Friday 25 February 2011

AUS Tonight: Capers, X-Men win at home

Cape Breton 79, UPEI 70  The Panthers were in it until late, trailing by only 2 entering the fourth but the Capers pulled away, helped by the return from a shoulder injury of 6'1" point guard Jimmy Dorsey who had 15 points in 33 minutes.  6'5" Phil Nkrumah added 14 points and grabbed a game-high 16 rebounds for CBU, which has locked up the top seed in the AUS tournament.  6'2" Jon Cooper had a career night in Sydney, going off for 26 points and adding 12 rebounds as the Panthers try to lock up a tournament spot.  Cape Breton completes their season tomorrow at home against UNB while UPEI travels down the road to meet X in Antigonish to complete their regular season.

St. FX 87, UNB 77  The X-Men overcame an early third quarter six point deficit by wearing the Reds down with their full court pressure and got tremendous offensive performances from 5'10" Christian T-Bear Upshaw (27 points) and 5'9" Will Silver (25 points, 5 rebounds and 4 assists) to win at home.  6'0" Andrew Wright put on an incredible performance for UNB with 28 points, making several shots with a very high degree of difficulty as the Reds looked to clinch a tournament berth.  X has been hampered by injuries, including a career-ending head injury to 6'9" Alberto Rodriquez (see below), but was still able to turn UNB over 19 times using their pattened half and full court pressure, which became the difference in the game as the second half wore on.  6'5" freshman Terry Thomas added 14 points and 14 rebounds for X as he takes on a bigger role in the rotation given X's injury situation.  X finishes their regular season against UPEI tomorrow while UNB moves east to face Cape Breton in Sydney to finish their regular season schedule.

Rodriquez suffers career-ending skull fracture last week at Memorial... On an innocent play which happens numerous times in games, X's 6'9" fifth-year center Alberto Rodriquez suffered an unfortunate injury on which absolutely no malace was the least bit intended when, jostiling for a rebound last Saturday at Memorial, Rodriquez took an inadvertent elbow in the sinus cavity which ended up crushing a portion of his skull.  Rodriquez underwent several hours of surgery in Antigonish earlier this week and was recently released from hospital with his long-term prognosis being very good.  Please join me in wishing Alberto all the best for a speedy recovery after this unfortunate accidental injury.  X also has not had 6'5" Chad Warren for several weeks due to a broken hand - his availability for the playoffs remains up in the air.  The X-Men also played tonight without 6'3" Dwayne Johnson, who has had his back injury flare up once again while 6'3" Jordan Clarke missed tonight's game with an achilles injury.

AUS Standings
Cape Breton 18-1, 50 pts.
Dalhousie 13-6, 42 pts.
St. FX 14-5, 36 pts.
UNB 8-11, 20 pts.
Saint Mary's 7-12, 20 pts.
UPEI, 7-12, 18 pts.
Acadia 5-13, 14 pts.
Memorial 3-15, 8 pts.

Games Remaining:
Saint Mary's at Dalhousie (2 point game)
UNB at Cape Breton (4 point game)
UPEI at St. FX (2 point game)
Memorial at Acadia (2 games each worth 4 points)

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