The Tribune

By RENALDO DORSETT

Tribune Sports Reporter

rdorsett@tribunemedia.net

JORDAN Wilson and Shamar Burrows helped the Dalhousie Tigers claim their fifth AUS Conference title in the last six years and earned a spot in the U Sports National Championship.

In a weekend filled with Bahamian talent on the floor for three different programmes, the Tigers emerged with a 76-64 win over Azaro Roker and the St Francis Xavier X-Men last night at the Scotiabank Centre in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

Roker finished with 12 points and a game high 13 rebounds for the X-Men. Wilson struggled from the field for much of the night (1-9 from the field) with two points and five rebounds while Burrows finished with four points, three rebounds and two assists.

Dalhousie took an early 13-4 lead while StFX struggled with turnovers in the first quarter.

The Tigers maintained a 24-16 lead at the end of the first.

The X-Men limited the Tigers to just nine points in the second and closed the deficit to just one at the break (33-33). Dalhousie closed the third quarter on a 15-8 run to enter the fourth quarter clinging to a 58-52 lead.

Roker scored the first basket of the fourth quarter for the X-Men but they went scoreless for nearly five minutes as the Tigers built a 10 point lead. After Nava made a three, Wilson muscled in a layup over Roker to regain a nine-point lead and the margin widened in the final minutes.

Roker was named an AUS tournament All-Star.

The AUS conference championships had a strong Bahamian presence with local players featured on three playoff teams.

In addition to the aforementioned players in the final, Qyemah Gibson, Sebastian Gray and assistant coach Ollen Smith's St Mary's Huskies were also in the field.

The fourth seeded Huskies, who finished the regular season at 11-9, defeated fifth seeded Memorial SeaHawks (8-12) in an 81-57 rout.

Gray finished with seven points, seven rebounds and three blocked shots while Gibson added 15 points and six rebounds. They advanced to set up a meeting with the Tigers in the semi-final.

Dalhousie emerged with an 84-64 win to advance to the final.

Wilson finished with 13 points while Burrows added nine points and six rebounds.

Gibson finished with 13 point and seven rebounds.

St FX advanced with an 84-77 win over the UNB Reds in the second semi-final.

Roker finished with 20 points and 11 rebounds. He shot 7-10 from the field.

The Tigers will advance to the U SPORTS championship March 5-8 in Ottawa, Canada.

At the conclusion of the regular season, Roker was named a First Team All-Star while Gibson was named a Second Team All-Star.

Roker, the fourth year forward, was one of only three players in the league to average a double double.

He led the conference in rebounding at 13.2 per game and was second in scoring at 17.2 points per game. His numbers increased across the board in every statistical category from year three when he averaged 10 points per game and was a conference leader with 10 rebounds and two blocked shots per game.

Gibson, in his second year with the Huskies, led the team in scoring and was seventh in the league in scoring at 15.4 points per game and eighth in rebounding at 6.5 rebounds per game.