Elijah Miller dominates again, as Panthers punch ticket to AUS finals
Elijah Miller has his eyes set on a championship and is doing everything in his power to bring one back to Prince Edward Island.
By Thomas Becker
Elijah Miller has his eyes set on a championship and is doing everything in his power to bring one back to Prince Edward Island.
As far as sequels go, the all-star point guard put on another show for UPEI as he neared a triple-double in a 105-88 win over the St. FX X-Men Saturday night, guiding them to their first finals berth since 2016.
"I'm just trying my best to represent our university," said Miller, who finished with 34 points, nine assists and eight rebounds. "We were ranked seventh in our conference and no one believed in us and they probably still can't believe we're in the finals."
After Saturday's performance, the Panthers may have turned even the harshest critics into believers.
For the second consecutive night, UPEI put together another strong offensive showing as they continued to hit their open looks. The team went 12-of-26 from the three-point line and shot 48.6 per cent overall.
Dakelle Brooks attempted eight of those three-pointers and made five of them and finished with 22 points to go along with four assists and three rebounds. Glen Cox scored 15 and hauled in six boards, while Isaiah Ankra had 10 points off the bench.
After yesterday's game, Brooks said he talked to his grandfather on the phone and chatted about ways he could improve heading into this match.
"He was telling me to just relax out there and enjoy the moment," Brooks said. "I worked hard for this moment and I just took what he said to heart."
That sage advice seemed to resonate, as Brooks connected on all three triples he attempted in the first quarter and was a big reason why the Panthers got off to a 25-17 advantage.
UPEI then closed the quarter on a mini 6-2 run, with Miller scoring four of those points to push the lead to 31-19. Miller led all scorers with 12 points, while St. FX's bench scored nine of their 19 points to keep them close.
Three-pointers from Ankra and Sam Chisholm early in the second quarter extended UPEI's advantage to 37-22. After St. FX made it an 11-point game, Miller's determination to get to the basket paid off as he put away four straight free throws before coming up with a steal and the easy layup, which pushed the lead back up to 43-26.
Led by Brooks, the Panthers finished the half strong. The veteran guard scored four straight before finding Kessler for the elbow triple, as the team went into the break ahead 63-42.
Miller had 22 points, while Brooks had 15 on 4-of-5 from the three-point line. David Muenkat was St. FX's best player on the night as he had 10 points and nine rebounds at the break.
Panthers head coach Darrell Glenn once again drew up a strong defensive game plan that limited all-star Justin Andrew and his running mate Avan Nava. The duo was held to just seven points in the first half and 23 overall. The only X-Man who could score consistently was Muenkat, who finished with 29 points and 16 rebounds.
"We have a tremendous amount of respect for both of those guys," Glenn said. "We really just wanted to make all of their shots difficult, and I thought we did that for most of the game."
With their season on the line, the X-Men came out the break strong and trimmed the deficit to 13 behind the efforts of Muenkat and Nava, who outscored the Panthers 13-9 in the first five minutes of the second half.
A Miller and-one seemed to settle Panthers down, as they pushed the lead back up to 78-59 following an Ankra three-pointer. After three quarters, UPEI led 82-75.
Andrew came to life in the fourth quarter and drilled back-to-back threes before picking off a pass for the easy layup, which cut the deficit to 10.
Up 11, Kamari Scott went to work and scored five straight before finding Cox for a layup to make it 97-79 with under five minutes to play. The X-Men got to within 14 a couple times, but time was against them, as the Panthers punched their ticket to the finals with the 105-88 win.
Standing in their way of title is the Dalhousie Tigers, who they'll face on Sunday at 4 p.m. The two teams each took a game in their head-to-head matchup during the regular season.
Glenn knows his team needs put together a performance of a lifetime to dethrone the reigning AUS champions and U SPORTS silver medalists.
"What Dal does is really force you to play a complete 40-minute game because they're not going to stop coming at us," he said. "The big thing is we're going to have to compete and win every possession."
Photo Credit: Nick Pearce
