REGULAR SEASON

St. FX 16-4 29-6 Steve Konchalski        
  Acadia 14-6 22-14 Steve Baur        
  UPEI 13-7 17-12 Tim Kendrick        
  Cape Breton 11-9 14-14 Thom Gillespie        
  Dalhousie  9-11 12-18 John Campbell        
  St. Mary’s  9-11 14-19 Ross Quackenbush        
  New Brunswick  7-13 10-20 Brent Baker        
  Memorial  1-19  2-24 Peter Benoite        
                 

        Playoff non-qualifiers:

        Memorial Sea-Hawks: Jason Shepherd, Robbie Habib, Mike Helsby, Mark Woodland, Justin Alliman, Caleb Gould, Tyree Haley, Timo Sargent, Ryan Wood, D’Avonti Moore, Theodore Stanoev, Noel Moffatt, Marcus Dolliver, D’Avontai Moore, Mike Helsby, coach Peter Benoite, assistant Martin Cull, assistant Evan Constantine, manager Cassandra Colbert, student trainer Jillian Kaulbach, student trainer Jeremy Butt

        New Brunswick Varsity Reds: Alex DesRoches, Daniel Quirion, William McFee, Michael Fosu, Jordan Irving, Seth Amoah, Colin Swift, Matthew Daley, Robert Linton, Dustin Anthony, Aaron O’Brien, Chris Jordan, Colin Adams, Peter Goggin, Peter Esson, Alex Caskey, Lonzel Lowe, coach Brent Baker

In the quarterfinals, the 4th-seeded Cape Breton Capers thrashed the 5th-seeded Dalhousie Tigers 85-61. “We were in a tough battle for the first three quarters,” said Capers coach Thom Gillespie. “It was 58-48 and we had some foul trouble at different points, but got some great hustle off the bench to help us maintain and then in the fourth quarter we just erupted.” The Capers led by a 25-12 count after the first quarter and 42-31 at the half. They were outscored 17-16 by Dalhousie in the third quarter before putting the game away with a 27-13 fourth quarter scoring edge. “I don’t know exactly what the run was we went on, but it was around 15-18 points. We literally had an offensive explosion and it was really charged by our defence. Our guys really kept the intensity up. There were turnovers, we knocked down threes. When anyone gets momentum like that they are tough to stop.” James Dorsey paced the Capers with 23 on 8-14 from the floor, 2-7 from the arc, 5-6 from the line, 6 boards, 5 assists and 8 steals. Ali Alilovic notched 16 on 5-11 from the floor, 4-7 from the arc, 2-2 from the line, 7 boards and 2 assists. Jamie Glasgow added 10 on 3-6 from the floor, 2-5 from the arc, 2-4 from the line, 2 assists and 2 steals. Julian Smith added 9 on 4-13 from the floor, 1-6 from the arc, 4 boards, 6 assists and 4 steals. Lee MacQuarrie added 8 on 4-6 from the floor, 2 boards and 2 assists. Arild Guegjes scored 6 on 3-4 from the floor, 5 boards and 2 assists. Meschack Lufile added 6 on 3-4 from the floor, 4 boards and 2 blocks. Kelson Devereaux notched 4 on 2-4 from the floor and 6 boards. Michael Heptbourne added 3, while Stephane Goosens and Marc Peutz were scoreless. The Capers hit 33-66 from the floor, 9-26 (.346) from the arc and 10-14 (.714) from the line, while garnering 42 boards, including 17 on the offensive glass, 19 assists, 17 steals, 2 blocks, 18 turnovers and 20 fouls. Robert Nortmann paced the Tigers with 22 on 8-15 from the floor, 6-8 from the line, 6 boards and 2 assists. Casey Fox added 10 on 4-10 from the floor, 2-6 from the arc, 0-2 from the line, 4 boards and 4 assists. Derek Norris added 7 on 2-4 from the floor, 1-1 from the arc and 2-5 from the line. Ritchie Kanza Mata added 6 on 2-5 from the floor, 2-2 from the arc, 6 boards and 5 assists. Stephen Lopez added 6 on 3-8 from the floor, 0-1 from the arc, 5 boards and 3 assists. Alex Arthur added 4 on 2-9 from the floor. Nathan Smith added 2, along with 5 boards, Sam Williams 2 and William Yengue 2, along with 6 boards, while Matthew Bertolissi and John Traboulsi were scoreless. The Tigers hit 24-67 (.358) from the floor, 5-14 (.357) from the arc and 8-15 (.533) from the line, while garnering 45 boards, including 23 on the offensive glass, 17 assists, 7 steals, 2 blocks, 24 turnovers and 14 fouls. The Tigers (coached by John Campbell) also included Jumol Mullings and Chris Hunt.

        In the other quarterfinal, the 6th-seeded St. Mary’s Huskies stunned the 3rd-seeded host Prince Edward Island Panthers 89-77. The Huskies were uninspiring for much of the first half, trailing by as many as 12 until 6’5″ Torrey Fassett beat the first-half buzzer with a long trey from the left wing with a hand in his face and suddenly Saint Mary’s had their spark. And the spark was ignited on the heels of a tremendous shooting display from 6-1 fifth-year senior Jerome Smith, who originally transferred to Saint Mary’s from Hamilton’s Mohawk College and who put SMU on his back with all five of his treys in the third quarter. Undersized 6-5 post Harry Ezenibe put his imprint on the game down the stretch with 6 points, 5 rebounds and a block in the final 5 minutes of play. The Huskies outscored UPEI 20-8 in the final 6 minutes and went a razor-sharp 12-13 from the line. UPEI led 37-29 at the half, falling behind for the first time late in the third quarter, but then battling back to lead 59-56 at the start of the decisive fourth quarter. The Huskies dominated the final period, outscoring UPEI 33-18, as they finished a 60-point second half. “It was very disappointing for us but our guys played hard and gave it everything we had,’’ said UPEI coach Tim Kendrick. “Saint Mary’s was tough and came out and played very well.’’ Huskies coach Ross Quackenbush, who’d announced his imminent retirement after 23 years at the helm, said “we just stuck around and kept on working at it. It was unfortunate that UPEI had that foul trouble like they did, but I guess that’s the way it works sometimes.” Quackenbush said he talked to his Huskies about unselfish play before the game, citing the case of unheralded player Paul Bromby on the 1999 national champion Huskies. On a team of SMU greats, including Jonah Taussig, Quackenbush thought Bromby was his tournament MVP. “He was completely selfless because he put aside whatever was going on for him and put the team way out front. I think they liked that story.” Senior guard Jerome Smith said “coach gave us a beautiful speech to motivate us. He realized there is something in us and still does and we got the job done. This is my last year and his last year. We both love winning.” UPEI led 23-17 at the end of the first quarter, but they had already sprung a leak. First all-star forward Manock Lual had three fouls in the first five minutes and point guard Terrence Brown, just back from a knee injury, limped off and didn’t return. UPEI managed to escape the half up by nine. However, another foul for Lual and a quick third for starter Donathan Moss had the Panthers shorthanded early in the third. UPEI stayed neck-and-neck at 67-67 with six minutes left, but the Huskies sprinted home 22-10. Jerome Smith paced the Huskies with 25 on 5-11 from the floor, 5-7 from the arc, 10-10 from the line, 6 boards and 6 assists. Tory Fassett added 17 on 6-12 from the floor, 1-2 from the arc, 4-8 from the line, 8 boards, 2 assists, 5 steals and 3 blocks. Harry Ezenibe added 16 on 5-8 from the floor, 0-1 from the arc, 6-7 from the line, 14 boards and 2 blocks. Brian Rouse scored 13 on 3-5 from the floor, 7-10 from the line, 4 boards, 4 assists and 2 steals. Miguel Pink scored 9 on 3-12 from the floor, 3-11 from the arc, 5 boards and 4 assists. Iain Robertson added 5 on 2-2 from the floor and 1-4 from the line. Riley Halpin added 4 on 1-6 from the floor, 0-1 from the arc, 2-3 from the line and 3 boards, while Warren Liang was scoreless. The Huskies hit 25-56 (.446) from the floor, 9-22 (.409) from the arc and 30-42 (.714) from the line, while garnering 50 boards, including 15 on the offensive glass, 17 assists, 9 steals, 5 blocks, 18 turnovers and 21 fouls. Jonathan Cooper paced the Panthers with 16 on 5-20 from the floor, 3-14 from the arc, 3-7 from the line, 10 boards and 3 assists. Donathan Moss added 15 on 4-13 from the floor, 2-8 from the arc, 5-6 from the line and 3 boards. Ollen Smith notched 15 on 4-9 from the floor, 2-4 from the arc, 5-5 from the line, 2 assists and 3 steals. Jermaine Duke added 9 on 3-8 from the floor, 1-2 from the arc, 2-2 from the line, 13 boards and 2 blocks. Geoff Doane scored 7 on 3-5 from the floor, 0-1 from the arc, 1-2 from the line, 7 boards, 3 assists and 2 steals. Manock Lual added 6 on 3-7 from the floor, 0-1 from the arc, 0-2 from the line and 4 boards. Terrence Brown added 5 on 2-6 from the floor and 1-3 from the arc. Aaron Robbins added 4 on 2-7 from the floor, 0-1 from the arc and 4 boards, while Rickyle Beals and Matt McKenna were scoreless. The Panthers hit 26-75 (.347) from the floor, 9-34 (.265) from the arc and 16-24 from the line, while garnering 51 boards, including 23 on the offensive glass, 10 assists, 6 steals, 2 blocks, 16 turnovers and 29 fouls. The Panthers (coached by Tim Kendrick) also included Mark Lutley, Devin Ezekiel and Andrew Clark.

        In the semis, the top-seeded St. Francis Xavier X-Men dumped the 4th-seeded Cape Breton Capers 92-77. The game started off fairly even throughout the opening quarter as the two teams exchanged baskets. Jimmy Dorsey was cold in the three-point department for the Capers, shooting 0-3 as the X-Men opened up a six-point lead late in the quarter. Jeremy Dunn hit a three-pointer for the X-Men with just over 20 seconds left in the opening frame to give the X-Men a 23-19 advantage after 10 minutes of play. Cape Breton guard Jamie Glasgow opened the second quarter with a three-point dish for the Capers as he tried to swing the momentum in their favor, however StFX was able to hang on to a 4-5-point lead throughout the majority of the quarter. AUS first team all-star Terry Thomas connected on a three-pointer for the X-Men with just under three minutes to go in the first half, then teammate Tyrell Vernon connected on another three-point dish to give StFX a 42-31 lead as the X-Men began to pull away and led 45-33 at the half. StFX held onto their ten-point advantage for the opening two minutes of the third quarter then the Capers began to mount a comeback and pulled to within six points. Al Alilovic gave the Capers fans something to cheer about as his three-pointer late in the quarter pulled them to within five at 63-58. The third closed out with StFX up 66-60 over Cape Breton, despite being outscored 27-21. The X-Men played well in the fourth and final frame, hanging onto their lead throughout the quarter as they outscored the Capers 26-17. Freshman Marquis Clayton played well for the X-Men down the stretch, hitting a pair of treys as the X-Men coasted to the win. Capers coach Thom Gillespie said the Capers had some strategic and mental breakdowns on defence in the first quarter. “In the third quarter I thought we played extremely tough and fought our way back into the game and we took a 12-point deficit to three points but then our opponents stepped up their game as well. And I think the amount of energy we used to make our comeback probably set us back at the fourth quarter when we needed fresh legs.” Jeremy Dunn was chosen player of the game after scoring 32 on 10-17 from the floor, 3-7 from the arc, 9-11 from the line and 10 boards. Marquis Clayton added 17 on 4-6 from the floor, 2-2 from the arc, 7-8 from the line, 3 boards and 2 steals. Terry Thomas notched 16 on 6-14 from the floor, 2-3 from the arc, 2-4 from the line, 11 boards, 3 assists and 2 steals. Jordan Clarke scored 8 on 3-7 from the floor, 0-3 from the arc, 2-2 from the line, 5 boards and 5 assists. Tyrell Vernon added 7 on 3-7 from the floor, 1-2 from the arc, 0-2 from the line and 2 assists. Shane Coupland notched 7 on 2-6 from the floor, 0-1 from the arc, 3-4 from the line and 4 boards. Bol Kong scored 4 on 1-3 from the floor, 0-1 from the arc, 2-2 from the line, 3 boards, 2 assists and 2 steals. Rodrigo Madera added 1, while Will Donkoh was scoreless while nabbing 3 boards. The X-Men hit 29-64 (.453) from the floor, 8-19 (.421) from the arc and 26-35 (.743) from the line, while garnering 45 boards, including 18 on the offensive glass, 15 assists, 8 steals, 1 block, 15 turnovers and 17 fouls. James Dorsey paced the Capers with 17 on 5-19 from the floor, 1-9 from the arc, 6-6 from the line, 9 boards, 8 assists and 5 steals. Ali Alilovic added 13 on 5-14 from the floor, 1-8 from the arc, 2-2 from the line and 10 boards. Arild Guegjes notched 12 on 4-5 from the floor, 4-4 from the line and 5 boards. Julien Smith added 12 on 4-11 from the floor, 2-9 from the arc, 2-2 from the line and 3 assists. Meshack Lufile scored 11 on 5-6 from the floor, 1-2 from the line and 2 boards. Kelson Devereaux added 8 on 4-5 from the floor, 0-2 from the line, 4 boards and 2 assists. Jamie Glasgow added 3, along with 2 assists, and Lee MacQuarrie 1, along with 3 boards. Michael Heptbourne and Marc Peutz were scoreless. Heptbourne nabbed 2 boards. The Capers hit 28-69 (.406) from the floor, 5-29 (.172) from the arc and 16-20 (.800) from the line, while garnering 43 boards, including 17 on the offensive glass, 17 assists, 7 steals, 1 block and 17 turnovers and 24 fouls. The Capers (coached by Matt Skinn, assisted by Shaun Maroun) also included Stephane Goosens, Meshack Lufile, Kevin McLeod and Chris Farrow.

        In the other semi, the 2nd-seeded Acadia Axemen dispatched the 6th-seeded St. Mary’s Huskies 96-87. With the Huskies leading by five in the closing minutes of the game, a flurry of three pointers pushed the Axemen ahead for the eventual win. With Owen Klassen fouled out with four minutes remaining in the last frame, the eventual go-ahead points came off of a trey by Anthony Ashe, who stepped to the side of an on-rushing defender and gave the Axemen a 89-87 lead with just over a minute remaining in the game. Treys followed by Brad States and Jonathan Tull along with Anthony Sears’ one of two foul shots in the dying seconds to give the Axemen the win. With the Axemen ahead 38-37 at the half and five exchanges of leads, Acadia pushed out to an eight-point advantage with four minutes remaining in the third quarter, but the Huskies closed out the third quarter with a three-point shot by Brian Rouse to close the margin to 65-64. Huskie Miguel Pink nailed a trey with seven minutes remaining to give Saint Mary’s a lead that grew to 83-78 with under five minutes remaining. Owen Klassen’s fifth and final foul that put the AUS defensive player on the bench, but his replacement, Brad States, led the comeback. Acadia went to work in whittling down the lead to one with just over a minute remaining in the game. Ashe, States and Tull would solidify the win with the final barrage of treys. “It was nice,” said Huskies coach Ross Quackenbush. “There was no doubt about the effort we made. We played good both games. … What else can you do? Que sera, sera.” Anthony Sears was chosen player of the game after scoring 31 on 11-19 from the floor, 3-6 from the arc, 6-7 from the line, 5 boards and 3 steals. Jonathan Tull added 17 on 5-16 from the floor, 2-7 from the arc, 5-8 from the line, 4 boards, 2 assists and 3 steals. Anthony Ashe added 1 2on 3-9 from the floor, 2-6 from the arc, 4-6 from the line and 4 boards. C. Tyler Scott added 11 on 4-8 from the floor, 2-5 from the arc, 4 boards and 2 assists. Bradley States added 10 on 3-4 from the floor, 1-1 from the arc, 3-8 from the line, 5 boards and 4 blocks. Owen Klassen scored 8 on 2-7 from the floor, 1-4 from the arc, 3-6 from the line, 9 boards and 2 assists. Lauchlan Gale added 4 on 2-5 from the floor, 4 boards and 2 steals. Sean Stoqua notched 3 on 0-6 from the floor, 0-3 from the arc, 3-4 from the line, 6 assists and 2 steals. Thomas Filgiano was scoreless while collecting 5 boards, 2 assists and 2 steals. The Axemen hit 30-75 (.400) from the floor, 12-33 (.364) from the arc and 24-39 (.615) from the line, while garnering 56 boards, including 24 on the offensive glass, 17 assists, 13 steals, 5 blocks, 15 turnovers and 25 fouls. Brian Rouse paced the Huskies with 23 on 10-17 from the floor, 1-1 from the arc, 2-4 from the line, 10 boards, 4 assists and 2 steals. Riley Halpin added 22 on 8-12 from the floor, 6-15 from the line, 8 boards and 2 blocks. Tory Fassett notched 14 on 6-14 from the floor, 0-1 from the arc, 2-3 from the line, 12 boards and 3 assists. Miguel Pink scored 14 on 4-13 from the floor, 4-11 from the arc, 2-2 from the line and 2 assists. Harry Ezenibe scored 6 on 2-3 from the floor, 2-4 from the line and 6 boards. Iain Robertson scored 4 on 2-6 from the floor, 0-1 from the arc, 0-2 from the line and 5 boards. Jerome Smith scored 2 on 1-8 from the floor, 0-3 from the arc, 6 boards, 6 assists and 2 steals. Warren Liang added 2, along with 2 assists, while Kadeem Scott was scoreless. The Huskies hit 33-75 (.440) from the floor, 5-18 (.278) from the arc and 16-32 from the line, while garnering 61 boards, including 26 on the offensive glass, 19 assists, 6 steals, 5 blocks, 21 turnovers and 26 fouls. The Huskies (coached by Ross Quackenbush, assisted by Jonah Taussig and Augy Jones) also included Vlad Farcas, Asher Lewis, Simon Marr, Alexander Quackenbush, Harrison Brown and Arnar Bjornsson.

        In the final, the 2nd-seeded Acadia Axemen dumped the top-seeded St. Francis Xavier X-Men 82-71. The Axemen grabbed a 23-point first half lead, supported by numerous treys and then got a strong performance down the stretch from 6’10″ Owen Klassen inside to hold off the X-Men and win their first AUS championship since 1998. Axemen were several steps quicker off the opening tip, authoring a double-digit lead rapidly and pushing to a 37-14 lead early in the second. At that point, likely in an effort to spark his troops, X-Men Coach Steve Konchalski took a technical foul and X-Men then took off on a 13-2 run that got it to 12, the closest X could get it prior to halftime. Axemen however answered every X run and when X-Men closed to within 5 midway through the fourth on a Marquise Clayton bucket, Acadia isolated Klassen in the post against 6’8″ Bol Kong and the All-AUS post delivered, scoring twice and getting to the foul line. Six treys in the first quarter set the tone early as Acadia took a 26-10 lead. “We picked a good weekend to get hot,” said Axemen guard Anthony Sears, the tournament’s most valuable player. “We shot the ball pretty well and today a lot of our guys were feeling good, too. … St. FX, hats off to them, they’re a great team, the No. 1 team in our conference all year. “Our guys just wanted it more.” Owen Klassen added that “we’re a good-shooting team. When we get open looks, we hit them. It’s just plain and simple.” St. FX coach Steve Konchalski said “Nine (threes) for the game isn’t a tremendous number, but six in the first quarter is what really put us behind the eight-ball. … “We were in a deep hole the whole game. To our credit we finally got some fire in our belly and got it down to five or six points, but . . . when you are playing from behind the whole game it’s pretty tough coming back over 40 minutes.” The X-Men had lost just four times in AUS competition and beat the Axemen in both regular-season meetings. X-Men Terry Thomas said “we couldn’t hit anything, and the three-pointers really threw us off. We just didn’t play our game. This was one of our weaker games.” Guard Tyrell Vernon said “you want to win every game you play. We didn’t come out ready to play today.” Konchalski said the X-Men failed to match Acadia’s intensity at the start and rejected the notion that his troops did not play hard because they’d already qualified for nationals. “They should go home and rethink things if that’s what the players were thinking. I certainly wasn’t thinking that way.” Owen Klassen paced the Axemen with 20 on 6-12 from the floor, 1-1 from the arc, 7-9 from the line, 6 boards, 3 assists and 2 blocks. Anthony Sears added 14 on 4-9 from the floor, 1-5 from the arc, 5-6 from the line, 6 boards, 3 assists and 2 blocks. Jonathan Tull added 13 on 4-10 from the floor, 3-7 from the arc, 2-3 from the line, 5 boards and 2 steals. Anthony Ashe notched 11 on 4-9 from the floor, 3-8 from the arc, 8 boards and 2 steals. Bradley States added 7 on 3-6 from the floor, 1-1 from the line, 4 boards and 3 blocks. C. Tyler Scott added 5 on 2-3 from the floor and 1-2 from the arc. Thomas Filgiano added 2, along with 4 assists, and Lauchlan Gale 2, along with 2 boards. Jeremy Dunn paced the X-Men with 27 on 9-24 from the floor, 0-5 from the arc, 9-9 from the line and 10 boards. Terry Thomas added 19 on 6-19 from the floor, 0-3 from the arc, 7-7 from the line, 7 boards, 3 assists and 5 steals. Jordan Clarke added 9 on 3-4 from the floor, 3-4 from the line, 3 boards and 2 steals. Marquis Clayton added 9 on 3-7 from the floor, 0-2 from the arc, 3-5 from the line, 2 boards and 2 assists. Tyrell Vernon added 2 on 1-7 from the floor, 0-3 from the arc, 2 assists and 2 steals. Bol Kong notched 2 on 0-5 from the floor, 0-2 from the arc, 2-2 from the line, 6 boards and 3 steals. Shane Coupland added 2 and Will Donkoh 1, while Ellis French and Rodrigo Madera were scoreless. The X-Men hit 23-69 (.333) from the floor, 0-15 from the arc and 25-29 (.862) from the line, while garnering 42 boards, including 21 on the offensive glass, 10 assists, 14 steals, 2 blocks, 16 turnovers and 21 fouls.

        In October, 2011, St. Mary’s coach Ross Quackenbush announces that he will retire after the season from his 23-year coaching career. He led the Huskies to 9 national tournaments and one title after playing on two title teams for the Huskies in 1978 and 1979. During his four years as a student he played as a member of Canada’s national team, competing in events such as the Intercontinental Cup, World Student Games, World Championships and the 1980 Pre-Olympic Tournament. He coached at King’s Edgehill School before taking the Huskie helm in 1989. He was selected AUAA coach of the year in 1990 and 1993. “I just want to be a ski bum and basketball conflicts with that,” Quackenbush said. “I love basketball and it has been a great job for me. I’ve been very fortunate to have a job that I enjoy doing. It’s provided a lot of excitement for me.” Quackenbush is replaced by ex-Huskie Jonah Taussig, an assistant for the previous 8 years. Quackenbush said there was no better choice. “He is a proven winner, incredibly competitive, has a great work ethic, has a great mind for the game and gets along well with everybody, especially the kids.” A graduate of Halifax Queen Elizabeth, Taussig was the AUS basketball rookie of the year in 1997, a two-time CIS All Canadian and three-time Saint Mary’s Male Athlete of the year. In 1999 Taussig was named the AUS Championship MVP, was a CIS championship Tournament All Star, and as captain of the Huskies, let his team to its last National Championship. “I’ve loved being a part of the Huskies basketball program as a player and as an assistant coach,” said Taussig. “I’m thrilled to continue in my new role as Head Coach.” Saint Mary athletic director Steve Sarty said Taussig possessed the passion and desire to lead the Huskies into the future. “I know personally from working with Jonah that he is fiercely competitive. You would be hard pressed to find someone who loves Saint Mary’s more than he does.” Taussig said “I’m very honoured and extremely excited. I worked with Quack for five years as a player and an assistant coach for eight years. It’s been a great environment and I’m looking forward to the new challenges of the head coach position. When Quack informed me this was going to be his final year, he felt it was not reasonable for him to be doing the recruiting and trying to convince kids to be coming to Saint Mary’s when he’s not going to be coaching them. So, he asked me if I would handle that, which I have done since last summer. And I’ve been talking to Quack about all aspects of running practices and game-day strategies, etc.”

        In October 2011, Jim Charters resigns as head coach of the Cape Breton Capers. Athletic director John Ryan called it “shocking. Jimmy’s done a fantastic job leading this program for nine years and he’s moved this program to an annual top 10 program and one that all the other universities know will be a tough competitor each and every year.” Charters said an employment opportunity outside of coaching arose and he decided to put the master of business administration degree he earned from Saint Mary’s University to the test. “Even after we won (the AUS championship) at Centre 200 and at the end of last year, I was thinking of maybe using my MBA and doing something other than coaching,” he said. “Now that this opportunity is there, I’m going to pursue it.” Charter had been at the helm of the Capers for 9 years and was named AUS coach of the year four times, including three straight from 2007-2010 along with his first award in 2005. Former University of New Brunswick and former Thompson Rivers interim coach Thom Gillespie was named interim coach. Gillespie, a two-time AUS coach of the year, “when you change leadership when it is unexpected it can be a bit of a challenge. I’m trying to learn about the young men as I’m learning their names and learning plays and just trying to figure a few things out. To their credit they have been receptive and are working hard.” Gillespie coached 12 years at New Brunswick and was assistant at Dalhousie in 2010-11. After the season, Ryan appoints Matt Skinn as head coach of the Capers. “We are pleased to have Matt rejoining us at CBU and believe he is the right coach to help lead the Capers into the future,” said Ryan. “The committee went through a very thorough search to identify who we felt would be our best candidate and I am confident in our final decision.” Skinn a native of Welland, Ontario, played five years for the Capers before becoming an assistant at Calgary and then becoming head coach of the St. FX women’s program, where he had a 79-44 record and led the X-Women to a national tournament appearance. “This is a dream come true for me,” said Skinn. “To be able to return to the school where I played and graduated from and to coach my alma mater is an opportunity I couldn’t pass up. I have great pride in CBU and the Department of Athletics and I’m confident you will see that reflected in my coaching and the product I will put on the floor and the people who are involved with the Capers men’s basketball program.” Prior to joining the X-Women, Skinn spent four seasons as the head assistant coach with the University of Calgary Dinos men’s basketball team. “As much as this is about a new and exciting opportunity, this is also about leaving a school I was very proud to be a part of,” said Skinn. “(StFX Athletic Director) Leo MacPherson gave me a chance when he asked me to take over the X-Women and I will always be grateful for that. I put everything I had into that program and will always remember my time in Antigonish fondly.”

        The runner-up St. Francis Xavier X-Men: Terry Thomas; Jordan Clarke; Marquis Clayton; Tyrell Vernon; Bol Kong; Shane Coupland; Will Donkoh; Ellis French; Rodrigo Madera; Jeremy Dunn; Kohlin Rasenberg; Omar Kadray; Jacob Simmons; Riiny Ngot; coach Steve Konchalski; assistant Doc Ryan; assistant/faculty advisor Denton Anthony; video coordinator Mat MacDonald; manager Zach Langlois; conditioning Brenda McGuire; therapist Tara Sutherland; therapist Angela Wylie; student therapist Keith Cameron; SID Krista McKenna

        The champion Acadia Axemen: Owen Klassen; Anthony Sears; Jonathan Tull; Anthony Ashe; Sean Stoqua; Bradley States; C. Tyler Scott; Thomas Filgiano; Lauchlan Gale; Dustin Poirier; Thomas Johnston; Shaquille Smith; Rhys Larry; Eli Prochnau; coach Steve Baur; assistant Kevin Duffie; assistant Kevin Veinot; assistant Nick Jordan; manager Nick DeAdder, manager Geoff Gates; therapist Dr. Jim MacLeod; student therapist Ashley Shaw; student therapist Allison Godley; student therapist Melissa Miller; student therapist Victoria Aiello; athletic director Kevin Dickie; therapist Jim MacLeod; SIC Eric Cederberg