Axemen open second half of season in Nfld.

WOLFVILLE, N.S. - The Acadia Axemen will spend most of January on the road to kick of the second half of the AUS men's basketball season and its run for a playoff spot.

"The goal remains the same for our group, continue to get better each day and be ready to compete in a tight conference," said head coach Kevin Duffie.

Acadia, which starts the second half with a 5-2 record and a share of first place heads to St. John's Jan. 9-10 for a pair of four-point games with Memorial.

That road trip weekend is followed by another pair of away games as the Axemen travel to Charlottetown to play Tim Kendrick's UPEI Panthers on Jan.16-17.

The Axemen played in two tournaments over the Christmas holidays, chalking up a 2-4 record playing at the Wesmen Classic in Winnipeg, Manitoba, and the Rod and Joan Shoveller Memorial men's basketball tournament at Dalhousie University.

Second-year point guard Ben Miller suffered an injury in the opening game of the Wesmen Classic and is expected to be back in the lineup soon.

"We are certainly dealing with a couple of injuries right now, nothing that is too serious with Ben and he should be ready by next weekend,"said Duffie. "We are also hoping to have Nick Ernest back in the lineup by the end of the month."

Duffie said the team will benefit from some rest and a good week of practice and he expects the Axemen to pick up where the team left off in November.

The tournaments also provided opportunity for Duffie to give some floor time to players who had not seen much action earlier in the season. Coming off the bench for regular minutes were guards Kyle MacKinnon of Bedford and Brett Dickie of Wolfville and forward Andrew Scott of Bedford.

"The Christmas exhibition was a great opportunity to get our guys some game reps before returning to league play," said Duffie. "We also got an opportunity to play some of our younger athletes and get them a taste of action at the CIS level. Each guy was able to show certain strengths at different times, which was nice to see."
Acadia's lone January home game is against St. Francis Xavier on Wednesday, Jan. 20.The Axemen then travel to Antigonish on Friday, Jan. 22 to play the X-Men.

Acadia wraps up January on Saturday, Jan. 30, playing Rick Plato's Dalhousie Tigers at the Scoiabank Centre as part of Varsity Showdown 2016. The day will feature a pair of double-headers, with a SMU and St.FX men's and women's teams squaring off at 1 and 3 p.m. The Dal-Acadia matchup takes over at 6 and 8 p.m.  The women play at 6 and the men's game follows at 8 p.m.

In February, Acadia hosts CBU for a pair of games on Feb. 5 and 6, then travels to Saint Mary's to play the Huskies in Halifax on Feb. 12. On Feb. 19, Acadia hosts UNB and then plays SMU in Wolfville on Feb. 23.

The Axemen wrap up regular season play by travelling to Fredericton to play UNB on Feb. 27.

Provided by Frank De Palma