The Tribune

By RENALDO DORSETT

Tribune Sports Reporter

rdorsett@tribunemedia.net

SHAMAR Burrows and the Dalhousie Tigers learned their possible path toward a championship in the upcoming U Sports Men’s Final 8.

The no. 4 Tigers will face the no. 5 Queen’s Gaels in the quarterfinals 5pm Friday at the Saville Community Sports Centre in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.

The Brock Badgers, the OUA Wilson Cup winners, are the no.1 overall seed in the tournament which will be played April 1-3.

Rounding out the seeding behind the Badgers are the no. 2 Victoria Vikes (Canada West champions), no. 3 Alberta Golden Bears (CW finalists and hosts), the Tigers (AUS champions), the Gaels (OUA finalists), no. 6 McGill Redbirds (RSEQ champions), no. 7 Carleton Ravens (wildcard) and no. 8 Saskatchewan (CW bronze medallists).

In Friday’s other quarterfinal matchup, the top-ranked Badgers will face Saskatchewan at 3pm, prior to the Tigers’ matchup.

All 11 games from the eight-team competition will be webcast live, up to and including the gold medal game at 6pm local time on Sunday.

In their last Final Eight appearance, the Tigers 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.

Last week the Tigers claimed their third consecutive Atlantic University Sport championship to earn a trip to the Final 8. Burrows earned Subway Player of the Game honours in the AUS title game after he sparked the Tigers’ 84-78 win over the UPEI Panther..

The fourth-year guard finished with 19 points and 13 rebounds, both team highs.

The Tigers have now won eight AUS championships (1996, ‘09, ‘11, ‘15, ‘16, ‘17, ‘19,’20, ‘22).

For the tournament, Burrows averaged 12.3 points and 8.7 rebounds per game on 49 percent shooting from the field and 50 percent shooting from three-point range.

On the season, Burrows was named a second team AUS All-Star, was third in scoring for Dalhousie, averaging 14.8 points per game in his 13 appearances this year, shooting 73 percent. He led the Tigers in rebounding with 6.7 per game.