2009-10 AUS - men - From Naismith to Nash

REGULAR SEASON

Cape Breton	18-2	30-4	Jim Charters
St. FX	18-2	27-6	Steve Konchalski
Saint Mary’s	14-6	21-13	Ross Quackenbush
Dalhousie	12-8	21-12	John Campbell
Acadia	9-11	14-18	Steve Baur
UPEI	4-16	4-25	Matthew Davies
New Brunswick	3-17	6-20	Brent Baker
Memorial	2-18	2-21	Peter Benoite

Playoff non-qualifiers:

Memorial Seahawks: Jason Shepherd, Robbie Habib, Mike Helsby, Steve Earles, Ante Samodol, Mark Woodland, Justin Grainger, Ryan McCluskey, Mike Quigley, Manny Wilby, Matthew Cleary, Alex Harding, Matt Cleary, Justin Penney, Jordan Constantine, coach Peter Benoite

New Brunswick Varsity Reds: Michael Anderson, Alex DesRoches, Colton Wilson, Daniel Quirion, Andrew Wright, Dustin Anthony, Antwann Parks, Lonzel Lowe, Colin Adams, Jason Rouse, Mattias Zankpe, Patrick Kalala, Brent Kingston, Gamachu Ibrahim, Tade Ogunbona, Harry Schreurs, coach Brent Baker

In the quarterfinals, the 4th-seeded Dalhousie Tigers nipped the 5th-seeded Acadia Axemen 76-75. The Tigers and the Axemen knotted things up a couple of times in the first half, though Dalhousie ended up leading Acadia 44-31 at the half. The Axemen had a big second half, outscoring their opponents 20-17 in the third quarter and 24-15 in the final frame. Acadia erased an 18-point deficit to close to within a point with under two minutes remaining. Rookie of the Year Owen Klassen brought the Axemen to within a point once again with 33 seconds remaining in the game, when he was fouled after a layup. With an opportunity to tie the game from the free-throw line, Klassen’s shot went in and out of the basket leaving Acadia down a point. Dalhousie’s Andrew Sullivan added a pair of free-throws to put the Tigers up by three. A turnover by the Axemen, followed by a deliberate foul with 24 seconds remaining put Farine on the foul line where he sank one of two. Down 76-72 with 15 seconds remaining, first year Axemen point guard Anthony Sears added a three-pointer at the buzzer to bring Acadia to within one point with no time on the clock. “Acadia played a great game and kind of took us out of our offence in the second half,” said Farine, who paced Dalhousie with 24 on 8-21 from the floor, 2-7 from the arc, 6-9 from the line, 4 boards, 9 assists and 3 steals. Sandy Veit added 12 on 4-7 from the floor, 4-4 from the line and 3 boards. Joseph Schow scored 12 on 6-11 from the floor, 0-2 from the line and 6 boards. Andrew Sullivan notched 11 on 4-11 from the floor, 1-5 from the arc, 2-2 from the line, 3 boards and 13 assists. Nick Flynn scored 6 on 2-6 from the arc and 2 assists. William Yengue scored 5 on 2-5 from the floor, 1-2 from the line, 4 boards and 2 assists. Robert Nortmann added 4 on 1-3 from the floor and 2-2 from the line. Chris Hunt scored 2, while Jason Wang was scoreless. The Tigers hit 28-67 (.418) from the floor, 5-19 (.263) from the arc and 15-21 (.714) from the line, while garnering 22 boards, including 7 on the offensive glass, 26 assists, 7 steals, 1 block, 11 turnovers and 17 fouls. Casey Fox paced Acadia with 22 on 6-15 from the floor, 2-9 from the arc, 8-11 from the line, 2 boards and 2 steals. Alexander Traikov added 16 on 5-10 from the floor, 6-7 from the line, 9 boards, 4 assists and 2 blocks. Justin Boutilier added 9 on 4-8 from the floor, 1-2 from the arc, 9 boards and 4 assists. Anthony Sears added 9 on 4-12 from the floor, 1-3 from the arc, 5 boards and 4 assists. Owen Klassen scored 9 on 4-10 from the floor, 1-4 from the arc, 0-3 from the line, 8 boards and 4 assists. Jonathan Kamba scored 6 on 3-3 from the floor, 0-1 from the line and 4 boards. Tyler Lutton scored 4 on 2-4 from the floor, 3 boards and 3 assists. Lars Meyer was scoreless. The Axemen hit 28-62 (.452) from the floor, 5-18 (.278) from the arc and 14-22 (.636) from the line, while garnering 40 boards, including 15 on the offensive glass, 21 assists, 3 steals, 7 blocks, 22 turnovers and 19 fouls. The Axemen (coached by Stephen Baur) also included Andre Grant, Joseph Hwabuzor, Chris Ogbuah, Matthew Doidge, Dustin Poirier and Alex McLaughlin.

In the other quarterfinal, the 3rd-seeded Saint Mary’s Huskies led all the way to pound the No. 6-seed University of Prince Edward Island Panthers 88-60. The Huskies led 22-14, 38-28 and 65-41 at the quarters. “We went out and dominated the boards at the start of the second half,” said Saint Mary’s coach Ross Quackenbush. “First minute, second minute, third minute, we got all the rebounds and I think that completely set the tempo and basically broke the game open right then.” Mark McLaughlin paced Saint Mary’s with 15 on 5-7 from the floor, 3-5 from the arc, 2-2 from the line, 7 boards, 4 assists and 3 steals. Joey Haywood added 14 on 6-14 from the floor, 2-3 from the arc, 7 boards, 9 assists and 2 steals. Simon Marr added 14 on 6-10 from the floor, 0-3 from the arc, 2-2 from the line, 6 boards and 2 blocks. Ikeobi Uchegbu added 14 on 7-10 from the floor, 6 boards and 7 assists. Demetri Harris added 9 on 4-7 from the floor, 2-4 from the arc, 3 boards and 3 assists. Ronald Vanel scored 8 on 2-5 from the floor, 2-3 from the arc, 2-4 from the line, 3 boards and 2 blocks. Harry Ezenibe added 6 on 2-2 from the arc. Iain Robertson added 4, Ryan Dewinter 2 and Miguel Pink 2, while Mike Poole and Jack Gallinaugh were scoreless. The Huskies hit 35-66 (.530) from the floor, 20-25 (.400) from the arc and 8-9 (.889) from the line, while garnering 38 boards, including 10 on the offensive glass, 32 assists, 8 steals, 5 blocks, 13 turnovers and 18 fouls. Matt Fennell paced UPEI with 14 on 7-18 from the floor, 0-6 from the arc, 6 boards and 3 assists. Manock Lual added 13 on 3-13 from the floor, 7-14 from the line, 13 boards, 4 assists and 4 steals. Nick Toews added 11 on 4-20 from the floor, 1-9 from the arc, 2-2 from the line, 4 boards and 2 assists. Terrence Brown added 9 on 3-10 from the floor, 2-5 from the arc, 1-2 from the line, 4 assists and 2 steals. Mitchell McQuade scored 6 on 2-5 from the floor, 2-4 from the line and 7 boards. Nick Kaminsky added 3, Tim Butler 2, and Anthony McDougald 2 on 1-4 from the floor and 11 boards. Calvin Leblanc was scoreless. The Panthers hit 22-77 (.286) from the floor, 4-26 (.154) from the arc and 12-24 from the line, while garnering 46 boards, including 26 on the offensive glass, 17 assists, 9 steals, 2 blocks, 14 turnovers and 13 fouls. The Panthers (coached by Matthew Davies) also included Mike Hardy, Jeffrey Rodgers, Vlad Farcas, Robert MacSwain and Damon Ansems.

In the semis, the top-seeded Cape Breton Capers spanked the 4th-seeded Dalhousie Tigers 76-60. “Our goal tonight was to wear them down,” said Capers coach Jim Charters. “They played a one-point game last night and to get that start was a good boost and I thought we played a good first quarter. The second quarter, we didn’t play as well, so the halftime break probably came at a good time for us. We played a solid game defensively and to hold those guys to 60 points was pretty good.” The Capers got off to a fast start with Phil Nkrumah and Jimmy Dorsey hitting a pair of threes to open the contest. CBU used some strong rebounding and smothering defence as well to get key possessions that led to baskets. Paris Carter hit a three-ball to give CBU an 18-9 lead and forced Dalhousie to call a time-out to settle things down. The three was a big part of the Capers fast start, but the highlight was a huge throw down by Nkrumah that brought the Capers faithful to their feet. Scott Jaspers-Fayer put an exclamation point on the Capers’ strong first half by stuffing Tigers star Simon Farine with seconds ticking away. They took a 41-32 lead into the half. In the second, the Capers continued their smothering play, but the Tigers continued to stick around. CBU held a 56-46 lead after the third quarter. But just when the Tigers seemed to get some momentum in the fourth, big plays quelled any chance of a comeback. Hoop and harms from Nkrumah and Jaspers-Fayer swung things back to CBU’s favour. A Paris Carter steal and slam also sent the Orange Army into hysterics. “The support definitely made our team play better, individually and as a team,” said Nkrumah. “My game was compliments (of my team). I was feeding off them, just like they were feeding off me.” Jimmy Dorsey paced Cape Breton with 25 on 10-18 from the floor, 2-7 from the arc, 3-6 from the line, 7 boards and 3 steals. Phillip Nkrumah added 19 on 4-9 from the floor, 1-3 from the arc, 10-17 from the line, 13 boards, 10 assists and 3 steals. Paris Carter added 14 on 5-15 from the floor, 3-13 from the arc, 1-2 from the line, 4 boards, 3 assists and 2 steals. Scott Jaspers-Fayer scored 8 on 4-6 from the floor, 6 boards, 2 steals and 3 blocks. Tremaine Fraser scored 5 on 1-4 from the floor, 3-4 from the line, 4 boards and 4 assists. Lasario Burrows scored 3 on 1-2 from the floor, 1-2 from the line and 3 boards. Cameron John-Proctor scored 2, while Chris Noddle, Al Alilovic, Mark McGarrigle and Ryan Roper were scoreless. The Capers hit 26-60 (.433) from the floor, 6-29 (.207) from the arc and 18-32 (.562) from the line, while garnering 39 boards, including 9 on the offensive glass, 20 assists, 13 steals, 4 blocks, 17 turnovers and 17 fouls. Simon Farine paced Dalhousie with 23 on 7-15 from the floor, 1-4 from the arc, 8-13 from the line, 10 boards and 4 assists, Joseph Schow added 13 on 6-15 from the floor, 1-1 from the line and 11 boards. Andrew Sullivan notched 13 on 4-12 from the floor, 1-7 from the arc, 4-4 from the line, 3 boards and 7 assists. William Yengue added 7 on 3-7 from the floor, 1-3 from the arc, 2 boards and 3 assists. Robert Nortmann scored 4 on 2-2 from the floor and 2 boards, while Nick Flynn, Galen Enlow, Jason Wang, Chris Hunt, Sandy Veit, Tim Coote and Mike Mensah were scoreless. Veit was 0-8 from the floor, while nabbing 10 boards and dishing 2 assists. Dalhousie shot 22-64 (.344) from the floor, 3-15 (.200) from the arc and 13-18 (.722) from the line, while garnering 40 boards, including 11 on the offensive glass, 18 assists, 7 steals, 1 block, 24 blocks and 22 fouls. The Tigers (coached by John Campbell) also included Mari Peoples-Wong, Cole Taylor and Joel Everett.

In the other semi, the 2nd-seeded St. Francis Xavier X-Men nipped the 3rd-seeded Saint Mary’s Huskies 79-78. Conference player of the year Christian Upshaw hit two of three free-throws with no time left on the clock for the victory. This was after Joey Haywood was called on a disputed foul while Upshaw was firing a three-pointer. The Huskies bench was in a state of disbelief, after taking a one-point lead seconds earlier and thinking the game was as good as won. Christian Upshaw paced St. FX with 23 on 7-21 from the floor, 3-8 from the arc, 6-8 from the line, 4 boards, 10 assists and 2 steals. Jeremy Dunn added 17 on 7-16 from the floor, 1-6 from the arc, 2-2 from the line, 8 boards and 3 assists. Will Silver scored 16 on 6-9 from the floor, 3-5 from the arc, 1-3 from the line, 8 boards and 7 assists. Riiny Ngot added 8 on 4-4 from the floor, 3 boards and 4 blocks. Chad Warren scored 6 on 3-8 from the floor, 0-2 from the arc, 2 boards, 2 assists and 2 steals. Jordan Clarke scored 4 on 2-4 from the floor, 5 boards and 2 assists. Alberto Rodriguez added 3 on 1-5 from the floor, 1-2 from the line and 3 boards. Terrence Taylor scored 2, while Charlie Spurr was scoreless, while nabbing 3 boards. The X-Men hit 30-75 (.400) from the floor, 7-25 (.280) from the arc and 12-17 (.706) from the line, while garnering 37 boards, including 14 on the offensive glass, 9 fouls, 23 assists, 8 turnovers, 4 blocks and 9 steals. Joey Haywood paced Saint Mary’s with 16 on 7-16 from the floor, 1-5 from the arc, 1-2 from the line, 2 boards and 7 assists. Mark McLaughlin added 15 on 6-11 from the floor, 3-7 from the arc, 11 boards and 6 assists. Ikeobi Uchegbu scored 14 on 7-15 from the floor, 11 boards and 4 assists. Miguel Pink added 13 on 5-7 from the floor, 3-3 from the arc and 2 boards. Simon Marr scored 7 on 3-5 from the floor, 1-2 from the line, 3 boards and 3 assists. Demitri Harris added 6 on 2-3 from the arc, 2 boards, 5 assists and 2 steals. Mike Poole scored 4 on 1-1 from the arc and 1-2 from the line. Ronald Vanel scored 3 on 1-1 from the arc and 2 assists. Iain Robertson was scoreless. The Huskies shot 32-62 (.516) from the floor, 11-22 from the arc and 3-6 from the line, while garnering 32 boards, including 5 on the offensive glass, 14 fouls, 30 assists, 15 turnovers, 5 blocks and 2 steals. The Huskies (coached by Ross Quackenbush) also included Ryan deWinter, Harry Ezenibe, Jack Gallinaugh, Jonathon MacLanders and redshirt Fayne Thompson II.

In the final, the top-seeded Cape Breton Capers bounced back from a 14-point first-half deficit to defeat the 2nd-seeded St. FX X-Men, 94-77. The Title ended a drought that began after the CBU men won back-to-back AUS titles in 1993-94 and 1994-95. The last time the Capers reached a championship final was 2005-06, when they were dropped 83-72 by the X-Men. The Capers trailed 38-24 in the second quarter, but after which Capers coach Jim Charters called a time out, his troops responded with runs of seven and six points respectively. The teams were tied 41-41 late in the second stanza, but St. FX’s William Silver hit a three-point shot to put St. FX ahead 44-41 heading into the second half. The Capers opened the third quarter with three-point shots from both Paris Carter and Tremaine Fraser, to give CBU the 47-44 lead. The teams then battled back and forth, tying the game three more times in the third frame, before CBU pulled ahead slightly, 66-62 at the end of 30 minutes. The Capers never again relinquished the lead, outscoring the X-Men 28-15 in the final quarter, led by Jimmy Dorsey, who hit three treys in the final frame and was chosen Alexander Keith’s Tournament MVP. “They put the ball in my hands and I tried to do the best I could for the team,” said Dorsey. “Our team got it out. We really gutted this one out.” He added Charters calling the time out in the second quarter was timely. “He saw us trying to battle with them every time they scored on us,” said Dorsey. “He just told us to run through our plays. Coach really settles us down and calls good time outs at the right time. He really helped us.” Charters was less than impressed with his team’s first-half performance. “We really didn’t guard anybody in the first half,” he said. “I felt great going into the locker room at three because I knew we hadn’t played for the first 20 minutes.” The Capers coach said he “tried to light a fire under these guys” during the halftime break. “They responded and down the stretch we just gave the ball to Dorsey and he took the game over. He’s a special player. He makes great decisions. Like I said to him after the game, ‘You make my job pretty easy’.” Jimmy Dorsey paced Cape Breton with 35 on 13-19 from the floor, 6-9 from the arc, 3-4 from the line, 7 boards and 3 steals. Paris Carter added 23 on 7-20 from the floor, 6-13 from the arc, 3-4 from the line, 5 boards, 3 assists and 6 steals. Scott Jaspers-Fayer added 14 on 6-7 from the floor, 2-2 from the line, 2 boards and 2 assists. Phillip Nkrumah added 11 on 4-11 from the floor, 1-3 from the arc, 2-2 from the line, 18 boards, 8 assists, 3 steals. Tremaine Fraser added 5 on 2-4 from the floor, 1-3 from the arc, 2 boards, 6 steals and 2 steals. Chris Noddle added 3, Mark McGarrigle 2 and Lasario Burrows 1, while Al Alilovic, Cameron John-Proctor, Jonathan MacDonald and Ryan Roper were scoreless. The Capers hit 33-68 (.485) from the floor, 14-30 (.467) from the arc and 14-20 (.700) from the line, while garnering 34 boards, including 12 on the offensive glass, 28 assists, 14 steals, 5 blocks, 14 turnovers and 15 fouls. Jeremy Dunn paced St. FX with 22 on 9-19 from the floor, 3-9 from the arc, 1-2 from the line, 6 boards and 3 assists. Christian Upshaw added 20 on 6-14 from the floor, 2-6 from the arc, 6-7 from the line, 2 boards, 7 assists and 4 steals. William Silver added 14 on 5-11 from the floor, 2-3 from the arc, 2-2 from the line, 3 boards and 6 assists. Alberto Rodriguez added 6 on 3-6 from the floor. Charlie Spurr added 4 on 1-5 from the floor and 2-2 from the line. Terrence Taylor scored 4 on 2-3 from the floor and 4 boards. Chad Warren added 4 on 1-3 from the floor, 2-2 from the line and 2 boards. Jordan Clarke added 2 and Riiny Ngot 1 on 1-2 from the line and 3 boards. The X-Men hit 28-65 (.431) from the floor, 7-23 (.304) from the arc and 14-18 (.778) from the line, while garnering 26 boards, including 8 on the offensive glass, 22 assists, 9 steals, 4 blocks, 18 turnovers and 16 fouls.

The runner-up St. Francis Xavier X-Men: Jeremy Dunn; Christian Upshaw; William Silver; Alberto Rodriguez; Charlie Spurr; Terrence Taylor; Chad Warren; Jordan Clarke; Riiny Ngot; William Donkoh; Jordan Hope; Rhett Thompson; coach Steve Konchalski

The champion Cape Breton Capers: Philip Nkrumah; Paris Carter; James Dorsey III; Chris Noddle; Tremaine Fraser; Ali Alilovic; Mark McGarrigle; Lassario Burrows; Cameron John-Proctor; Scott Jaspers-Fayer; Jonathan MacDonald; Ryan Roper; Justin Roper; Lee MacQuarrie; Ryan Rutherford; coach Jim Charters; associate Lowell Cormier; assistant Darren Desmond; assistant Kyle Bursey; physiotherapist Brian Howley; student therapist Ryan Burrill; special projects Jacquelyn Whalen; mental skills coach Dr. Heather Davey; trainer-manager Jessica Jennings; athletic director John Ryan