BURNABY, B.C. – The Simon Fraser Red Leafs men's basketball team fell to St. Edward's (Texas) 76-66 Sunday night in the second game for both squads at the Hoops in Hawaii Holiday Classic, presented by Outrigger Resort and Hotels, in Honolulu. 

In a back-and-forth battle, the Hilltoppers of the Lone Star Conference pulled away in the final minutes to secure the victory, and improve to 10-2 this season. SFU fell to 4-6. 

The Red Leafs were up 33-31 at the mid-game break, and neither side led by more than six points in the second half until there was just over three minutes to go in regulation time. That was when Sean Elkinton of St. Edward's made a layup to increase his team's advantage to 66-59. It was part of a 12-1 late-game run that came after junior guard David Penney's pull-up jumper got SFU to within a point at 60-59 with 6:30 on the clock.

Sophomore guard Elliot Dimaculangan's three-point basket with 12:32 remaining gave the Red Leafs their largest lead of the night at 48-43. 

"Tough result for our team tonight, but our guys did an excellent job battling and executing the defensive game plan against a very good offensive team," remarked SFU head coach Steve Hanson. "A few more shots go down in the final 10 minutes and we may have a different result – that is basketball. We are seeing Georges (Lefebrve) and Zach (Stone) assert themselves on the glass and inside. Elliot is coming on strong and getting back to the level we expect from him. Lots of positives to build on. We have another tough opponent in Chaminade tomorrow night. They're 2-0 here and beating some very good teams. We are excited for the challenge."

Forward Georges Lefebvre, a sophomore from Montreal, had the top performance on the scoresheet for SFU Sunday, recording team-bests in points (16, on 6-of-12 shooting from the field) and rebounds (11). It was his second double-double of the 2022-23 season. 

Dimaculangan, from Mississauga, Ont., scored 14 points. He converted half of his shots from the field (5-10), including those from behind the three-point line (3-6). Penney (Guelph, Ont.) contributed 10 points and four assists. Freshman forward Zach Stone (Ottawa) grabbed eight rebounds. 
 

The Red Leafs held an early 10-7 advantage, but the Hilltoppers put together a 14-2 run to go ahead 21-12 midway through the first half. It was their largest lead in the period.

SFU immediately answered with a 16-3 surge, which began with a Dimaculangan triple. Lefebrve later contributed an offensive rebound-layup-foul shot sequence with about seven minutes left before halftime. Then Dimaculangan converted a pair of jump shots to tie the game at 24-24. A Lefebrve basket pushed the Red Leafs in front before Stone capped the run with a layup to stretch the gap to 28-24.

SFU shot 41 per cent from the field Sunday, making 25 of 61 attempts. The team converted on 28.6 per cent of its three-point opportunities (6-21) and 76.9 per cent (10-13) of its free throws. 

The Hilltoppers made 49.1 per cent of their field goal tries (27-55), and were good on 30 per cent of their long-distance shots (6-20). SEU went 16 for 22 (72.7 per cent) at the foul line.

The Red Leafs will wrap up their three-game set in Hawaii on Monday night against Chaminade (Hawaii). The opening tip at the Hawaii Convention Center is scheduled for 10 p.m. PT. 

They will return to Great Northwest Athletic Conference action at the end of the month with games at Saint Martin's (Washington) on Dec. 29 (7 p.m.) and Western Oregon on New Year's Eve (2 p.m.). The next home dates for SFU are Jan. 5 and 7. Single-game tickets links are at: https://www.eventbrite.ca/o/sfu-athletics-17612353468

For the latest information on SFU Athletics, visit athletics.sfu.ca. You can also find us on social media at @SFU_Athletics.
 
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