REGULAR SEASON

Acadia 15-5 23-9 Dave Nutbrown        
  St. FX 14-6 17-13 Steve Konchalski        
  Saint Mary’s 14-6 23-12 Ross Quackenbush        
  Cape Breton 16-4 20-8 Tim McGarrigle        
  Dalhousie 8-12   Bev Greenlaw        
  U.P.E.I. 8-12 11-18 George Morrison        
  New Brunswick 4-16  9-21 Phil Wright        
  Memorial 1-19  6-23 Bas Kavanagh        
                 

        Playoff non-qualifiers:

        Dalhousie Tigers: Dean Thibodeau, Keith Donovan, Paul Riley, Shawn Mantley, Don Chisholm, David Chiasson, Matt Finden, Marcus Williams, Ron McIntosh, Chudi Igboemeka, Chris Cain, Jeff Mayo, Roland Colley, Brad Dobbin, Robert Lordon, Jeff McAleer, S Mellish, coach Bev Greenlaw

        Memorial Sea-Hawks: Mark Elliot, Edward Collins, Bruce Nowe, Scott Redden, Andrew Zienchuk, Paul Samson, Tony Marcotullio, Chris Baker, Jason Buckle, Mike Woods, Geoff Edwards, Sean Fryer, Mark Nash, Darren Payne, Nick Pearson, coach Glenn Taylor

        New Brunswick Red Raiders: Bobby O’Brien, Yaw Obeng, Alex Kidney, Andy MacKay, Vinod Nair, Duff Adams, Craig Isley, Ken Badour, Mike Peterson, Chris McKenna, Marc Aube, John Branch, Craig Isley, Greg Mapp, Marc Roberts, coach Phil Wright

        PEI Panthers: Raham Dixon, Curtis Robinson, Mark Cameron, Craig Walker, Jeff Watson, Peter Lawlor, Jason Kielly, Jason Kaul, P MacKinnon, J MacDonald, Randy Curvan, James Johnson, Jason Kielly, Mark Mullally, coach George Morrison

        In the semis, Acadia whipped Cape Breton 103-68 as Danny Eveleigh scored a career high 31. Acadia led 56-41 at the half and romped. Eric James added 20 for the Axemen. “We’re not a 103 point a game team,” said coach Dave Nutbrown. “Most of the bounces just went our way.” Acadia turned the ball over 6 times, while Cape Breton threw it away 15 times. John Ryan led Cape Breton with 24. Troy Jones added 23. The Capers (coached by Tim McGarrigle) also included Michael Dailey, Jim Charters, Doug Delazzer, Malcolm Smith, Blair MacKinnon, Patrick Lahey, Troy Eagar, Jeff Eagar, Scott Mazerolle, Terry Wright, Kirt Mombourquette, Paul Rowe, Rawle Philadelphia, Shaun Robinson, Sheldon Shaw, John Tait and Michael Wall. “There were a few tears shed and the guys felt pretty down,” said Cape Breton coach Tim McGarrigle. “I told them to get their heads up. I told them about the impact they had on the university and the impact they had on Cape Breton and they should be proud of that.”

        In the other semi, Saint Mary’s edged St. FX 57-56 as Jason Darling drilled a trey with 30 seconds remaining to give the Huskies their only lead of the game. “I think every guy on the team wanted that shot,” said Darling, as 6,234 fans howled on the sidelines. “We all knew we could hit it and it just happened to be me. It feels tremendous.” The X-Men worked the ball inside in the final seconds but Marion Mathis had his shot blocked by Will Njoku. St. FX got the ball again and Danny McFarland found Richard Bella inside but again, Njoku knocked it out of bounds. St. FX inbounded to McFarland, who missed an 18-foot jumper. It was rebounded by Blair White with two seconds to play but his bunny layup bounced off the rim. “Incredible, just incredible,” said Njoku. Saint Mary’s had hit only 10-30 in the first half and trailed 34-24. They closed within three midway through the second half, then fell behind by 11 before rallying down the stretch until Darling his 22-foot bomb. “We tried our best,” said McFarland. “It’s pretty emotional because you know you’ll never play in front of a crowd like this again.” Njoku led the Huskies with 18 points and 15 boards. Brian Thompson added 12 points and 8 boards, while Richard Sullivan scored 11, including three treys in the second half. McFarland top St. FX with 14. Richard Bella and Marion Mathis each added 12. The X-Men (coached by Steve Konchalski, assisted by Tim Hynes, managed by Dave Gordon and trained by Joe Munro) also included Guy Mbongo, Todd McKillop, Joe Odhiambo, Brian Lee, Blair White, Guy Mbongo, Mark Corrigan, Aristide Nguilibet, Sean Clarke, Shane Walsh. Both teams shot .360 from the floor.

        In the final, Saint Mary’s defeated Acadia 57-52. The Huskies were elated. “Tremendous,” said guard Brian Thompson. “Best feeling I’ve ever had,” noted Richard Sullivan. “We deserved it,” added Will Njoku.” Acadia vet Kevin Lee was pensive: “It’s kind of a mixture of disappointment and a little sadness.” Thompson, who scored 20, said ‘defence was definitely the key. Traditionally, we found Acadia had problems dealing with our zone, so we just stuck with what worked.” Njoku scored 10 and grabbed 9 boards. “You can rehash it nine ways but the bottom line is that Saint Mary’s hit the big shot when they needed to and every time we made a run and got close enough, we couldn’t seem to bury the one to get the game tied.” Thompson hit a one-and-one with 27 seconds to play to ice the win. Huskies coach Ross Quackenbush noted that “you go through the year and everyone eventually clues in that Brian Thompson is the mainstay and they put a lot more pressure on him. He’s been double-teamed and triple-teamed and he’s just got to have the patience to work through it and the other guys have to step up and I think that’s exactly what happened.” Acadia out-rebounded Saint Mary’s 37-32, while shooting .480 from the field to .310. “We missed a lot of bunnies,” said Acadia coach Dave Nutbrown. “And that is not a disparaging comment towards our players because anybody who’s played this game, if you ever played with anybody who shot and tried to miss, I hope you introduce them to me because those kids are working their butts off.” Saint Mary’s led from start to finish, with their biggest lead in the first half when Jason Darling hit a trey to put them ahead 28-16. James hit a trey to cut the margin to 53-50 with 1:03 to play but Acadia got no closer. “We can’t hang our heads,” said Lee. “Losing one game at the end of the years doesn’t mean you’ve had a disappointing season. We’ve had a really good year. We finished around 23-9 and that’s the best record we’ve had since I’ve been here. But it all comes down to the nationals and when you don’t go to the show, it feels like the year’s been a total waste.” Point guard Eric James led Acadia with 15, including a pair of treys that kept the Axemen within reach down the stretch. Kevin Lee added 12, Stafford Lowe 10 and Danny Eveleigh 9.

The runner-up Acadia Axemen: Eric James; Kevin Lee; Stafford Lowe; Danny Eveleigh; Reggie Oblitey; Rory Herget; Mike Redden; Duncan White; Rob Henry; Jerome Carter; Peter Baldauf; Serge Casas; Keith Johnson; Stafford Lowe; Mike Oravsky; Kevin Pick; coach Dave Nutbrown

        The champion Saint Mary’s Huskies: William Njoku; Brian Thompson; Richard Sullivan; Jason Darling; Jeff Baltzer; Dale Stevens; Chris Lawrence; Andrew Gibb; Tom Dobson; Jonathan Waye; Paul Bromby; Ron Kovljenic; coach Ross Quackenbush; assistant Greig Redding; manager John Landry; manager Scott Munro