Sunday 30 December 2007

X Captures Shoveller; Toledo named MVP

St. FX (13-6) 84, Ottawa (13-4) 72 6'8" tournament MVP Islam Luiz de Toledo, a freshman, had a game-high 23 points and added 6 rebounds to lead St. FX to the Shoveller tournament championship. X led 38-37 late in the first half and proceeded to score the final 6 points of the second quarter to take a 7 point lead into halftime. The X-Men then got their transition game going in the second half, as 5'10" Christian "T-Bear" Upshaw was able to get out an run en route to 20 points despite playing on a tender ankle. Upshaw thrived all weekend after X Coach Steve Konchalski moved 6'2" Tyler Richards to the point and Upshaw to the off guard spot to take advantage of his quickness and great open floor talents. 6'3" Sean Peter had another solid effort for Ottawa, scoring 21 points while 6'9" Dax Dessureault got off to a great start, going 8 for 10 from the floor overall including a pair of emphatic dunks, to finish with 18 points and 7 rebounds but did not participate in the offense as much in the second half, as Toledo took over guarding him. Energizing 6'3" forward Dwayne Johnson again provide a lift to X with 11 points and 7 boards while Richards ended with 15. 6'4" Josh Gibson-Bascombe had 15 points for Ottawa but also had 7 turnovers in the loss. Ottawa went 3 for 16 from downtown overall and only 7 for 12 from the foul line as compared to 22 for 29 for X. Tournament all-stars included Richards, Gibson-Bascombe, SMU's Mark McLaughlin, Simon Farine from Dalhousie and Concordia's Damian Buckley. NOTES: X played the entire tournament without 6'5" Terrence Taylor and 6'7" Alberto Rodriquez who were both suspended for breaking unspecified rules; no word on when they will return to the lineup. 6'3" wing Donnie Gibson, a starter for the Gee-Gees, also missed the entire tournament due to a shoulder injury.

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