2005-06 Halifax – uSports men

(1)			Victoria	79
(8)	York	74	Saskatchewan	64	Victoria	67
(9)	Saskatchewan	75					Victoria	67
(4)			St. F.X.	81	St. F.X.	63
(5)			McMaster	77
									—–CARLETON
(2)			U.B.C.	62
(7)	Cape Breton	62	Cape Breton	80	Cape Breton	57
(10)	Wilfrid Laurier	53					Carleton	73
(3)			Carleton	62	Carleton	68
(6)			U.Q.A.M.	59

In the opening round, held at the Halifax Metro Centre, the 7th-seeded Cape Breton Capers mustered enough second-half resolve to dust the 10th-seed Wilfrid Laurier Golden Hawks 62-53. Although trailing 33-29 at the half, the Capers took command when Maryland products Eric Breland and Tywann McKoy hit critical buckets during a decisive 13-3 over the final seven minutes of sloppy play. “You have to muck it out sometimes,” said coach Jim Charters. The Capers use a 15-1 run late in the second half to pull out the win. Jarrett Timmons said “we called a time out and coach asked us the question: are we going to stop somebody? We took that to heart and really shut them down at the end.” Eric Breland knocked down a pair of treys and Tywann McKoy added one from the quarter during the run. Charters said “we just wanted to jack up the intensity at halftime. I thought in the first half we certainly looked like a team playing for the first time in 11 years (at nationals). We looked nervous.” Breland added that “we were under aggressive and just not relaxed. We knew we’d have to tighten up on D to keep them from winning. … We just had to get the jitters out. We came out too excited, too fast. We had to slow down.” Laurier coach Peter Campbell noted that “we didn’t do a good job on Breland a tall and that’s disappointing. I think we knew what do. We just didn’t get it done. We played like a 10th seed and that’s what we were.” Cape Breton trailed by six in the second half but ripped off an 11-2 run to take a 40-37 lead. Laurier countered with a 6-0 run and moved ahead 50-47 with seven minutes to play. But the Capers countered with an 8-0 run, including a Breland bucket off a cross over. Hargrove sank four free throws and Jarett Timmons added three points in the final minute to ice the win. Eric Breland paced Cape Breton with 12 points on 5-11 from the floor, 2-4 from the line and 6 boards. Jarrett Timmons added 11 on 3-4 from the floor, 5-7 from the line and 4 boards. Corey Hargrove scored 10 on 3-9 from the floor, 4-5 from the line, 6 boards, 4 steals and 2 assists. Paul Blake notched 10 on 4-15 from the floor, 2-2 from the line and 8 boards. Ryan Keliher scored 9 on 2-6 from the floor, 1-1 from the arc, 4-6 from the line and 9 boards. Daniel White added 7 on 2-3 from the floor, 3-5 from the line and 6 boards. Tywann McKoy scored 3, while Mark McGarrigle, Kenneth MacQueen and Kerwin Liverpool were scoreless. The Capers shot 20-50 (.400) from the floor, 2-6 (.333) from the arc and 20-29 (.690) from the line, while garnering 44 boards, including 13 on the offensive glass, 16 fouls, 5 assists, 14 turnovers, 3 blocks and 7 steals. Bert Riviere paced Laurier with 15 on 7-12 from the floor, 1-2 from the line and 5 boards. Andrew MacKay scored 11 on 3-10 from the arc, 2-2 from the line and 6 boards. Wade Currie notched 6 on 2-4 from the floor. Rob Innes scored 6 on 3-6 from the floor. Omar Miles notched 4 on 4-6 from the floor and 6 boards. Corey McLaren scored 4 on 2-4 from the floor and 5 boards. Todd Cooney added 2, Brandon Gorman 2, Trevor Csima 2 and Matthew Walker 1, while Jesse MacDonald and Brent Coulthard were scoreless. The Golden Hawks hit 19-59 (.322) from the floor, 5-23 (.217) from the arc and 10-16 (.625) from the line, while garnering 38 boards, including 14 on the offensive glass, 20 fouls, 13 assists, 17 turnovers, 3 blocks and 11 steals. Laurier (coached by Peter Campbell, assisted by Jason Hurley, Paul Falco, Alex Urosevic, Mike Quigley and Dave Wahl) also included Andrew Pawliwec, David Crowley, Matt Eves, Jeff Mitchell, Phil Pesek, Andrew Peterson and Matthew Sacks.

        In the other opening round game, the 9th-seeded Saskatchewan Huskies erased a 13-point deficit in the second half and edged the 8th-seeded York Lions 75-74. York rode the post play of Jordan Foebel and the three-point shooting of Rohan Steen and Daniel Eves to a 36-29 lead at the half but reverted to early season form, playing with little energy, carelessly passing the ball and ignoring defensive responsibilities, while Grant took control in the second half, repeatedly threading feeds to teammates for layups or open jumpers, as the Huskies and then iced the win with five free throws in the final minute. “I just kept telling myself I gotta go after every loose ball and I gotta be in the passing lanes,” said Grant, who scored 20. Capers coach Greg Jockims said “we got aggressive in the second half.” Lions coach Bob Bain said his troops failed to handle Saskatchewan’s defensive pressure. “We threw it away. Our defence didn’t hold up and they exploited it.” Trailing 42-29, the Huskies went on a 12-0 run, eventually taking a 50-49 lead with 11:10 left. The Lions tied the game twice but never led again. With York down three and six seconds remaining on the clock, Dan Eves was unable to knock down a trey. Kyle Grant dominated the second half. The Huskies trailed 42-29 in the second half before exploding for a 12-0 run capped a Grant trey with 16:15 to play. Greg Jockims said the Huskies were able to push the pace in the second half. “We like to play fast. When we played at a faster pace we were more relaxed and the shots started going in. We got the game sped up. We got some turnovers and our guys got into their offensive rhythm and started to feel confident and comfortable.” Jockims, who’d been to the nationals as a player, said he tried to give his team the benefit of his experience. “There’s all kinds of pressure that can tense you up so you have to be aggressive, yet, relaxed so you can focus, Jockims said. So, it’s a bit of a contradiction. None of these guys have played here before, so they really didn’t know what to expect.” Kyle Grant paced Saskatchewan with 20 points on 7-10 from the floor, 1-1 from the arc, 5-7 from the line, 6 boards, 3 assists and 4 steals. Matthew Greenberg added 15 on 6-13 from the floor, 1-2 from the arc, 2-2 from the line, 6 boards, 3 assists and 2 steals. Rob Lovelace scored 13 on 4-4 from the floor and 5-6 from the line. Andrew Spragud notched 11 on 4-14 from the floor, 3-7 from the line and 7 boards. Jordan Harbidge added 4, Kevin Langdon 4, Rejean Chabot 4, Sam Lamontagne 2 and Mark Thompson 2, while Trent Folk was scoreless. The Huskies shot 27-53 (.509) from the floor, 3-8 (.375) from the arc and 18-26 (.692) from the line, while garnering 31 boards, including 8 on the offensive glass, 15 fouls, 15 assists, 12 turnovers, 3 blocks and 12 steals. Dan Eves paced York with 24 on 7-16 from the arc, 3-4 from the line, 4 boards and 2 assists. Jordan Foebel added 23 on 11-14 from the floor, 1-4 from the line and 10 boards. Tut Ruach scored 16 on 6-15 from the floor, 4-4 from the line, 8 boards and 9 assists. Rohan Steen scored 6 on 2-4 from the arc and 3 boards. Eylon Zemer scored 5 on 2-2 from the floor. Amde Evans, Frank Stones and Santiago Tascon were scoreless. The Lions hit 28-58 (.483) from the floor, 10-25 (.400) from the arc and 8-12 from the line, while garnering 31 boards, including 9 on the offensive glass, 21 fouls, 16 assists, 16 turnovers, 3 blocks and 7 steals. The Lions (coached by Bain, assisted by Tom Olivieri and Adam Urbach) also included Matthew Terejko, Michael Allicock, Joshua Ross, Wesley Anderson, Omar Passley, Marcus Cox, Azaz Awan and Zach Friedman.

        In the quarterfinals, the 2nd-seeded U.B.C. Thunderbirds delivered another first game clunker as they were whipped 80-62 by the 7th-seeded Cape Breton Capers. The Thunderbirds were sluggish, turnover prone and altogether lax on their defensive box-outs as they fell behind by seven early before Casey Archibald settled their nerves by nailing a three-pointer and Pasha Bains shifted into penetrate-and-pitch mode to create perimeter opportunities for Matthias Dockner and Jason Birring to rally them to a 21-20 lead. But they continued to shamelessly neglect their rebounding responsibilities, allowing Jarrett Timmons to patrol the offensive glass almost without challenge, while Paul Blake drained a pair of late three-pointers to give the Capers a 37-28 lead heading into the lockers. Cape Breton’s ball movement and transition offence left the Thunderbirds reeling in confusion as the Capers extended their lead to 24 mid-way through the second half by simply outworking and outhustling the West Coast unit, who played with little sense of urgency. With Blake and Maryland products Eric Breland, Corey Hargrove and Tywann McKoy continuing to easily break down the T-Birds defence with pull-up jumpers and sleight-of-hand passes, U.B.C. never seriously threatened. “Their defence got us right out of our offence,” said Archibald, a first-team All-Canadian who scored just three points on a dismal 1-of-12 effort from the floor. “Our offence was pushed four feet outside the arc. They took us out of our game basically. It’s frustrating when you come to nationals and you just can’t execute your stuff.” Coach Kevin Hanson thought his troops became tentative after missing shots early. “I thought we had some naked looks, a little bit early on in the offence, right away, and as soon as some guys missed some shots, I think they tightened up a little bit. It’s certainly not the way we’ve played all year.” It marked the third consecutive time that the T-Birds have underachieved and suffered a blowout loss to a lower seed at the nationals. As second seeds, they fell 90-76 to 7th-seed Guelph in 2003, while as 7th-seeds, they were bombed 89-64 by 10th-seeded York in 2004. Archibald surmised the T-Birds were again troubled by the physical brand of game played at the nationals. “It’s a lot different style of ball out here. We’re just so used to playing in Canada West, where every time to go to the hoop, you get a foul called.” Hanson said his troops simply ran into another tough foe at nationals, who were able to put taller defenders on Archibald and Bains. “We were shooting over some height that we’re not necessarily used to. When you’re not hitting outside shots and they’re playing a zone, it’s a long night. … We predicted at the beginning of the game that whoever was going to dominate the glass was going to win. They had 11 offensive rebounds in the first half and that resulted in quite a few points. I thought we couldn’t handle their penetration and they were hitting shots from the outside. We had done our homework on them and sometimes they play great. Unfortunately, this was one of those games where they put it together.” Capers coach Jim Charters said his troops executed the game plan to perfection by aggressively attacking with the penetration dribble-drive and getting out quickly in transition. “U.B.C. did a decent job getting numbers back. But our approach was that even if they got three or four back, we wanted to still attack them because we believe we can still run past people, even if a guy is a step ahead of us. … We weren’t afraid to run with them. I think a lot of teams in the country were afraid to run with them. But we play that up-tempo game and that’s our best style. We got a lot of our baskets in transition.” Blake said the Capers were determined to prove they were undeservedly seeded too low. “We were ready for this game. It’s better that way, a seven (seed) over a two,” he said, adding that the T-Birds made it relatively easily by neglecting their perimeter defence. “They were leaving us wide open, so we had to shoot the ball and we shot the ball well.” Jarrett Timmons noted that “I don’t think we expected it to be that big of a spread. We knew they were a good team. We knew we had to come out strong. We jumped on them at the closing of the first half. The coach said in the locker room that we’ve got to come out and get on them again in the first five minutes and we never let up.” Forward Paul Blake said the Thunderbirds made it easy by neglecting their perimeter defence. “They were leaving us wide open.” Paul Blake paced Cape Breton with 23 on 9-14 from the floor, 5-9 from the arc, 5 boards, 5 assists and 3 steals. Ryan Keliher added 17 on 4-12 from the floor, 2-8 from the arc, 7-8 from the line, 9 boards, 5 assists and 2 steals. Jarrett Timmons notched 12 on 5-10 from the floor, 2-4 from the line and 9 boards. Eric Breland scored 12 on 3-12 from the floor, 1-4 from the arc, 5-6 from the line and 12 boards. Corey Hargrove scored 11 on 5-11 from the floor, 1-3 from the line and 7 boards. Tywann McKoy added 3 and Daniel White 2, while Jovan Geddes, Mark McGarrigle, Kenneth MacQueen, Kerwin Liverpool and Kyle Hickey were scoreless. The Capers hit 28-65 (.431) from the floor, 9-27 (.333) from the arc and 15-27 (.556) from the line, while garnering 55 boards, including 16 on the offensive glass, 19 fouls, 15 assists, 10 turnovers, 4 blocks and 6 steals. Jason Birring paced U.B.C. with 17 on 5-10 from the floor, 4-7 from the arc and 3-3 from the line. Pasha Bains added 16 on 6-15 from the floor, 3-7 from the arc, 1-4 from the line, 6 boards and 7 assists. Mathias Dockner scored 8 on 3-6 from the floor, 2-3 from the line and 3 boards. Chad Clifford added 6, Matt Rachar 4, Jordan Yu 4, Casey Archibald 3 on 1-12 from the floor and 4 boards, Ryder McKeown 2, and Bryson Kool 2, while Brett Leversage, Sean Stewart and Nathaniel Moulson were scoreless. The Thunderbirds hit 21-64 (.328) from the floor, 11-32 (.344) from the arc and 9-14 (.643) from the line, while garnering 35 boards, including 7 on the offensive glass, 23 fouls, 13 assists, 9 turnovers, 3 blocks and 4 steals. The Thunderbirds (coached by Hanson, assisted by Vern Knopp, Randy Nohr and Les Brown) also included Brent Lewis.

The top-seeded University of Victoria Vikes dismantled the 9th-seeded Saskatchewan Huskies 79-64. The Vikes exploded to a 42-32 lead at the half as point guard Chris Trumpy drilled 10 points and delivered a series of often-breathtaking feeds to Steve Moore and Brandon Ellis. The disciplined Vikes patiently waited for the backdoor cuts and proper angles on entry passes into the low post as they systematically built their lead to as many as 18 in the second half and coasted to the easy win. “We like to refer to it as efficient basketball, maybe not pretty, but it gets wins,” said Trumpy. Vikes coach Craig Beaucamp said Trumpy’s leadership and his troops focus proved the difference. “I knew it was going to be a grind, with a conference opponent, a no-win, slippery banana game. We beat them three times (during the season). I just wanted tonight over with and I just wanted the ‘W’.” Brandon Ellis paced Victoria with 24 points on 7-13 from the floor, 2-5 from the arc, 8-10 from the line and 5 boards. Jacob Doerksen notched 14 on 5-13 from the floor, 1-2 from the arc, 3-4 from the line 6 boards and 2 seals. Chris Trumpy added 13 on 6-11 from the floor, 1-4 from the line, 9 assists and 4 steals. Steve Moore scored 10 on 5-7 from the floor and 3 boards. Graeme Bollinger notched 9 on 3-4 from the floor, 3-4 from the line, 7 boards, 4 assists and 2 steals. Tyler Haas scored 7 on 2-3 from the floor, 3-6 from the line and 4 boards. Mitch Gudgeon added 1, while Stephen A. MacDonald, Chris Spoort, Matt Kazanowski, and Matt Kuzminski were scoreless. The Vikings hit 29-53 (.547) from the floor, 3-10 from the arc and 18-28 (.643) from the line, while garnering 33 boards, including 11 on the offensive glass, 21 fouls, 16 assists, 15 turnovers, 3 blocks and 12 steals. Andrew Spragud paced Saskatchewan with 22 points on 9-15 from the floor, 4-7 from the line, 4 boards and 4 steals. Kyle Grant added 14 on 4-11 from the floor, 6-6 from the line, 5 assists and 3 steals. Matthew Greenberg scored 11 on 5-8 from the floor. Jordan Harbidge scored 9 on 3-8 from the floor and 3-3 from the line. Kevin Langdon added 4, Sam Lamontagne 2 and Rejean Chabot 2, while Rob Lovelace, Mark Thompson, Trent Folk and Clint Unsworth were scoreless. The Huskies shot 25-55 (.455) from the floor, 0-13 from the arc and 14-17 (.824) from the line, while garnering 28 boards, including 10 on the offensive glass, 22 fouls, 12 assists, 19 turnovers, 2 blocks and 11 steals. The Huskies (coached by Greg Jockims, assisted by Nathan Schellenberg and Brett Hoffman) also included Levi Vann, Mark Breker, Kevin Hollman, Greg Bowes and Jim Guidinger.

        Osvaldo Jeanty rained treys. Paul Blake swooped and soared. Neil MacDonald slammed. Chris Trumpy drove and dished. The consequence? The three-time defending Canadian Interuniversity Sport men’s basketball champion Carleton Ravens edged the 6th-seeded University du Quebec @ Montreal Citadins. Carleton struggled to find a measure of offensive rhythm in the absence of injured all-star center Aaron Doornekamp, who was sidelined by a slight fracture to his left ankle shortly before the postseason wars began. But the backcourt tandem of Osvaldo Jeanty, winner of the Mike Moser Trophy as the CIS player of the year, and Ryan Bell picked up the slack as the Ravens drilled 13-of-31 three-pointers on the night, including six by Jeanty and five by Bell to pull out the difficult win. “Everybody did their job,” said Jeanty, who scored 22. “We might not be the most offensively-gifted team in this tournament. But we know defensively, we can get it done and we’re tough enough to get it done.” The Ravens appeared tight early as they fell behind 11-5, missing a series of open looks, while the Citadins kept draining mid-range jumpers despite having hands in their faces. But Bell drained a trio of three-pointers, blocked a shot and whipped a beautiful crosscourt feed to a cutting Rob Saunders for a layup as the Ravens countered with a 15-4 run. With Carleton controlling the defensive boards and Jeanty duplicating Bell’s three-point outburst, the Ravens extended their lead to eight before Claude Delmas-Merisier hit a series of tough, contested jumpers to rally U.Q.A.M. to within 34-29 at the half. Jeanty added a pair of three-pointers as Carleton extended its lead to eight early in the second half. But Delmas-Merisier and Samuel Johnson hit tough fallaway jumpers as U.Q.A.M. countered with a 10-0 run before Kevin McCleery stemmed the bleeding with a pair of free throws. On the ensuing three possessions, Carleton delivered a textbook demonstration of Ravens basketball, making three tough defensive stops and then using impeccable ball movement to generate three-pointers by Jeanty, Stuart Turnbull and Bell. Although Delmas and Joseph Atangana combined for an 8-0 run to rally UQAM back to within one, again Carleton had the answers. Bell found McCleery in the blocks for an uncontested layup and then ran off a beautifully-designed double screen to nail a three-pointer. Still, the Citadins refused to roll over, trimming the margin to two in the final minute before n rallied to within two. But Jeanty drilled a pair of free throws in the final seconds before an NBA-range three-pointer by Bruno Visotzky-Bernier that would have forced overtime fell just short at the buzzer. “We played with confidence, even though Aaron was out, and everybody stepped up defensively,” said Bell. “Teams think we’re not as tough without him, that we don’t defend as much and that we can’t score. But we’re still gonna do what we can defensively. That’s Ravens basketball.” Jeanty called the Ravens performance “brutal, just brutal. If we would have lost this game, it would have all been on my head. There’s no excuse to do what I did.” Bell said that the Raven stuck to their game plan. “We knew they had weaknesses in the corners, so we wanted to exploit that a little bit.” UQAM coach Olga Hrycak was miffed that the officials didn’t call a five second violation against Carleton in the final minute. “That was a bad non-call … Come on. But Jeanty and Bell hit some really, really tough threes. And I’m proud of my guys because they played hard and left their hearts on the floor. We thought we could play with them. They have two legs and two arms. They work as hard as we do. They pass the ball. They make mistakes. We make mistakes. Sure, they have the experience but so what. Still, Hrycak was elated her troops, making their first appearance at the nationals, gave the Ravens a stern test. “We played an awesome game but Jeanty and Bell hit some really tough shots, with guys in their faces,” she noted. “My guys left their hearts on the floor. I couldn’t have asked for more.” Coach Dave Smart credited his troops with a phenomenal defensive effort in Doornekamp’s absence. “We’ve got major limitations in terms of scoring with him out. But our guys played hard and got after it defensively.” Along with having the first female head coach in CIS tournament history, the Citadins set another unlikely precedent at nationals in suiting-up a parolee, 23-year-old Delmas-Merisier, who had to periodically report to a probation officer, having been convicted of being an accessory to murder in 2004. Delmas-Merisier, was a recent addition to the line-up of coach Olga Hrycak’s Citadins, an upstart crew that finished fourth in Quebec Student Sport Federation regular season play with a (6-10) record and then registered a pair of stunning postseason tournament upsets to qualify for the nationals. After a protracted eligibility dispute, Delmas-Merisier was granted leave to play for the Citadins on “compassionate” grounds by a CIS appeals committee shortly before the start of the QSSF playoffs. Delmas-Merisier received a three-year prison sentence in November 2004 after being convicted of being an accessory to murder in an apparent gang-related incident in which one of the combatants was killed. After serving one-and-a-third years, he was granted an early conditional release in January for good behaviour, partially on the grounds that he had completed a number of CEGEP courses while in prison and intended on “registering right away at UQAM to continue his studies and play for us,” Hrycak says. “It was a good chance for him to integrate back into society through basketball.” Hrycak refused to elaborate on the incident that led to Delmas-Merisier’s incarceration, other than to say he returned to Montreal in the summer of 2004 after a semester of playing basketball at Northern Michigan University and “got into an altercation. He was not an accessory to murder. He was a witness to a murder.” Hrycak argued that the only reason he was jailed was that the judicial system was sending a message to the community that any manner of gang-related violence was intolerable. “Claude was just a good kid in the wrong place at the wrong time,” Hrycak says, adding that Delmas-Merisier and other Citadins are now demonstrating their commitment to the community through good deeds like washing floors and doing other odd jobs at the parish hall of the church she attends. The legendary Hrycak has steered the Citadins into the CIS draw in just her third year at the helm of the basketball program, which she helped establish in 2003-04 after toiling for decades at Dawson College, where Delmas played one semester for her in 2003, leading the Blues to a silver medal at the Canadian Colleges Athletic Association championships in 2003. He then enrolled for a semester at Northern Michigan University before returning to Montreal in the summer and becoming involved in the incident leading to his incarceration. Therein, however, lay the roots of his protracted CIS eligibility dispute. When Delmas-Merisier enrolled at UQAM, he lacked the requisite 18 academic credits that are required of a transfer student. But he suited up for the Citadins for a game in January and when a QSSF coach questioned his eligibility, the league ruled him a non-qualifier. UQAM sought relief from the CIS eligibility appeals committee, headed by University of Winnipeg athletic director Bill Wedlake, and that was granted on compassionate grounds. Having only attended one semester at Northern Michigan prior to his incarceration, Delmas-Merisier was unable to get the requisite 18 credits he’d have obtained as a full-time student for a full-year at the American institution, Wedlake says, adding that the committee attached a rider to its ruling requiring that the youth obtain 18 academic credits from UQAM this year to be eligible to play next season. To do that, he must take a full course load in the summer. It would be entirely inappropriate for the CIS to consider Delmas-Merisier’s criminal background in making determinations of eligibility, Wedlake added. “That would be a double jeopardy situation, for us to penalize because he’s basically served whatever sentence the court’s decided.” The CIS typically grants on the order of 30-40 compassionate waivers annually, said director of operations & development Tom Huisman. Osvaldo Jeanty paced Carleton with 22 on 7-18 from the floor, 6-15 from the arc, 2-5 from the line and 3 assists. Ryan Bell added 15 on 5-11 from the arc, 6 boards and 4 assists. Jean-Emmanuel Jean-Marie notched 10 on 4-10 from the floor, 2-2 from the line, 4 boards, 3 assists and 2 steals. Stuart Turnbull scored 7 on 2-5 from the arc and 1-3 from the line. Kevin McCleery notched 6 on 1-2 from the floor, 4-4 from the line and 3 boards. Rob Saunders added 2 while Pat Ross and Didier Doirin were scoreless. The Ravens shot 20-49 (.408) from the floor, 13-31 (.419) from the arc and 9-14 (.643) from the line, while garnering 26 boards, including 9 on the offensive glass, 12 fouls, 16 assists, 8 turnovers, 2 blocks and 4 steals. Claude Delmas-Merisier led UQAM with 14 on 6-10 from the floor, 2-3 from the arc and 6 boards. Bruno Versotsky-Bernier added 13 on 4-12 from the floor, 1-7 from the arc, 4-4 from the line and 3 boards. Marc-Olivier Beauchamp notched 10 on 4-11 from the floor, 1-4 from the arc, 7 boards and 2 steals. Joseph Atangana scored 7 on 2-4 from the floor, 3-4 from the line, 3 boards and 4 assists. Kevin Boucher scored 7 on 3-5 from the floor and 5 boards. Samuel Johnson added 5 and Gilles Ysos 3, while Renaldo Maignan and Hans Charlotin were scoreless. Les Citadins hit 22-50 (.440) from the floor, 6-19 (.316) from the arc and 9-12 from the line, while garnering 36 boards, including 12 on the offensive glass, 17 fouls, 10 assists, 8 turnovers, 1 block and 4 steals. Les Citadins (coached by Olga Hrycak, assisted by Carlo Galli and Jacques Vigneault) also included Gerces Prosper, Ratana Sak, Francois Jolicoeur-Yelle, Maradona Cerisier, Thierry Paul, Eric Lundi, Samuel Vancol, Yanick Daoust, Jean-Velaud Senat, Lawrence Noel, Elysee Guerrier and Raphael Limido.

        In the last quarterfinal, the 4th-seed St. Francis Xavier X-Men rallied to nip the 5th-seeded McMaster Marauders 81-77 in overtime. McMaster appeared in command after guard Ben Katz drilled a three-pointer and pilfered the ball for a transition layup to ignite a 9-0 run late in the second half. McMaster took a 68-64 lead on a Martin Ajayi layup with 1:50 to play. But the Marauders promptly squandered the lead, missing five free throws in the final minute, as St. FX rallied to knot the score at 69 and force overtime on a series of low-post buckets by Neil Macdonald. Obrovac missed four free throws and Rob Scully one in the final minute. Mike Baxter hit X’s only trey of the game with 13.6 seconds in regulation. Zach Russell found Neil MacDonald under the bucket for a layup with just 3.7 ticks on the clock. The X-Men didn’t return the favour, hitting eight free throws in the extra session to pull out the win. St. FX took the lead for good with 59 seconds remain in overtime when Garry Gallimore split a pair of free throws to put X ahead 76-75. After Obrovac miss a trey, McMaster intentionally fouled Richard who hit both free throws. Richards said “I was thinking, I never hit nothing all game so I’ve got to make these. Ben Katz hit a driving layup to cut the lead to 78-77 but Richards sank two more free throws to make it 80-77. McMaster coached Joe Raso was at a loss to explain the free throw shooting woes in regulation time. “We’re a pretty good free throw shooting team. That’s never happened to us. Sometimes in sport you just caught up in those moments. Gee whiz, we put guys on the line who were good free throw shooters. Sometimes, it just becomes a mental thing.” St. FX outscored Mac 12-8 in the extra session. McDonald said “we didn’t want some adversity to finish our season. But we took too long to figure out how to win this game. Hopefully, we got that out of our system. … We made them play into our hands. That’s how we wrote it up.” Raso said his troops got “caught up” in the moment and panicked. “You gotta take the bounces. All you can do as a coach is tell your guys ‘gimme all you got’ and they did. … I don’t know if it’s because I’m Italian and not an Irishman, although Konchalski doesn’t sound Irish either. Sometimes in sports you just caught in those moments.” Tyler Richards noted that “they had us on the ropes. If they had knocked down their foul shots, it could have been a different game. But we’re going to learn from that. We can’t put ourselves in that situation any more this year.” Neil MacDonald paced St. FX with 23 on 9-15 from the floor, 5-6 from the line, 13 boards and 3 blocks. Garry Gallimore added 14 on 6-10 from the floor, 2-3 from the line, 2 assists and 2 steals. Alexander Stephen notched 12 on 5-8 from the floor, 2-4 from the line, 8 boards and 3 assists. Tyler Richards scored 12 on 3-10 from the floor, 6-8 from the line, 5 boards and 5 assists. Michael Baxter scored 9 on 3-5 from the floor, 1-2 from the arc and 2-2 from the line. Zach Russell scored 7 on 2-4 from the floor, 3-4 from the line, 9 boards and 8 assists. John Bustin and Edwin Reynolds each added 2. The X-Men shot 30-57 (.526) from the floor, 1-10 from the arc and 20-29 (.690) from the line, while garnering 47 boards, including 8 on the offensive glass, 25 fouls, 20 assists, 15 turnovers, 5 blocks and 3 steals. Adam Steiner paced McMaster with 17 on 7-15 from the floor and 3-4 from the line. Toms Lokmanis added 13 on 6-6 from the floor, 1-2 from the line, 3 assists and 3 steals. Ben Katz notched 12 on 5-11 from the floor, 2-4 from the arc, 6 boards, 5 assists and 2 steals. Rob Scully scored 9 on 3-5 from the floor, 2-4 from the arc and 1-2 from the line. John Obrovac notched 8 on 3-8 from the floor, 2-7 from the line, 6 boards and 3 assists. Nathan Histad scored 8 on 3-6 from the floor, 1-4 from the arc and 1-2 from the line. Justin Gunter scored 6 on 2-6 from the arc, 3 boards and 6 assists. Martin Ajayi added 4 on 2-8 from the floor and 2 assists. Andrew Losier was scoreless. The Marauders hit 31-69 (.449) from the floor, 7-23 (.304) from the arc and 8-23 (.348) from the line, while garnering 30 boards, including 7 on the offensive glass, 23 fouls, 20 assists, 8 turnovers and 5 steals. The Marauders (coached by Raso, assisted by Rod Bynum, Andrew Sergi, Amos Connolly, Jeff Joseph and Matt Wood) also included Jason Scully, Jeremy Patry, Joe Polizzi, Kyle Cupido, Brandon Lukasik and Andrew Capern.

        Too small. Too young. Too injured. Too one-dimensional. Too much to expect. Those are but five of probably a dozen reasons Carleton coach Dave Smart advanced for why his Ravens had about a snowball’s chance on the equator of making the final and capturing their fourth consecutive Canadian Interuniversity Sport men’s basketball title. Smart forgot, however, to balance those minor obstacles against the leadership provided by wunderkind Osvaldo Jeanty; the Ravens iron clad will to win and their burning cauldron defence, all of which they again demonstrated, in spades, while dispatching the 7th-seeded Cape Breton Capers 68-57 in the semis. Jeanty almost singlehandedly buried the Capers during a decisive 8-0 run that turned the tide in Carleton’s favour, burying a pair of three-pointers and delivering a breathtaking feed for a layup. “We’re champions. We’re not going to go down without a fight,” said Jeanty. “All my life, I’ve been determined. When my back is against the ropes, I try to find a way and I think that’s what my teammates do too. They wouldn’t quit either and that’s why we won.” Jeanty added the Ravens were motivated to disprove Halifax chatter that they were an over-rated unit with little chance of continuing their championship run. “They say that we’re not that quick, that we’re not that athletic, that we’re not that great. What’s what fueled us,” Jeanty added. The Ravens quickly set the Capers on their heels as Rob Saunders flipped in a putback rebound and then pilfered the ball on the press to give Carleton a 4-0 lead. With Carleton dominating the boards and flashing to the seams in Cape Breton’s zone to create open mid-range looks for Ryan Bell and Jean-Emmanuel Jean-Marie, while Jeanty kept draining NBA-range three-pointers, the Ravens built their lead to 19-5. The Capers soon began levelling body blows at Jeanty, but he punished them for it by continuing to bomb treys as Carleton extended their lead to 16 mid-way through the half. Yet, the Ravens suddenly became prone to sloppy, unforced turnovers and repeatedly tossed away the ball as the Capers began attacking with the penetration dribble-drive and rallied with a 14-2 run. Jean-Marie stemmed the bleeding with a 10-foot baseline jumper that ignited a late 9-2 run featuring a Jeanty kickout to Bell for a trey and a tough pull-up 10-foot Jeanty jumper as the half ended to give Carleton a 39-28 lead heading into the lockers. The Ravens kept pulling the string on open jumpers when the Capers shifted to a man-to-man defence, going scoreless for nearly five minutes, as Cape Breton clawed back to within two as Ryan Keliher ripped off 11 consecutive points for the Capers and finally took a 44-43 lead on a three-pointer by Paul Blake. Then Jeanty went to work. He nailed a three-pointer with Corey Hargrove in his face, drove the paint against an expiring shot clock and dished the ball to Kevin McCleery for a layup, and then drilled another trey with Hargrove knocking him to the floor as Carleton answered the challenge with a 10-1 run. Jean-Marie and McCleery drilled baseline jumpers and Jeanty hammered another trey as the Ravens rebuilt their lead to 62-52 with just over two minutes to play and then iced the win as Stuart Turnbull hit a pair of free throws and Jean-Marie drilled four from the line down the stretch. “They made a crazy run and some crazy shots but we toughed it out,” said Bell. “We kept our calm,” added Jean-Marie. Coach Dave Smart said the Ravens poise and mental toughness proved the difference. “Guys stepped up and they made plays. But there’s not a lot of pressure on us. No one expects us to win. No one expected us to be in the final. I don’t know if even these guys did. I certainly did.” Capers coach Jim Charters said Carleton’s experience was evident. “Tip your hats to those guys. They executed when they had to. … I think the three games in three days played a factor but I’m not here to make excuses. We didn’t put enough points on the board. … They’re a good team. You’ve got to give them credit. They’re defensively very strong. They outplayed us. That’s the way the chips fall” Keliher said that Jeanty “is player of the year for a reason. He hit some tough shots down the stretch, especially with the shot clock winding down. We never gave up all year. There’s been a lot of times we’ve been down and we always fought back. Everyone on our team just always worked our hardest and that’s all we can do.” Smart said “our guys played tough. They found a way to get it done. It’s tough on us. We struggled to score and we showed that for a good 11-minute spurt in the second half and it’s going to be tougher tomorrow. The object is to survive and we’re surviving. We got lucky today. Maybe we can lucky one more time.” Jean-Marie said “we realized we all had to step up and take on a bigger role once we knew Aaron wasn’t going to play but we never took it as a negative. We play tough defence and let the offensive come to us. That’s what we do.” Osvaldo Jeanty paced the Ravens with 22 on 7-14 from the floor, 6-13 from the arc, 2-2 from the line and 5 boards. Jean-Emmanuel Jean-Marie added 20 on 6-17 from the floor, 8-8 from the line, 9 boards, 2 assists and 2 steals. Ryan Bell scored 9 on 3-11 from the field, 1-5 from the arc, 2-2 from the line, 5 boards and 7 assists. Kevin McCleery scored 8 on 4-7 from the floor and 5 boards. Stuart Turnbull notched 5 on 1-5 from the floor, 2-2 from the line, 5 boards, 2 assists and 2 steals. Rob Saunders added 4 on 2-3 from the floor, 5 boards and 3 assists. Pat Ross and Didier Doirin were scoreless. The Ravens shot 23-57 (.404) from the floor, 8-23 (.348) from the arc and 14-14 from the line, while garnering 38 boards, including 14 on the offensive glass, 20 fouls, 16 assists, 9 turnovers, 2 blocks and 6 steals. Ryan Keliher paced Cape Breton with 27 on 8-15 from the floor, 2-4 from the arc, 9-9 from the line, 9 boards, 2 assists and 2 steals. Paul Blake added 8 on 3-18 from the floor, 2-10 from the arc and 5 boards. Jarrett Timmons notched 5 on 1-3 from the floor and 3-4 from the line. Daniel White scored 5 on 2-2 from the floor and 5 boards. Eric Breland scored 5 on 2-3 from the floor and 3 assists. Tywann McKoy added 4 and Corey Hargrove 3, while Kenneth MacQueen was scoreless. The Capers hit 18-49 (.367) from the floor, 5-17 (.294) from the arc and 16-22 (.727) from the line, while garnering 32 boards, including 11 on the offensive glass, 19 fouls, 7 assists, 7 turnovers, 1 block and 5 steals.

        When the scoreboard finally clicked down to 0.0 in the semi-finals, it wasn’t a moment too soon for the top-seeded University of Victoria Vikes, who almost squandered a 24-point second-half lead but held on to edge the 4th-seeded St. Francis Xavier X-Men 67-63 as national rookie of the year Jacob Doerksen notched four critical points in the final minute of play. Vikes point guard Chris Trumpy shifted into penetrate-and-pitch mode to set up Brandon Ellis and Jacob Doerksen for three-pointers and then nailed one of his own treys for good measure as the Vikes broke open a tight 15-13 affair with a decisive 14-0 run late in the first half. With the Vikes bigs dominating the defensive glass and their interior defence leaving the X-Men little room to operate in the paint, Victoria kept the pro-St. FX crowd sitting on their hands and the X-Men leaning back on their heels while patiently building a 39-23 lead at the break. CIS rookie of the year Jacob Doerksen streaked for a pair of transition layups as the Vikes extended their lead to 24, one less than the X-Men had scored. But then they lost their focus. Tyler Richards and Edwin Reynolds began drilling treys as St. FX countered with a 17-2 run and eventually trimmed the margin to three on a series of Alex Stephen baseline buckets with a minute to play. But Doerksen notched four points, including a putback rebound and two free throws, while Ellis added a pair from the line to ice it for the Vikes. “We knew the run was coming,” said Vikes coach Craig Beaucamp. “It was just a matter of trying to be resilient and staying tough in tough times. Doerksen hit some shots. We had a lot of guys step up.” St. FX guard Alex Stephen said “we just played together and tried to pull it out but we just came up a little short. We weren’t rolling like we normally roll. We just weren’t rolling how we normally roll. Tonight, again we had a tough time and weren’t getting into the flow. I think everybody on the team has heart and we showed it.” Brandon Ellis paced Victoria with 18 on 5-10 from the floor, 4-8 from the arc, 4-5 from the line and 5 boards. Chris Trumpy added 15 on 6-14 from the floor, 1-4 from the arc, 2-6 from the line, 5 boards and 6 assists. Jacob Doerksen notched 14 on 5-10 from the floor, 1-3 from the arc, 3-5 from the line and 7 boards. Tyler Hass scored 7 on 3-4 from the floor and 3 boards. Mitch Gudgeon added 5, Graeme Bollinger 4, Steve Moore 3 and Rob Kinnear 2, while Matt Kuzminski was scoreless. The Vikes shot 23-52 (.442) from the floor, 6-18 (.333) from the arc and 15-25 (.600) from the line, while garnering 34 boards, including 11 on the offensive glass, 14 fouls, 10 assists, 10 turnovers, 3 blocks and 3 steals. Tyler Richards paces St. FS with 2 1on 6-18 from the floor, 3-11 from the arc, 6-7 from the line, 5 boards and 5 assists. Alexander Stephen added 19 on 8-12 from the floor, 3-4 from the line, 7 boards and 3 blocks. Edwin Reynolds scored 8 on 4-9 from the floor and 7 boards. Zach Russell notched 6 on 2-5 from the arc, 6 boards and 5 assists. Garry Gallimore scored 5 on 2-6 from the floor. Mark Mackenzie added 2 and Neil MacDonald 1, while Michael Baxter and John Bustin were scoreless. The X-Men shot 23-56 (.411) from the floor, 6-22 (.273) from the arc and 11-16 (.688) from the line, while garnering 37 boards, including 12 on the offensive glass, 23 fouls, 14 assists, 7 turnovers, 4 blocks and 4 steals.

        It will, without question, go down in Raven lore as the most improbable of their Canadian Interuniversity Sport men’s basketball titles. They played small ball, writ large, starting a line-up that went a mere 6-0, 6-2, 6-3, 6-4 and 6-3. They periodically struggled to score in the absence of their primary post threat, 6-7 Aaron Doornekamp, hobbled on the bench with an ankle fracture; sporadically shot the ball like Ray Charles would toss darts; and threw the odd pass that suggested early-onset myopia. Yet, there’s one thing no one will ever be able to take away from this altogether otherworldly unit: they won, like none before them, in crazy unimaginable ways, when it mattered, when few gave them a chance, as in yesterday’s championship final at the Halifax Metro Centre, in which the third-seeded black birds handcuffed the top-seeded Victoria Vikes 73-67 to garner a remarkable fourth consecutive CIS crown. They did it with their trademark defence, grinding and grinding until it hurt, almost valuing floor burns more than points. They did it with jawdropping contributions down the stretch from one-time, but no longer, role players Ryan Bell and Jean-Emmanuel Jean-Marie. And above all, they did it on the sublime effort and willpower of incomparable CIS player of the year Osvaldo Jeanty, who inexorably continued his drive for five CIS crowns, while vindicating a faith expressed in himself when he brashly predicted as a high school senior at Samuel Genest that nothing could stop him from accomplishing that difficult task. “Four down, one to go. That’s all I can say,” said Jeanty, who earned his second CIS tournament MVP award and his fourth straight championship match ‘player of the game’ award. “We believed in each other. Guys believed in their abilities. And one guy going down doesn’t mean the end of our team.” Jean-Marie said “we played with confidence and no fear.” Bell said the Ravens simply dictated the style of play. “We just wanted to take it to their weaknesses and do the things we do well. And we came out and hit some big shots.” With the undersized Ravens limiting the Vikes to one-and-done by commanding the defensive boards, Carleton doubled-up Victoria 32-16 midway through the first half as Jeanty scored 11 and repeatedly drew off defenders and then delivered sleight-of-hand feeds, including a nifty shovel pass to Jean-Marie for a layup and a perfect pitch to Kevin McCleery for a 10-foot baseline jumper off an immaculately executed pick-and-roll. But the Vikes began systematically pounding the ball to CIS rookie of the year Jacob Doerksen in the low blocks and the foul calls quickly began to mount against the Ravens, allowing Victoria to claw back within 41-30 at the half. The Vikes went with a bigger line-up in the second half and began mixing up their defences, eventually regaining their perimeter shooting touch and clawing to within one on a pair of three-pointers by Chris Trumpy. But Jean-Marie twice hammered 15-foot jumpers against expiring shot clocks, McCleery tipped in a rebound and Stuart Turnbull notched an old-fashioned three-point play as Carleton regained a 59-53 edge with five minutes to play. Jeanty and Trumpy exchanged breathtaking off-balance bombs as Victoria again rallied to within five, with possession of the ball. But Jean-Marie closed four meters to pilfer the ball from behind on a Tyler Hass run out for a seemingly certain transition layup. Still, the scrappy Vikes refused to quit, although they couldn’t match Raven heroics down the stretch. Jeanty ran off a double baseline screen and buried a three-pointer from the corner. Bell nailed three critical free throws and calmly waved off his teammates to create an isolation set against one of the toughest defenders in the country, and then coolly nailed a turnaround, fallaway 17-foot jumper that left coach Dave Smart gaping on the sidelines. And finally, with 8.9 seconds remaining and Carleton leading 70-67, Jeanty streaked into the lane to rebound his own missed free throw. Fouled, he iced the victory from the line. The Ravens dubbed it the most remarkable game they’d ever played. “I swear that was the longest game I’ve ever played,” said Turnbull. “But we executed our game plan perfectly.” Rob Saunders said “it was a war. We just tried to ugly it up on the boards and on defence. … The good start helped. It breaks their will if you can get up on them and crush them.” McCleery called it “unbelievable. It was huge motivation for everyone when Aaron went down. He pretty much got us here, along with Oz, so it really wouldn’t have been fair to him for us to roll over.” Pat Ross added that “everyone counted us out. But everyone in our dressing room thought we could win and Dave thought we could win. That’s all we needed: to believe. Dave told us what we needed to do when Aaron went down and everyone did it.” Smart conceded it was Carleton’s most unlikely title. “If you ask anyone, except Oz, it was. But if you asked him, it was just another day. These kids committed to 120 minutes of making it the toughest, toughest defence that any team was going to ever see and they stayed with it. I don’t think we had a lot of let-ups defensively. We had some real droughts, offensively, but defensively, they just battled and battled and battled. …. I’m not going to lie to you. Coming in here, I thought we were going to have to get some superhuman efforts from some guys like Manny and Ryan, and obviously Osvaldo. What’s there to say? These guys proved to me they’re the best team in the country. …. (Osvaldo) is the same any time. He plays somebody one-on-one in the gym and he needs to win just as badly as he needs to win this game.” Bell said that “Oz always gets open somehow and hits those big ones for us. Obviously, tonight he hit another one.” Jeanty noted that “I just want to compete every time I come out on the floor. I don’t want to lose to anybody. Most of the time, it’s for bragging rights and I want to be able to say I’m better than you.” Jeanty added that the Ravens were offended by the notion that many believed they couldn’t win without Doornekamp. “That’s an insult to our coaching staff. They adjusted to what we had. We played like soldiers. We had warriors today and I have to tip my hat to my team. … This one feels a lot better. It was harder too, just because of the adversity we had to go through. Nobody thought we could do it. It’s been the epitome of our team, when we’re up against the ropes and nobody believes in us, we stay together.” Vikings coach Craig Beaucamp said that “the biggest thing is he (Jeanty) has got range and he’s the best catch-and-shoot guy in Canada right now. Coming off screens, he gets the shot off real quick and makes it real tough. You gotta extend out and then he extends you and then he can take you off the bounce as well.” Beaucamp added that his troops were hurt by missed free throws (18-of-29) and a poor start. “We just dug ourselves too deep against a very good team.” The Vikes took the loss in philosophic stride. “They play a little different style, defensively, than we’re used to. They pack it in and it’s just a challenge. We hadn’t played anybody like that in the tournament, so it’s hard really preparing for that,” said second-team All-Canadian point guard Chris Trumpy.  “But four years ago, in my second year, this program wasn’t even in the playoffs. We were 8-12. To go in three years, from that to fifth-place last year and second this year, a lot of guys haven’t done that in their career. I’ve got nothing to be ashamed of. Nothing wrong with that. We didn’t come here for that but I’ll take it. Life goes on.” Doerksen said “it was just too little, too late. But we played our hearts out.” Osvaldo Jeanty paced Carleton with 27 on 9-15 from the floor, 4-7 from the arc, 5-7 from the line, 8 boards and 3 assists. Ryan Bell scored 15 on 5-8 from the floor, 2-3 from the arc, 3-4 from the line, 4 boards and 4 assists. Jean-Emmanuel Jean-Marie notched 12 on 5-9 from the floor, 2-2 from the line and 9 boards. Stuart Turnbull scored 10 on 3-10 from the floor, 4-4 from the line, 2 boards and 2 steals. Kevin McCleery added 5, Pat Ross 3 and Didier Doirin 2, while Rob Saunders was scoreless. The Ravens shot 26-48 (.542) from the floor, 7-15 (.467) from the arc and 14-17 (.824) from the line, while garnering 29 boards, including 8 on the offensive glass, 22 fouls, 12 assists, 10 turnovers, 2 blocks and 3 steals. Jacob Doerksen paced Victoria with 22 on 7-13 from the floor, 1-2 from the arc, 7-10 from the line and 6 boards. Brandon Ellis added 15 on 3-9 from the arc, 6-9 from the line and 2 boards. Chris Trumpy scored 11 on 4-8 from the floor, 2-4 from the arc, 1-2 from the line, 5 boards, 6 assists and 2 steals. Tyler Hass notched 9 on 3-4 from the floor, 3-5 from the line, 6 boards and 2 assists. Steve Moore scored 5 on 2-7 from the floor. Graeme Bollinger scored 5 on 2-3 from the floor and 3 boards. Chris Spoor and Matt Kuzminski were scoreless. The Vikes shot 21-46 (.457) from the floor, 7-18 (.389) from the arc and 18-29 (.621) from the line, while garnering 26 boards, including 9 on the offensive glass, 14 fouls, 14 assists, 7 turnovers and 5 steals.

        At the nationals, the CIS decided to abandon a 10-team draw in favour of an eight-team tournament, in which Atlantic University Sport automatically gets a second berth in the nationals as host of the event, which has been held in Halifax for the past 23 years. “Unfair” and “un-Canadian” are among the less colourful epithets being used to describe the CIS by the furious coaches. The rancour stems from a CIS dictum that next year’s draw will feature a reduced field, including designated berths for the Atlantic, Canada West and Quebec champs, along with the victor of the Wilson Cup playoff between the Ontario University Athletics East and West division champs. The OUA and Canada West will each be assigned a second berth, while Atlantic University Sport (AUS) will get a second bid as host. The eighth and final spot will be a wild card selected by committee. That translates into one assigned bid for every eight schools in Ontario, 1-for-7 in Canada West, 1-for-5 in Quebec and 1-for-4 in the Atlantic. The disparity is “ridiculous,” says Carleton coach Dave Smart. The coaches are equally affronted the CIS blithely ignored their recommendation to reduce the draw only if two wild card berths are awarded. “They ask us for our opinion and then every time we vote, it comes back where our votes really don’t mean anything,” says University of Ottawa coach David DeAveiro. “They don’t seem to understand that this is our job. This is our livelihood, so, if anything, we want the best for the game.” Wilfrid Laurier coach Peter Campbell added that “our opinion does not seem to be valued.” Alberta coach Don Horwood said “the CIS has decided, for some reason, that they can make way better decisions regarding the administering of basketball in Canada than the coaches. It’s just not fair that the AUS gets a quarter of the berths when they only have eight teams. Canada stands for fairness and this is un-Canadian.” The coaches surmised the move is being drive by sluggish ticket sales for Thursday night opening round games in a 10-team draw. “But basketball has proven that as an event, it can stand alone. It can make money for them. It can make money for the hosts. I don’t think we need a host berth to make this profitable,” Campbell said. DeAveiro argues it’s now vital the CIS abandon its seemingly pathological need to constantly hold the championships in Halifax. “If the host team is going to get a spot, then you have to move the tournament. It just can’t stay in one place.” The CIS must also lift its requirement for a $200,000-$300,000 financial guarantee for the right to host the nationals in favour of a system like the one operating for the women’s draw, in which guarantees are typically $15,000-$20,000, making it possible for the tournament to be held across the country, Horwood says. “If one of the CIS principles is that there has to be a host team, then you have to give everybody a chance to host it.” CIS executive-director Marg McGregor was traveling in Italy and unavailable for comment but marketing director Peter Metuzals said the AUS, coaches and spectators urged the CIS to abandon the 10-team draw for a number of reasons, including a belief that teams participating in the opening round have no chance of winning the tournament and a belief that running the event one extra day is “too taxing on the host.” Similarly, there are financial reasons for guaranteeing the hosts an extra berth, Metuzals added. “In order for somebody to bid, it becomes more enticing if you have a host berth because your potential to make money is good.”

        The all-tournament team featured MVP Osvaldo Jeanty (Carleton); Ryan Bell (Carleton); Jacob Doerksen (Victoria); Brandon Ellis (Victoria); Ryan Keliher (Cape Breton); and Alexander Stephen (St. Francis Xavier).

        The co-bronze medalist Cape Breton Capers: Paul Blake; Ryan Keliher; Corey Hargrove; Eric Breland; Daniel White; Jarrett Timmons; Tywann McKoy; Jovan Geddes; Kerwin Liverpool; Kenneth McQueen; Mark McGarrigle; Kyle Hickey; John Sylliboy; coach Jim Charters; assistant Lowell Cormier; assistant Rob Redshaw; assistant Darren Desmond; trainer Jacquelyn Whalen; athletic director John Ryan

        The co-bronze medalist St. Francis Xavier X-Men: Neil MacDonald; Garry Gallimore; Alexander Stephen; John Bustin; Tyler Richards; Edwin Reynolds; Dave Joyce; Mark MacKenzie; Zach Russell; Daouli Lengema; Michael Baxter; coach Steve Konchalski; assistant Brent Baker; assistant Denton Anthony; student assistant Jonathan Bell; manager Joseph Mensah; therapist Tara Sutherland; therapist Kurt Stevenson; student therapist Marty MacIntyre; doctor David Cudmore; SID Krista McKenna, athletic director Leo MacPherson

        The silver medalist Victoria Vikings: Chris Trumpy; Brandon Ellis; Jacob Doerksen; Steve Moore; Tyler Hass; Graeme Bollinger; Mitch Gudgeon; Matt Kuzminski; Chris Spoor; Stephen Anderson-MacDonald; Matt Kazanowski; Jeff Cullen; Rob Kinnear; Ivan Kajfes; Cyril Indome; Ryan Davidson; coach Craig Beaucamp; assistant Craig Price; assistant Ian Hyde-Lay; manager Linda Kimoto; assistant manager Dave Morrison; athletic director Clint Hamilton; SID Pete Lewis

        The gold medalist Carleton Ravens: Osvaldo Jeanty; Aaron Doornekamp; Ryan Bell; Stuart Turnbull; Jean-Emmanuel Jean-Marie; Pat Ross; Rob Saunders; Kevin McCleery; Shawn McCleery; Derek McConnery; Daron Leonard; Didier Doirin; Herbert Thompson; coach Dave Smart; assistant Taffe Charles; assistant Bill Arden; assistant Rob Smart Jr.; assistant Dean Petridis; manager Aaron Blakeley; therapist Bruce Marshall; therapist Adam Davies; SID David Kent; athletic director Drew Love