Preview: Third place Axemen head to AUS Final 6

WOLFVILL, N.S. - The Acadia Axemen take a 12-8 record and a third place finish into this weekend's AUS basketball championships at the Scotiabank Centre in Halifax.

One year after missing out on the playoffs, Kevin Duffie's Axemen are in the March mix and will take on the sixth-seeded Cape Breton University Capers in the 8:30 game Friday night.

The winner advances to Saturday's semi-final play vs UPEI, which finished in second place with a 12-8 record.

"We are certainly happy to be back playing basketball in March and from the onset of our season that was our expectation," said Duffie. "Full credit to our guys sticking together and playing solid basketball all season long."

The Axemen earned the third place spot by beating the 11-9 UNB Varsity Reds in Fredericton on Saturday night to close out the regular season.

UNB, seeded fourth, will play the fifth place 10-10 Saint Mary's Huskies in Friday's 6:30 game. The winner of this game will face first place Dalhousie (13-7).

Memorial, which finished with a 7-13, failed to make the playoffs, as did St. Francis Xavier (5-15), the second consecutive season the X-Men finished out of the playoffs.

The Axemen were 3-1 against the 10-10 Capers during the regular season, splitting a pair of games in Sydney, and winning both games against the Matt Skinn-coached CBU squad in War Memorial Gymnasium. One of those games went into overtime.

"Playoffs bring things to another level, however with how competitive our league is 1 through 8 we have played in a lot of playoff-like games and atmospheres," said Duffie. "Our goal remains the same, get better every day and with that, I expect us to play well on Friday."

The Axemen made a quick turnaround from last year's 5-15 record and the success came despite a season that started with injuries to a pair of its forwards. Blue-collar big man Rhys Larry was lost to injury in the first quarter of an October tournament at Carleton in Ottawa. Larry, a senior post player from Maitland, ON, was coming off a breakout season where he averaged a double double in points and rebounds.

Second-year forward Nick Ernest of Oakville, ON, was out shortly after, suffering a meniscus injury during the Axemen's second game in Cape Breton in early November.

Also missing time due to injuries were second-year point guard Ben Miller of Winnipeg, forward Kyle Arsenault of Fredericton and guards Shaquille Smith, North Preston and A.J. Simmonds of Dartmouth.

Each of Acadia's starters averaged double-figures in the regular season, led by 3-point phenom Kyle Arsenault. The fourth-year forward averaged 18.3 points per game, which was fourth best in the conference. He drained 53 three pointers on 115 attempts, fourth best in the league and did it with a league-leading 46.1 shooting percentage.

Fifth-year guard Shaquille Smith posted a 16.3 scoring average, seventh in the conference and also made 45 steals, which was second best in the league.

Six-foot-10 post Erik Nissen averaged 14.8 points per game in his debut season with the Axemen. Nissen, of Quispamsis, N.B., also recorded the fourth best numbers for blocks and fifth best for rebounds. Nissen came to the Axemen after playing two years at the University of Maine.

Second-year point guard Ben Miller, coming off his conference rookie of the year performance, averaged 13.6 points per game and was the league's fourth best in assists with 111.

Rounding out the scoring for the Axemen's starters was second-year guard Nick De Palma of Bedford, who averaged 12.3 points per game. De Palma, who played into a starting role after seeing limited minutes in his rookie season, was second in the league in three-pointers made, draining 59 over the course of the regular season.

Fifth-year senior guard Smith, this weekend holds special significance.

"Going into my final AUS championship weekend is very exciting, especially going into the tournament as the third seed," said Smith. "We worked hard all year, and I feel we put ourselves in a good position to be successful."

Smith says the team needs to stick together and play team basketball.

"The beautiful thing about our team is that we are dynamic and we are very balanced. Having a balanced team is important when competing for a championship because with the heightened pressure and emotion no one guy needs to bear the pressure when playing on the big stage."

Provided by Frank De Palma