CIS Hoops.ca

Long-time X Coach Steve Konchalski was able to "say thanks a number of people who were influential throughout my career including my family, Coach Jack Dononhue and many others" during last night's pre-game ceremony in Antigonish that honoured Coach K's historic milestone of the most career wins in CIS/CIAU play, surpassing Brandon's Jerry Hemmings. "This is a team honour that is shared by the many players, assistant coaches and others who have helped make my career so special", added Konchalski, who was also very humbled and honoured that last night's opponents, Acadia Axemen, sat through the entire ceremony and later presented a gift to Konchalski to mark the occasion. Konchalski was a star at Acadia in the late 60's, early 70's and his teammate in Wolfville was current Acadia Athletic Director Brian Heaney. "It was a very classy gesture by Acadia to participate in the ceremony to the extent that they did", offered Konchalski. The current group of X-Men helped make the evening even more memorable for Coach K by handling the young yet emerging Axemen with a solid defensive effort in front of a packed-to-the-rafters house at X. Christian "T-Bear" Upshaw was again the catalyst defensively and offensively for the X-Men while 6'7" Alberto Rodriquez, who had been relatively inconsistent in the early season, broke loose for probably his most dominant game with 17 points which included 4 dunks. Konchalski was especially proud of 5'9" Will Silver who missed a quadruple double by 2 rebounds and 2 steals. "Will is an old school-type player who is mentally tough and just gets it done at both ends." For Acadia, 6'3" sophomore Casey Fox had some issues dealing with X's ball pressure defensively but 6'6" Alex Traikov, who Konchalski unsuccessfully recruited out of high school, was close to dominant inside with his toughness and skills and 6'6" freshman Owen Klassen was outstanding for the Axemen also. X gets a rematch with Dalhousie Tigers this afternoon at 4 PM Atlantic time (3 PM ET) SSN Canada webcast available. The shorthanded Tigers, missing 6'2" Andrew Sullivan, who apparently was interviewing for his Rhodes Scholarship yesterday, and 6'2" Marcus Wong (back injury), were defeated by Cape Breton Capers last night in Sydney as 6'3" Paris Carter stole the show with 18 points in 20 minutes and CBU's undersized post tandem 6'4" Phil Nkrumah and 6'6" Scott Jaspers-Fayer did a nice job on Dal's front line featuring 6'9" Joe Schow and 6'7" Sandy Viet. Sullivan should be ready to go today for Dal against X however Wong is probably unavailable, not making the trip to Sydney this weekend. Acadia looks to return to the win column tonight in Sydney as they face the Capers. Game available on CapersVision via webcast beginning at 8 PM Atlantic time (7 PM Eastern time; 4 PM Pacific time).