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| Â鶹´«Ã½'s Andrew Sullivan controls the play near the end of the Tigers's 82-72 win over CBU. (Nick Pearce Photo) |
The Â鶹´«Ã½Tigers men's basketball team won their first playoff game since 1999 during the AUS Men's Final 6 tournament this past weekend at the Halifax Metro Centre.
Â鶹´«Ã½ went into the weekend tournament as the number-five seed and upset the number-four seed Cape Breton University 82-72 in the their quarter final game on Friday night. Almost 6,000 fans watched the Tigers, who were led by Andrew Sullivan's 23 points, avenge a 41-point regular season loss to the Capers. More than 120 Â鶹´«Ã½ students took advantage of a free ticket offer from the Department of Athletics and filled the floor section near the Tigers bench. The boisterous group dressed in black and gold cheered the team non-stop until the final buzzer.
See photo essay: Â鶹´«Ã½ at AUS Final Six
On Saturday, the Tigers took on the top-seeded Acadia Axemen, to whom they had lost all four regular season match-ups. Once again backed by a noisy student section, the Tigers came out strong and led at the half 42-38. Â鶹´«Ã½ continued to play well and built up a nine-point lead going into the fourth quarter. However, the Axemen proved too strong and with some key Tigers in foul trouble, top-ranked Acadia outscored Â鶹´«Ã½ 25-8 in the final quarter to take home a hard-fought win.
Sunday's final saw Acadia battle the number three-seed Saint Mary's Huskies in a rematch of the 2007 AUS final. The result was almost the same as Saint Mary's held a one point lead late in the game. SMU then got the lucky break they didn't get in 2007 when Acadia's Andrew Kraus stepped out of bounds after stealing the ball with seconds remaining. The Huskies's Mark McLaughlin then hit two free throws to seal the win for Saint Mary's.
Both Saint Mary's and Acadia will represent the AUS at the CIS Final 8 this weekend in Ottawa.