2006-07 AUS - men - From Naismith to Nash

REGULAR SEASON

Cape Breton	15-5	21-11	Jim Charters
St. FX	14-6	21-7	Steve Konchalski
Acadia	14-6	23-14	Les Barry
UPEI	8-12	13-19	Matthew Davies
Saint Mary’s	11-9	17-18	Ross Quackenbush
Dalhousie	8-12	12-20	John Campbell
Memorial	5-15	7-22	Todd Aughey
New Brunswick	5-15	6-23	Thom Gillespie

Playoff non-qualifiers:

Memorial Seahawks: Justin Halleran, Sean Thistle, Evan Constantine, Stephen Singleton, Nigel Crawford, Curtis Power, James Saxby, Mark English, Mark Woodland, Colin Power, Manny Wilby, Randy O’Reilly, Grant Harvey, Christian Somerton, coach Todd Aughey

New Brunswick Varsity Reds: Colin Swift, Oliver Glencross, Adam Parent, Thor Jensen, Ben Macleod, Merv Maxwell, Michael Anderson, Danya Bubar, Colton Wilson, Patrick Sharkey, Tor Villa, Jonathan Maxwell, Bill Walker, coach Thom Gillespie

In the quarterfinals, the 5th-seeded Saint Mary’s Huskies edged the 4th-seeded U.P.E.I. Panthers 67-64 as Ike Uchegbu lit up the second half, scoring 15 in the frame, including a lay-up off a feed from Mark Ross gave the Huskies an 8-point lead with 1:35 remaining and put the cap on the win. The Panthers blasted out of the gate in the first half to lead 8-0 and 11-2 as 6’9” Doug McKinney hit four quick buckets and Huskies 6’6” forward Clint Bateman was saddled with 2 fouls in the first 3 1-2 minutes. When 6’5” Sherone Edwards finished a layup off a McKinney feed, the Panthers were in control at 23-13 with 8:18 remaining in the half. But on the next possession, Edwards committed his second foul and was benched. That allowed the Huskies to key on McKinney forcing the Panthers to look for offense elsewhere and UPEI went about 4 minutes without scoring. McLaughlin caught fire, leading a 19-4 St. Mary’s run to finish the half and Uchegbu established himself inside as SMU rushed to a 32-27 lead at the break. The Huskies quickly scored the first 4 points of the second half and after an Uchegbu conventional three-point play for his 23rd point of the night, took their largest lead at 49-38 with 12:19 to go. But Edwards wasn’t finished yet, leading a 10-3 Panther run to cut it to 4 on 3 occasions. But 6’3” Cordell Wright scored while being fouled by Edwards and the Panthers turned the ball over twice to set up Uchegbu’s final points and an insurmountable 8-point lead with 1 1-2 minutes to play. Down to the final minute, the Panthers made one final rally, narrowing the gap to a single point with 1.7 seconds remaining. A couple of clutch free throws by Mark McLaughlin sealed the deal for the Huskies as a UPEI desperation 3-pointer from well over half was short of the basket. Saint Mary’s bent, but did not break, as an eight-point advantage evaporated to one over the final 90 seconds. Panther guard Brent McLaren capped a furious 12-5 run by swishing a three-pointer from the left wing and 2.4 ticks left on the clock. But Mark McLaughlin, a second-year guard, iced the win for the Huskies with a pair of free throws and 1.7 seconds remaining. UPEI’s Sherone Edwards threw up a desperation three-point shot from midcourt at the buzzer, but the shot went awry. “It was a tough game, a big battle, but you can’t be mad at the way we ended that game,” said UPEI forward Peter Stay, a six-foot-five forward who played on a badly damaged left ankle and had a dislocated right shoulder put back in place five days earlier. “We can hold our heads up high.” Huskies guard Mike McLaughlin said “Ike gave us an amazing game. He got (Panthers forward) Doug (McKinney) in foul trouble, and then when the bench guys were in he just kept abusing them. It was a great performance. …We just didn’t get on the same page in the first five minutes. I think we straightened that out.” Uchegbu said “we have so many strategies. If we can’t do it from the top, we do it from the inside. I believe the inside really helped us today.” Uchegbu paced the Huskies with 27 points on 12-17 from the floor, 3-6 from the line and 11 boards. Mark McLaughlin added 23 on 6-9 from the floor, 11-11 from the line and 3 boards. Clint Bateman notched 8 on 3-8 from the floor, 2-3 from the line and 2 boards. Cordell Wright scored 7 on 3-11 from the floor and 6 boards. Mark Ross notched 2 on 1-8 from the floor, 5 assists and 4 steals. Mike Poole and Eric Glavic were scoreless. The Huskies hot 25-56 (.446) from the floor, 0-7 from the arc and 17-24 (.708) from the line, while garnering 29 boards, including 11 on the offensive glass, 12 fouls 7 assists, 12 turnovers and 10 steals. Doug McKinney led UPEI with 22 on 10-15 from the floor, 1-5 from the arc, 13 boards and 2 assists. Sherone Edwards scored 14 on 6-19 from the floor and 10 boards. Peter Stay added 10 on 5-8 from the floor, 12 boards and 3 assists. Brent McLaren scored 8 on 3-9 from the floor, 2-4 from the arc and 4 assists. Jonathan Cooper notched 6 on 2-4 from the floor and 2-3 from the line. Jared Budd added 1 and Chad MacDonald 2, while Tim Butler and Shakir Chambers were scoreless. The Panthers (coached by Matthew Davies) hit 28-65 (.431) from the floor, 3-14 (.214) from the arc and 5-8 (.625) from the line, while garnering 45 boards, including 19 on the offensive glass, 19 fouls, 17 assists, 18 turnovers, 4 blocks and 5 steals. The Panthers (coached by Matthew Davies) also included Doug McKinney, Brent MacLaren, Awale Dualeh, David Canvin, Kevin McQuaid, Greg Wright and Steve Hardy.

In the other quarterfinal, the 3rd-seeded Acadia Axemen pulled away down the stretch to defeated the 6th-seeded Dalhousie Tigers 77-66 as league MVP Paolo Santana hit his only trey of the game with 3:15 to play to break a 62-62 tie and ignite a game-deciding 8-0 run over a 2 minute, 20 second span. The Tigers stayed with Acadia until Santana got free and then Dal had a series of turnovers in key situations. With the Axemen leading 40-34, Dal point guard Andrew Sullivan knocked in a three and then followed with a steal that led to a pair of Monte Francois free throws that got the Tigers back to within one. Sullivan later fed 6’5” Germain Bendegue for a slam to tie the game at 46 with 11:23 to play in the second half. The Axemen later led 62-56 but the pesky Tigers fought back on a 6-0 run culminated in back-to-back layups by Bendegue to re-tie the game at 62, setting up Santana’s three to spark Acadia’s late rally for the win. Once again, Dal had a rough start, going only 2 for their first 13 but on the heels of a 7-0 run, primarily off the offensive glass, the Tigers led 13-12 after the game’s first 10 minutes. But 6’5” Sean Berry came off the bench to lead an Axemen run that put them into a 34-32 halftime lead. Player of the game Jordan Sheriko took over in the second half. Jordan Sheriko paced Acadia with 18 on 6-11 from the floor, 4-5 from the arc, 2-2 from the line and 3 boards. Paulo Santana added 17 on 4-12 from the floor, 1-6 from the arc, 8-11 from the line and 9 boards. Luckern Dieu notched 13 on 4-7 from the floor, 5-6 from the line, 9 boards and 2 steals. Shawn Berry added 13 on 5-10 from the floor, 2-4 from the line and 8 boards. Peter Leighton scored 8 on 3-8 from the floor and 2-4 from the arc. Achuil Lual notched 5 on 2-2 from the floor and 3 boards. Andrew Kraus scored 1 and Alex Traikov 1. The Axemen hit 25-53 (.472) from the floor, 8-17 (.471) from the arc and 19-30 (.633) from the line, while garnering 41 boards, including 16 on the offensive glass, 24 fouls, 10 assists, 15 turnovers, 2 blocks and 6 steals. Germain Bendegue paced Dalhousie with 24 on 10-18 from the floor, 4-5 from the line, 7 boards and 3 steals. Ryan deWinter added 15 on 5-6 from the floor, 3-3 from the arc, and 2-2 from the line. Monte Francois notched 11 on 3-12 from the floor, 5-7 from the line and 6 boards. Andrew Sullivan scored 6 on 1-5 from the floor, 3-5 from the line and 3 boards. Devon Norris scored 5, Jason Jordan 3 and Drew Stratton 2, while Shea Balish, Jermayne Williams and Alexander Veit were scoreless. The Tigers hit 21-54 (.389) from the floor, 4-10 from the arc and 20-27 (.741) from the line, while garnering 29 boards, including 13 on the offensive glass, 22 fouls, 14 assists, 15 turnovers, 2 blocks and 10 steals. The Tigers (coached by John Campbell, assisted by Scott James) also included Noel Coultice, Ryan Engels, Jonathan MacLanders and Andrew MacKean.

In the semis, the 3rd-seeded Acadia Axemen upset the 2nd-seeded St. Francis Xavier X-Men 56-52. The Axemen grabbed a 35-18 lead built on the senior Jordan Sheriko’s nine points and Paulo Santana’s seven. Acadia, led by fourth-year guard Jordan Sheriko and 6’5” sixth-man Shawn Berry grabbed leads as large as 20 with 18 minutes left in the game after a 6-0 run to start the second half. However, X brought the game back on the play of Tyler Richards and Dwayne Johnson, cutting the lead to as little as 2 late in the game after a Johnson lay-up with 40 seconds remaining and then a Terrance Taylor bucket with 12 seconds left. But Berry nailed a pair of free throws with 9 seconds remaining to make it a 2-possession game. The had Axemen jumped out to a 12-point lead early behind Sheriko’s 9 points including a three but X’s Richards went on a personal 6-0 run to cut the lead to six with about 3 minutes left in the half. Shawn Berry led Acadia with 13 on 3-7 from arc, 4-4 from the line and 3 boards. Jordan Sheriko notched 13 on 3-10 from the floor, 2-7 from the arc and 5-6 from the line. Paulo Santana added 7 on 3-11 from the floor, 1-7 from the arc, 2-2 from the line, 7 boards and 4 assists. Luckern Dieu notched 6 on 3-8 from the floor and 5 boards. Andrew Kraus scored 5 on 1-8 from the floor, 3-8 from the line and 4 boards. Peter Leighton notched 5 on 2-3 from the floor. Achuil Lual scored 4 on 2-5 from the floor and 7 boards. Alex Traikov added 3. The Axemen hit 17-57 (.298) from the floor, 7-25 (.280) from the arc and 15-22 (.682) from the line, while garnering 39 boards, including 16 on the offensive glass, 10 assists, 26 fouls, 13 turnovers, 6 steals and 2 blocks. Tyler Richards led St. FX with 19 on 7-19 from the floor, 5-9 from the line, 4 boards and 2 steals. Neil Macdonald scored 11 on 2-12 from the floor, 7-8 from the line, 11 boards, 3 assists and 2 blocks. Dwayne Johnson scored 10 on 3-5 from the floor, 4-9 from the line, 9 boards and 4 steals. Remy Simpson scored 4 on 2-3 from the floor. Terrence Taylor scored 4 on 2-4 from the floor and 7 boards. Garry Gallimore notched 3 on 1-5 from the floor and 6 boards. Christian Upshaw scored 1 while Dave Joyce was scoreless. The X-Men hit 17-53 (.321) from the floor, 0-11 from the arc and 18-33 (.545) from the line, while garnering 48 boards, including 19 on the offensive glass, 9 assists, 22 fouls, 16 turnovers, 8 steals and 4 blocks. The X-Men (coached by Steve Konchalski) also included Nathan Gaudreau.

In the other semi, the 5th-seeded Saint Mary’s Huskies stunned the top-seeded Cape Breton Capers 66-62. The Huskies built leads as high as 14 early in the second half and then held off a late Capers run. Clint Bateman hit a game-clinching 3 with 1:16 to play to give Saint Mary’s a 62-54 lead. Ike Uchegbu hit one of two free throws with 7:11 remaining to give Saint Mary’s a 53-46 lead. Caper Dan White snared an offensive board the kicked the ball out to Ryan Keliher for a trey and Jarret Timmins followed with a lay-in, as Cape Breton closed to within one at 55-54 with just under 4 minutes remaining. But the Capers would not score again until under a minute remained as first Cordell Wright knocked in a jumper and then after a Mark Ross steal, the Huskies came out of a timeout and Mark McLaughlin got free for a jumper, setting up Bateman’s clinching 3 with just over a minute to play. Keliher scored the last 8 points for Cape Breton including a pair of treys in the final minute but it was too little too late as McLaughlin went 4-4 from the line. Clint Bateman paced Saint Mary’s with 19 points on 7-17 from the floor, 4-7 from the arc and 1-2 from the line. Ikeobi Uchegbu added 13 on 6-13 from the floor, 1-4 from the line and 11 boards. Mark McLaughlin scored 13 on 4-10 from the floor, 1-5 from the arc and 4-4 from the line. Cordell Wright scored 10 on 3-7 from the floor, 1-4 from the arc, 3-4 from the line, 6 boards and 3 blocks. Mark Ross notched 7 on 3-5 from the floor, 9 assists and 5 steals. Mike Poole and Erik Glavic each added 2 points. The Huskies shot 25-55 (.455) from the floor, 6-17 (.353) from the arc and 10-15 from the line, while garnering 29 boards, including 5 on the offensive glass, 14 fouls, 18 assists, 11 turnovers, 3 blocks and 10 steals. Ryan Keliher led Cape Breton with 15 points on 5-9 from the floor, 3-6 from the arc, 2-2 from the line, 5 boards and 3 assists. Daniel White added 11 on 3-9 from the floor, 1-3 from the arc, 4-4 from the line and 9 boards. Eric Breland scored 10 on 4-11 from the floor and 6 boards. Jarrett Timmons notched 9 on 3-6 from the floor, 3-4 from the line and 9 boards. Corey Hargrove scored 9 on 3-12 from the floor, 3-3 from the line and 6 boards. Paul Blake notched 5 on 2-11 from the floor, 1-1 from the line, 5 boards and 4 assists. Mark McGarrigle scored 3, while Philip Nkrumah was scoreless. The Capers (coached by Jim Charters) shot 21-61 (.344) from the floor, 5-19 (.263) from the arc and 15-16 (.938) from the line, while garnering 46 boards, including 18 on the offensive glass, 16 fouls, 12 assists, 16 turnovers, 3 blocks and 3 steals. The Capers (coached by Jim Charters) also included Devon Burke, Tywann McKoy, Jonathan Wyse, Kenneth MacQueen, Kerwin Liverpool, Scott Jaspers-Fayer and Johny Sylliboy.

In the final, Acadia edged Saint Mary’s 74-72 in overtime. The Huskies took a 38-34 lead into halftime and then got sizzling hot, ripping off a 12-0 run to build their lead to 59-43 midway through the half but then collapsed when Ike Uchegbu picked up his fifth foul. After a timeout, the Axemen switched to a 2-3 zone and held Saint Mary’s scoreless for almost seven minutes as part of a 20-2 streak. Lual banked home a jumper from the top of the key to give the Axemen a 63-61 lead with 1:45 to play. With Saint Mary’s down 64-63 on the final possession of regulation, reserve Erik Glavic collected a loose ball after a wild scramble and was fouled with 1.4 seconds left. Glavic — the SMU football quarterback, who joined the hoops squad last month — hit the first but missed the second to send the game to overtime. In the extra period, Sheriko hit a jumper with 1:45 left to give Acadia a 69-68 lead, and then Shawn Berry dunked with 57.9 seconds remaining to make it 71-68. Sheriko made another basket under the hoop with 19.5 to go as Acadia went ahead 73-69. McLaughlin sank a deep trey with 6.2 ticks on the clock to get the Huskies within one. But after Leighton hit one of two free throws, McLaughlin’s last 35-foot heave missed the mark as the buzzer sounded. “Even though we were down, we still worked hard and kept on going,” said 6-8 forward Achuil Lual. “You never lose that faith, that’s the biggest thing. You’ve got to have a little bit of faith.” Tournament MVP Jordan Sheriko said the title was a remarkable turnaround for a squad that had finished last a year earlier. “Coming back from where we were last year, the guys never quit from Day 1. It’s unbelievable, it’s a wonderful feeling.” Huskie Mark McLaughlin said “We were right there, we just came up two points short. We seemed pretty in control and then they switched to that zone. We just got stagnant, we couldn’t attack the basket and our shots from the outside just weren’t dropping.” Sheriko added that “I’m glad I stuck with it now. We had no quit in us. We just battled and battled and battled and finally got the breaks we needed.” Acadia coach Les Barry said “this is an extremely proud moment for the players and our program. They deserve every ounce of credit for where we were 365 days ago to where we are now. They showed their character and their enthusiasm in fighting back.” Lual said “we just kept the faith, we just kept the faith. When we were down by all those points, we just said we’ve worked way too hard to call it a season. We worked our butts off and turned it up and locked it down.” Shawn Berry paced Acadia with 13 on 4-8 from the floor, 5-6 from the line and 4 boards. Peter Leighton added 13 on 4-11 from the floor, 2-8 from the arc, 3-4 from the line and 5 boards. Luckern Dieu notched 12 on 4-9 from the floor, 4-4 from the line, 5 boards and 3 assists. Andrew Kraus scored 11 on 4-8 from the floor and 3-3 from the line. Achuil Lual scored 11 on 5-9 from the floor, 17 boards, 4 assists and 3 blocks. Paolo Santana scored 7 on 2-5 from the floor, 2-3 from the arc and 8 boards. Jordan Sheriko scored 7 on 3-9 from the floor, 05- from the arc, 1-2 from the line and 3 boards. Acadia shot 26-59 (.441) from the floor, 4-17 (.235) from the arc and 18-23 (.783) from the line, while garnering 48 boards, including 15 on the offensive glass, 13 assists, 23 fouls, 15 turnovers, 2 steals and 3 blocks. Mark McLaughlin paced the Huskies with 29 on 11-20 from the floor, 1-7 from the arc, 6-8 from the line, 5 boards and 2 blocks. Cordell Wright notched 17 on 6-16 from the floor, 2-8 from the arc, 3-4 from the line, 6 boards and 3 steals. Clint Bateman added 8 on 2-10 from the floor, 1-7 from the arc, 3-5 from the line and 6 boards. Erik Glavic scored 7 on 3-6 from the floor and 8 boards. Mark Ross notched 6 on 3-6 from the floor, 8 assists and 2 steals. Ikeobi Uchegbu scored 3 and Mike Poole 2. Saint Mary’s shot 27-64 (.422) from the floor, 4-22 (.182) from the arc and 14-24 (.583) from the line, while garnering 35 boards, including 13 on the offensive glass, 13 assists, 21 fouls, 9 turnovers, 8 steals and 3 blocks.

After the season the AUAA cracked down on Acadia for the use of a player, Garth Reid, for 14 games early in the season despite his having failed to sit out year after toiling for Dubuque, an NCAA Division III school in Iowa, a year earlier. Axemen coach Les Berry was suspended until January, 2008. His AUS coach of the year award was revoked and the school placed on probation for 2 years. The CIS earlier fined Acadia $1,000 and similarly suspended Berry until Jan 2008 and ordered Acadia wins forfeited.

The runner-up Saint Mary’s Huskies: Mark McLaughlin; Cordell Wright; Clint Bateman; Erik Glavic; Mark Ross; Ikeobi Uchegbu; Mike Poole; Aaron Duncan; Sean Boulay; Peter Gilfoy; Andrew Rogers; Thomas Conrad; Basil Habib; coach Ross Quackenbush

The champion Acadia Axemen: Peter Leighton; Chris Ogbuah; Patrick McIver; Mike Folker; Achuil Lual; Paulo Santana; Jordan Sheriko; Garth Reid; Leonel Saintil; Shawn Berry; Luckern Dieu; James Logue-Prest; Alex Traikov; Sean Ricci; Ephrem Davis; Adam Philpoot; Andrew Kraus; coach Les Berry; assistant Steve Baur; assistant Kevin Veinot; assistant Chris Kraus; graduate assistant Mike Lawton; therapist Jim Macleod; therapist Emily Chaisson; SID Eric Cederberg