The Tribune

By RENALDO DORSETT

Tribune Sports Reporter

rdorsett@tribunemedia.net

SHAMAR Burrows continues to lead the Dalhousie Tigers in an undefeated preseason as Canadian U-Sports basketball returns to the floor.

The veteran point guard continues to stuff the stat sheet with his versatility and the defending Atlantic University Sport defending champions have improved to 5-0 in exhibition play.

Burrows finished with nine points, five rebounds, three assists and four steals in just 16 minutes of his team’s 90-49 win over UMaine Fort-Kent on Sunday night.

He also added eight points, five rebounds, three assists, three steals in just 14 minutes of a 92-50 win over the University of King’s College on October 7.

Burrows previously posted 20 points and eight rebounds in a 100-92 win over St Mary’s at the Stu Aberdeen Memorial Preseason Tournament.

The Tigers have three more preseason matchups prior to the regular season - October 13 against Memorial, October 17 against UNB and against Cape Breton at the St Fx Invitational on October 23.

The 2021-22 AUS regular season is set to begin Friday, October 29. The reigning AUS champion Tigers will travel to Cape Breton in their season opener. The fall semester play will wrap up November 28. Regular season play resumes January 7 for the winter semester. The regular season concludes February 19.

The 2021 AUS championships will be hosted by the AUS conference office at Scotiabank Centre in Halifax, Nova Scotia and will take place February 25-27.

U-Sports cancelled their 2020-21 basketball season, but Burrows was named the Tigers men’s basketball “Tiger of the Year” by head coach Rick Plato.

Burrows is one of several players returning to a Dalhousie team that made programme history in the 2019-20 season. The Tigers finished the year 23-2.

They ended just short of their ultimate goal, but finished as the second ranked team in all of Canadian collegiate basketball. They finished with the silver medal at the 2020 U SPORTS Final 8 Basketball Championships, the best finish in programme history.

In his first season with the Tigers, Burrows averaged just 3.3 points per game in 19 games off the bench.

He improved those numbers in his second season with the programme when he appeared in 20 games with six starts.

He averaged 8.8 points and 4.1 rebounds per game while shooting 54 percent from the field and 77 percent from the free throw line.