X-Men primed for Concordia match
STEVE Konchalski did a slow burn after his St. Francis Xavier X-Men got left in the dust at the start of last weekend’s AUS final loss to the Acadia Axemen.
Another start like that tonight (8:15 p.m.) against the Concordia Stingers and the X-Men will squander one of their best seasons in years. St. F.X. is 27-5 against all CIS opponents and started the season with 18 straight wins.
The X-Men enter the Final 8 as the sixth seed, where they finished in the final regular-season rankings, and will play John Dore’s No. 3 Stingers. Concordia, the Quebec conference champions, vaulted from ninth in the rankings to third in the tournament bracket.
Dore and Konchalski bring 60 years of combined CIS coaching experience and four national championships. As a young coach in Montreal, Konchalski recruited Dore in 1971.
While it might appear that a St. F.X. win over Concordia would be an upset, it’s not the case. St. F.X., ranked as high as No. 2 during the season, beat them handily in the Rod Shoveller Memorial Tournament final in late December.
Konchalski expects a battle.
"They have championship experience and John brings that team perennially to the big dance," Konchalski said Thursday as the X-Men practised at Metro Centre. "So those kids have played here before and I know they gave Carleton a really good game last year. The fact we beat them at Christmas, we can’t let that deceive us."
Konchalski said the team has talked about a quicker start against the Stingers.
"Our start was terrible, but part of it was Acadia was red-hot," he said. "A lot of those shots from three-point range we had a hand up on them, but they just buried them.
"But at the same time we didn’t come with the same type of energy that Acadia did. Once we got going we were OK and gave ourselves a chance to win, but you can’t come from behind for 40 minutes and expect to have a lot left in the tank. So we have to come out tough."
It could be a high-scoring contest with both teams liking to press and run the floor. Concordia is built around athleticism and strong guard play.
The X-Men are led by fourth-year forward Jeremy Dunn of Wolfville, an AUS first all-star, and sophomore guard Terry Thomas, who made the second squad.
Freshman guard Marquis Clayton of Halifax, an all-rookie selection, keyed St. F.X.’s semifinal win over Cape Breton with some timely buckets in the second half.
Thomas tops the team in scoring (18.9) and rebounds (8.1), but it was Dunn who shouldered the load last weekend with 51 points in two games.
"Concordia is a great team, they are athletic, they can shoot, they’ve got some great guards, so the big thing for us is to come out and get a good start on defence right away," said Dunn.
This will be St. F.X.’s 15th tournament appearance. The three-time national champs have an all-time record of 18-18.
The X-Men are back in the tournament for the first time since 2009.
Concordia made its feelings known as soon as the draw came out.
"We played X in the final of the Dalhousie tournament at Christmas and they beat us, but we’re probably both better teams now than we were then," Dore told the Montreal Gazette.
"It’s a tough matchup. They’re good and they’ll be the hometown team. But when you go to the nationals, you’ve got to play three games in three days and you’ve got to try to get through everybody. The year we won the national championship (1990), we beat two Maritime teams, X and Acadia, so bring it on. Let’s go!"
( mmosher@herald.ca)
TODAY'S SCHEDULE
Noon: Lakehead Thunderwolves (4) vs. Fraser Valley Cascades (5)
2:15 p.m.: Carleton Ravens (1) vs. Acadia Axemen (8)
6 p.m.: Alberta Golden Bears (2) vs. Ryerson Rams (7)
8 p.m.: Concordia Stingers (3) vs. St. Francis Xavier (6)