REGULAR SEASON

St. FX 15-3 27-8 Steve Konchalski        
  U.P.E.I. 13-3 23-7 George Morrison        
  Acadia 11-7 18-15 Dave Nutbrown        
  Saint Mary’s  9-9 14-10 Ross Quackenbush        
  Dalhousie  8-10   Bev Greenlaw        
  New Brunswick  3-13   Phil Wright        
  Memorial 0-16   Tony Wakeham        
                 

        Playoff non-qualifiers:

        Dalhousie Tigers: Willem Verbeek, Dean Thibodeau, Paul Riley, Gary Blair, Kevin Hayden, Andrew Merritt, Oscar Martens, Chris Forbes, Shawn Mantley, David Chiasson, Duane Thomas, David Brown, Darryl Johnson, David Paquette, coach Bev Greenlaw, assistant Mark Parker

        Memorial: Mark Elliot, Keith Barrett, Scott Redden, Tim Able, Mike Hoy, Paul Samson, Maurice Lyver, Mike Woods, Bruce Nowe, Mike LeClair, Nick Pearson, Jason Buckle, Bill Chislett, Mike Woods Sr., Paul Moores, Chris Baker, Chris Coyle, Bill Murphy, Mark Nash, W Sparkes, Greg Stewart, Art Sullivan, Don Taffe, Bob White, coach Tony

        New Brunswick Varsity Reds: Bryan Elliot, Yaw Obeng, Jamie Watt, Glenn Read, Vinod Nair, Duff Adams, Paul Watts, Kirk MacDonald; Steve Taylor, Tim Whitters, Roy Cocciollo, Bryan Elliott, Dave Perkins, coach Phil Wright, assistant Mike Sherrard, assistant Andy Hayward

        St. Mary’s and Dalhousie each finished with 26 points in the final standings but St. Mary’s received the 4th-seed by virtue of having defeated the Tigers in three of their meetings during the campaign.

        In the semis, unranked Acadia stunned sixth-ranked UPEI 68-62 by slowing the tempo to an absolute crawl. Ted Byrne paced the Axemen with 27. Kevin Veinot added 15. The Panthers (coached by George Morrison) included Peter Gordon, Trevor Willock, Dave Dunn, Brett Wood, Bobby Campbell, Darrell Glenn, George Alford, Dennis Smith, Mark Cameron, Ron Deighan, L Guichard, Ian Messam, Ray Tyghter and Chris Lorde.

                In the other semi, St. Francis Xavier dumped 4th-seeded St. Mary’s 77-67. The X-Men effectively dictated the tempo, while the Huskies struggled to find their range. The X-Men led 30-21 at the half and opened the second half with a 12-0 run. Marion Mathis paced St. FX with 23. Wade Smith added 20, Jeff White 12 and Richard Bella 8, along with 17 boards. Chris Rowarth led the Huskies with 15. Tom McCutcheon added 15, along with 10 boards, Jason Darling 13 and Brian Thompson 12. The Huskies (coached by Ross Quackenbush) also included Dean Durnford, Richard Sullivan, Dale Stevens, Rob Murray, Jonathan Waye, Sean Awalt, Doug Clarke, Dan Kerr and Dan Parolin. St. FX hit 29-60 from the floor and 19-27 (.700) from the line. St. Mary’s hit 27-76 (.350) from the floor. Rowarth told the St. Mary’s Journal that “it’s funny. We were really psyched heading into the second half. We knew we had to come out strong to cut their lead and we felt nine points wasn’t a huge lead. To start the half, they were playing a 2-3 zone defence and that kind of put us off. A lot of us were standing around and not attacking the zone and for that reason, we weren’t scoring points. It was frustrating.” X-Men Steve Konchalski said “I’d like to think we stopped them from scoring points. I think we played some great defence. Our offence didn’t start to click as soon as I would have like but we got into it at the start of the second half.” Quackenbush sad “one of the biggest things that I’ve learned in sports is that losing isn’t going to kill you. It’s okay to lose because once your learn that it’s not so bad, you are willing to take a greater number of challenges without fear of failure.”

        In the final, Acadia shocked fourth-ranked St. FX 72-62. The Axemen led from start to finish and were ahead 36-35 at the half, pulling away down the stretch. Ted Byrne paced Acadia with 23. Kevin Veinot added 18 and Kevin Lee 9, along with 9 boards. Defence got underdog Acadia to the Atlantic Universities basketball conference final and defence won it for them yesterday. “We won this in my freshman year and we hadn’t won it since,” Veinot said. “I give Acadia all the credit for taking us out of our game,” said St. Francis Xavier coach Steve Konchalski. “We wanted to get into a flow and get our running game going but they wouldn’t let us. It was really frustrating, especially for me as a point guard. Nutbrown’s teams are always tough on defence. Their team man-to-man, with five guys helping out, is as good as you’re going to see.” Wade Smith led the X-Men with 24. Richard Bella added 7.

The runner-up St. Francis Xavier X-Men: Wade Smith; Richard Bella; Marion Mathis; Augy Jones; Otis Delaney; Danny McFarland; Guy Mbongo; Aristide Nguilibet; Doug MacKinnon; Mike Redden; Jeff White; Bruce MacPherson; coach Steve Konchalski; assistant Bob Manning; student assistant coach Nelson Spring; manager Darren Gerroir; assistant manager Jude LaMorre; trainer Bob Manning

        The champion Acadia Axemen: Kevin Veinot; Danny Eveleigh; Ted Byrne; Eric James; Skeeter Mower; Danny Steele; Kevin Lee; Rob Henry; Shawn Thorburne; Lars MacDonald; Mike Dixon; John Shoemaker; Dave Moody; Duncan White; John Sowerby; Mike Dixon; coach Dave Nutbrown; assistant Chuck Goreham; athletic director Donald Wells; SID Bruce Cohoon