the right foot, defeating the Saint Mary Huskies at the buzzer 97-95 Saturday night aat the Chi-Wan Young Sports Centre in front of a loud home crowd.
The Panthers and Huskies went back and forth al night with the lead changing hands 8 times.
Saturday, a buzzer-beating basket by Jermaine Duke landed Kendrick his first AUS coaching win, UPEI beat Saint Mary’s 97-95 in a classic game that saw the lead change hands eight times.
After a missed shot on a set play, Duke grabbed an offensive board and put home the winning basket.
“Jermaine deserves a ton of credit, because he did what he was supposed to do,” Kendrick said. “Jermaine’s job is to get to the offensive glass. He went to the offensive glass. He got it, and he stuck it. That's his job.”
Duke finished with 18 points and 12 rebounds.
Lual led the Panthers with 20 points and nine rebounds and all five starters were in double-digits.
Fasset poured in 26 points for the Huskies.
The Panthers will face the Memorial Sea-Hawks in back-to-back games in St. John’s, N.L., this weekend.
| UPEI | SMU | |
| High Scorer | Manuk Lual - 20 | Tory Fasset - 26 |
| Top Rebounder | Jermainne Duke - 12 | Jerome Smith - 9 |
| 3 pts | 8-20 | 7-19 |
| Free Throws | 17-27 | 14-16 |
| Rebounds | 36 | 24 |
Department of Athletics