Top-ranked hoop Axemen wrap with a win

BY JOHN DECOSTE

Kings County Register

The Acadia Axemen have been an ocean of calm this season in the topsy-turvy world of AUBC men’s basketball.

While St. F.X., Saint Mary’s and Cape Breton battled each other for second through fourth place in the standings, the Axemen made short work of the conference all season, finishing 18-2, 24-5 overall.

Acadia topped UPEI 77-58 in its regular season finale February 23 in Wolfville to officially clinch top spot in the standings. The win also allowed the Axemen to finish a perfect 12-0 against the teams on their side of the conference.

Acadia ended up first in the conference both on offense, scoring 86.8 points per game, and on defense, allowing just 65.8 points per game to edge out Cape Breton.

Senior Achuil Lual celebrated his final home game in an Acadia uniform with 22 points against UPEI and hauling down eight rebounds.

Leo Saintil added 17 points and seven rebounds, establishing a new AUBC single-season rebounding record of 277; Shawn Berry had 11 points for Acadia, which led 19-16 after one quarter, 37-34 at halftime and 56-43 after three quarters.

Andrew Black had 13 points and 11 rebounds for UPEI, which somewhat surprisingly outrebounded the Axemen 35-29 – one of only a few times all season Acadia has been outrebounded.

The remainder of the playoff picture was finalized on the weekend. St. F.X. clinched second place and a first-round playoff bye with a pair of victories over winless Memorial to finish at 15-5.

Saint Mary’s clinched third, defeating the Cape Breton Capers head-to-head in Halifax, 76-67 Saturday and 84-79 Sunday. The Huskies and Capers both finished at 14-6, but SMU was awarded third place on point differential.

With Dalhousie (10-10) and UPEI (7-13) finishing fifth and sixth respectively, the field is now set for the AUS Final Six March 7to 9 at the Halifax Metro Centre.

Dalhousie and Cape Breton will meet in one quarterfinal and SMU and UPEI in the other. The winners advance to the semifinals March 8, with Acadia taking on the lower remaining seed and St. F.X. the higher.