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It is perhaps the only place in Canada today where the format can work so consistently well year-over-year and it usually provides some of the most exciting basketball of the season, so it is not an overstatement in my opinion to compare the AUS Final 6 tournament, with all games played at the Halifax Metro Center in a single elimination format and 2 automatic qualifiers to the CIS Final Eight, with another popular annual ritual in the U.S., the ACC tournament. Eastern Canada's love and support for CIS basketball has been demonstrated over and over again and this weekend's conference championship tournament beginning Thursday in Halifax kicks off 11 consecutive days of focus on our game, culminating in the 24th consecutive CIS championship game a week from the coming Sunday at the Metro Center. For the most part, all programs appear to be comfortable with giving up any home-court playoff-game advantage in their usual on-campus gyms for the priviledge of playing in the Halifax Metro Center in front of up to 10,000 fans with the winners in a advantageous position the following week at the Nationals, having played on a different floor with different shooting backdrops and a different, more electric environment. The entire focus of basketball fans in Eastern Canada will be on Halifax and the Metro Center starting this Thursday as the entire community gets behind this great event with CIS basketball and the higher profile it receives as one of the beneficiaries. We will follow up with a more comprehensive set of previews for the Final 6 tournament but things kick off Thursday night at the Metro Center in Halifax with a quarter-final doubleheader as the No. 4 seed UPEI Panthers (8-12, 30 points) will play the No. 5 seed Saint Mary’s Huskies (11-9, 30 points) in the first quarter-final at 6 p.m. Atlantic while the No. 3 Acadia Axemen (14-6, 40 points) will play the No. 6 seed Dalhousie Tigers (8-12, 18 points) in the other opening round game at 8 p.m. Atlantic.

Al Yarr, who has devoted his life to coaching sport in Atlantic Canada, primarily at Dalhousie University and with Nova Scotia provincial teams, has been named Honourary Chair of 2007 AUS Final 6 tournament Al Yarr Named Honourary Chair of 2007 AUS Men's Final 6 tournament


Acadia Honours Sheriko Prior to Saturday's final home game, Acadia's senior and team captain Jordan Sheriko was honoured and presented a token gift for his four years with the Axemen basketball squad. One of Acadia's most heralded student-athletes, Jordan takes with him, upon graduation, a resume that will be unmatched for a while. Not only an recipient of the CIS Basketball Ken Shields award and Acadia's James Bayer Award nominee last year, Sheriko had four consecutive years named as an Academic All-Canadian while adding to his long list of credentials many exceptional community service projects. Best of Luck Jordan in what looks to be a brilliant future ahead of you! Congratulations.

Here is the link to the tournament web site with the entire schedule, ticket information and links to LIVE STATS! for each and every game so at a minimum, if you can't make it to the arena, the games can be followed on the Internet. AUS Final 6 Men's Tournament web site including LIVE STATS!

Here is a complete look at final AUS statistics for league games only (AUS Final 6 tournament participants in BOLD). To be ranked, a player must appear in at least 50.0% of their team's games.

SCORING (Points per game)
1.Sean Thistle-MUN......... 19.2
2.Mark McLaughlin-SMU...... 18.1
3.Garry Gallimore-STFX..... 17.4
4.Justin Halleran-MUN...... 17.2
5.Oliver Glencross-UNB..... 17.2
6.Paulo Santana-ACA........ 17.2
7.Aaron Duncan-SMU......... 17.0 (status unknown)
8.Doug McKinney-UPEI....... 16.8
9.Tyler Richards-STFX...... 16.7
10.Neil MacDonald-STFX...... 16.3
11.Eric Breland-CBU......... 15.9
12.Sherone Edwards-UPEI..... 15.5
13.Paul Blake-CBU........... 14.0
14.Luckern Dieu-ACA......... 13.8
15.Germain Bendegue-DAL..... 13.6
16.Clint Bateman-SMU........ 13.0
17.Monte Francois-DAL....... 12.7
18.Drew Stratton-DAL........ 12.1
19.Evan Constantine-MUN..... 12.0
20.Christian Upshaw-STFX.... 11.8

REBOUNDING (Rebounds per game)
1.Neil MacDonald-STFX...... 9.8
2.Achuil Lual-ACA.......... 9.3
3.Paulo Santana-ACA........ 8.9
4.Sherone Edwards-UPEI..... 8.8
5.Germain Bendegue-DAL..... 8.3
6.Sean Thistle-MUN......... 7.9
7.Ikeobi Uchegbu-SMU....... 7.7
8.Doug McKinney-UPEI....... 7.4
9.Peter Stay-UPEI.......... 6.4
10.Eric Breland-CBU......... 6.3
11.Aaron Duncan-SMU......... 5.9 (status unknown)
12.Evan Constantine-MUN..... 5.9
13.Paul Blake-CBU........... 5.8
14.Luckern Dieu-ACA......... 5.6
15.Garry Gallimore-STFX..... 5.2
16.Jarrett Timmons-CBU...... 5.1
17.Oliver Glencross-UNB..... 5.1
18.Stephen Singleton-MUN.... 4.5
19.Adam Parent-UNB.......... 4.4
20.Ben MacLeod-UNB.......... 4.2

FIELD GOAL PCT (Min. 3.0 made per game)
1.Jarrett Timmons-CBU...... .585
2.Luckern Dieu-ACA......... .576
3.Neil MacDonald-STFX...... .557
4.Doug McKinney-UPEI....... .542
5.Mark McLaughlin-SMU...... .527
6.Eric Breland-CBU......... .517
7.Christian Upshaw-STFX.... .516
8.Achuil Lual-ACA.......... .512
9.Garry Gallimore-STFX..... .509
10.Germain Bendegue-DAL..... .489
11.Drew Stratton-DAL........ .488
12.Adam Parent-UNB.......... .486
13.Shawn Berry-ACA.......... .486
14.Peter Leighton-ACA....... .483
15.Sean Thistle-MUN......... .479


ASSISTS (Assists per game)
1.Oliver Glencross-UNB..... 5.90
2.Mark Ross-SMU............ 5.85
3.Brent McLaren-UPEI....... 4.95
4.Christian Upshaw-STFX.... 4.72
5.Andrew Sullivan-DAL...... 4.55
6.Paulo Santana-ACA........ 4.55
7.Ryan Keliher-CBU......... 4.10
8.Justin Halleran-MUN...... 4.05
9.Evan Constantine-MUN..... 3.70
10.Curtis Power-MUN......... 3.65
11.Sherone Edwards-UPEI..... 3.55
12.Tyler Richards-STFX...... 3.45
13.Aaron Duncan-SMU......... 3.33 (status unknown)
14.Andrew Kraus-ACA......... 2.84
15.Achuil Lual-ACA.......... 2.75

FREE THROW PCT (Min. 2.0 made per game)
1.Andrew Sullivan-DAL...... .897
2.Garry Gallimore-STFX..... .838
3.Ryan deWinter-DAL........ .810
4.Mark McLaughlin-SMU...... .802
5.Oliver Glencross-UNB..... .780
6.Monte Francois-DAL....... .779
7.Clint Bateman-SMU........ .765
8.Neil MacDonald-STFX...... .763
9.Justin Halleran-MUN...... .762
10.Christian Upshaw-STFX.... .759
11.Paul Blake-CBU........... .759
12.Tyler Richards-STFX...... .750
13.Shawn Berry-ACA.......... .745
14.Doug McKinney-UPEI....... .741
15.Cordell Wright-SMU....... .717

STEALS
1.Paulo Santana-ACA........ 2.90
2.Aaron Duncan-SMU......... 2.67 (status unknown)
3.Corey Hargrove-CBU....... 1.90
4.Christian Upshaw-STFX.... 1.83
5.Tyler Richards-STFX...... 1.50
6.Sean Thistle-MUN......... 1.50
7.Monte Francois-DAL....... 1.45
8.Brent McLaren-UPEI....... 1.42
9.Mark Ross-SMU............ 1.35
10.Sherone Edwards-UPEI..... 1.35
11.Garry Gallimore-STFX..... 1.35
12.Eric Breland-CBU......... 1.20
13.Andrew Sullivan-DAL...... 1.15
14.Paul Blake-CBU........... 1.15
15.Jared Budd-UPEI.......... 1.10