735 reasons to celebrate with Coach K

Veteran X-Men basketball head coach Steve Konchalski reserved his place in the CIS history book this past weekend. Coach K earned his 735th career win, and in doing so surpassed former Brandon coach Jerry Hemmings as the all-time career leader in wins (regular season, playoffs, non-conference).

The X-Men defeated the UPEI Panthers 94-83 Friday night in Charlottetown, and beat the UNB Varsity Reds 99-57 on Saturday in Fredericton.

Coach K is currently in his 35th season as head coach of the X-Men and has spent his entire CIS career with StFX. Jerry Hemmings owned the record of 734 career wins after 28 seasons with the Brandon Bobcats. Under his tenure ship at StFX, Coach K has won three national championships (1993, 2000, 2001) and was named CIS Coach of the Year in 2000-01.

He has also coached at the international level, serving 16 years as assistant coach of Canada’s national team (including the 1976, 1984 and 1988 Olympic Games) and was head coach of the Canadian national team for four years from 1995-98. As a player he led Acadia University to a national title in 1965 and was named tournament MVP.

This past weekend, the X-Men came out playing hard in both games. In Friday’s win over UPEI, they opened the first quarter with a 20-13 first quarter lead and took a 48-37 lead into the half-time break.

Although the Panthers outscored the X-Men 27-20 in the third quarter, they could not make up the deficit in the game and StFX held on for Coach K’s win #735.

Christian ‘T-bear’ Upshaw led the X-men offensive attack with 22 points and he also had 3 assists and 5 steals. Will Silver scored 16 points and freshman Charlie Spurr scored 13. Terrance Taylor had 10 points and 5 rebounds for the X-Men while Alberto Rodriguez contributed 9 points and 6 rebounds.

Terrance Brown was the leading scorer for the Panthers with 28 points.

On Saturday night, the X-Men easily handled the UNB Varsity Reds 99-57. Player of the Game Charlie Spurr had a game high 21 points for StFX. Upsahw scored 12 and Jordan Hope and Riiny Ngot each scored 10 points a piece. Rodriguez added 9 points and had 12 rebounds for the blue and white, who led 45-22 at the half.

The X-Men are off to a 2-0 start on the season and have an early 8 point lead atop the AUS standings. Their next game isn’t until Nov. 22 when they will travel to Dalhousie to meet the defending AUS champions.

At the X-Men’s first home game of the season on Nov. 27th, StFX University will be celebrating Coach K’s coaching milestone in honor of his 735th CIS record-breaking career win. Beginning at 7:35 pm, there will be a pre-game ceremony honoring Coach K, and throughout the game there will be several promotions and prize giveaways to fans. More details will be posted on www.goxgo.ca in the upcoming week on the Nov. 27th celebration. 

StFX Sports Information