CHARLOTTETOWN, P.E.I. – Daniel Gordon had a game-high 31 points to lead the Memorial Sea-Hawks to a 92-79 win over the UPEI Panthers on Sunday.
It came after losing 71-61 Saturday in Charlottetown.
“I thought our problem started last night in the fourth quarter,” Panthers head coach Darrell Glenn said after Sunday’s loss. “They were really starting to hurt us off penetration, we started picking up a lot of bad fouls and they started getting into a rhythm.”
The Sea-Hawks carried their play over to Sunday’s start and never looked back.
“I didn't think we matched their intensity,” said Glenn, who noted inexperience can’t be an excuse for his club any more. “We’ve played enough games now. . . I just think they were better than us tonight. I think they were able to raise their level of play to a place that we couldn't match.”
Davion Parnsalu added 21 points, eight rebounds, five assists and three steals for Memorial while Nathan Barker chipped in 13 points and 10 boards. Memorial hit half of its 69 field-goal attempts, including going 7-for-15 from three-point territory.
Milorad Sedlarevic had 21 points for the Panthers while rookie Bryce Corless chipped in 10 off the bench.
D’Adrian Allen was limited to 11 minutes for the Panthers. Glenn admitted fitness was an issue as Allen missed all of last season, played one game in the first semester due to an injury, played two games in January before missing two more and then played the last four games. Not having the centre changes what the Panthers can do on both ends of the floor.
Memorial held quarter leads of 29-17, 49-37 and 71-52.
Memorial improved to 5-11 and opened a 10-point lead on UPEI (3-13) for the final playoff spot in the conference. The Panthers have 12 points on the table, so they need to win out to have a shot at the post-season.
“We’re in tough,” Glenn admitted.
But he said the team’s focus from Day 1 was to continue to get better.
UPEI is in Fredericton, N.B., this weekend for games with the Varsity Reds on Friday and Saturday.
