In the AUS championship game in Halifax at the Metro Center (thanks to a commenter who wrote in..._ Acadia won 74-72 in overtime in a wildly entertaining game. The Axemen were down 59-43 with about 12 minutes left and then went on a 20-2 run to go up 63-61 with 1:46 left. Saint Mary's sent the game to overtime when Erik Glavic - the football quarterback who joined the team just a few weeks ago - hit one of two free throws with 1.4 seconds left in regulation.
Nobody led by more than one point in overtime until Shawn Berry dunked with 57.9 seconds left to put Acadia up 71-68. Mark McLaughlin hit a long three with 6.2 seconds left to make it 73-72, but Acadia hit a free throw and McLaughlin's last-ditch shot from about 30 feet missed the mark.
McLaughlin had 29 points for Saint Mary's and played a heck of a game, holding conference MVP Paulo Santana to 7 points. Five different players scored between 11 and 13 for Acadia, and Achuil Lual had 17 rebounds.
It's been an incredible season for Acadia after finishing 2-17 last year. With all due respect to Barnaby Craddock at Brandon, it'll be a crime if Les Berry doesn't win CIS coach of the year.
We followed the game up until St. Mary's le 57-43 with 12 minutes remaining in the second half and then we attended a pre-wedding party of one of our best friends - a great CIS fan who will be in Halifax next week (the Windsor/Carleton game was on the tube but the ales were flowing as well). In the AUS final, Cordell Wright and Mark McLaughlin led a 10-0 run early in the second half as the Huskies stretched their lead. McLaughlin had 8 early points including a 3 while Wright knocked down a pair of early second-half threes to lead St. Mary's. In the first half, both teams had to sit key players who picked up two fouls including Axemen Paolo Santana and Luckern Dieu and Huskies Clint Bateman and Ike Uchegbu. But St. Mary's Mark McLaughlin had a dominant half with 16 points on 6-9 shooting and the Huskies had a key, late 6-0 run to pull ahead. Acadia dominated the first nine minutes, jumping out to a 20-12 lead with 11:40 remaining but Bateman, playing with 2 early fouls, scored 3 straight starting a 13-0 Huskie run that gave St. Mary's a 25-20 lead with about 6 minutes left. Consecutive turnovers allowed Acadia to tie the game at 28 before McLaughlin led a late St. Mary's run for the lead. Shawn Berry came off the bench with 11 points to lead Acadia.
Windsor also beat Carleton by 9 in front of a huge crowd of about 3,5000 to take the Wilson Cup as Kevin Kloostra hit for 8 straight points including a pair of ill 3's from a long way out late in the first half to give the Lancers a 9 point lead which they protected for much of the second half. Our party was gathered around the TV and apart from Kloostra's magic, the sight of the 1978-79 Windsor Wilson Cup champions, highlighted by the Cogeco crew with an old team photo celebrating the win, with Ottawa JCC-run veteran Henk Dykhuisen flexing his milk-induced bicepts to the Cogeco/Rogers audience was enough to make our evening. Henk will be courtside in Halifax with family including wife Daphne in tow this coming weekend in Halifax. Back to the game... Matt Handsor also made a number of big 3's to help keep Windsor in front while 6'8" Greg Surmacz kept things honest inside allowing Windsor to win the Wilson Cup for the first time since 1978-79 (I believe). Windsor is extremely tough in cozy confines of the St. Denis Center and were more than worthy of the win.
We are awaiting the verdict from the committee on the wild card and seedings... stay tuned... I am sworn to secrecy; the wild card and final seedings will be offically announced Sunday morning at about 11 am. From my perspective, everything was done fairly and fans in Halifax will be treated to 3 great days of basketball. I hope Howard Bloom and company's efforts will be rewarded with webcasts for all games. If we all work together, CIS basketball will achieve the profile and market size that we believe it deserves.
Talk to you mid-day on Sunday and congratulations to Windsor and Acadia.
2 comments:
To update, Acadia won 74-72 in overtime in a wildly entertaining game. The Axemen were down 59-43 with about 12 minutes left and then went on a 20-2 run to go up 63-61 with 1:46 left. Saint Mary's sent the game to overtime when Erik Glavic - the football quarterback who joined the team just a few weeks ago - hit one of two free throws with 1.4 seconds left in regulation.
Nobody led by more than one point in overtime until Shawn Berry dunked with 57.9 seconds left to put Acadia up 71-68. Mark McLaughlin hit a long three with 6.2 seconds left to make it 73-72, but Acadia hit a free throw and McLaughlin's last-ditch shot from about 30 feet missed the mark.
McLaughlin had 29 points for Saint Mary's and played a heck of a game, holding conference MVP Paulo Santana to 7 points. Five different players scored between 11 and 13 for Acadia, and Achuil Lual had 17 rebounds.
It's been an incredible season for Acadia after finishing 2-17 last year. With all due respect to Barnaby Craddock at Brandon, it'll be a crime if Les Berry doesn't win CIS coach of the year.
Mark, the timing is perhaps off, but here's a link to my predictions for Final 8 and my justification. Everyone can see what they think.
http://thepointafterrants.blogspot.com/2007/03/selection-sunday.html
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