Axemen nab CIS wild card

BY JOHN DECOSTE

NovaNewsNow.com

The Acadia basketball Axemen are off to the CIS ‘Final Eight’ this weekend after, in the words of head coach Les Berry, “some good news to end a bad day.”

Hours after dropping a disappointing 75-72 decision to the Saint Mary’s Huskies in the AUBC final, the Axemen received word around 8 p.m. Sunday that they had been awarded the wild card berth to this weekend’s CIS championship in Ottawa.

Acadia, which entered the AUBC championship ranked second in the country, are seeded fifth – arguably the highest seed possible for a non-conference champion – and will meet the fourth-seed Laval Rouge et Or in a quarterfinal matchup Friday at 6 p.m.

“At this point, we’re just pleased to be in the tournament,” Berry said Sunday evening. “We’ve been given a second chance. Now it’s up to us to try and make the best of it.”

Despite a subpar performance in the conference final, Acadia was rewarded for an 18-2 regular season that saw them consistently ranked in the CIS top-10 all winter.

“We’re fortunate to be where we are, but that’s why we played hard all year,” Berry said.

He admittedly doesn’t know a whole lot about Laval, which defeated Concordia 81-63 in the Quebec conference final in a mild upset.

The Rouge et Or have a dominating player in Jean-Philippe Morin and a sold supporting cast including J.F. Beaulieu-Maheux, Xavier Baribeau and Jerome Turcotte.