X-Men reach Shoveller tournament final

The St. Francis Xavier X-Men will play the host Dalhousie Tigers in today’s final of the Rod Shoveller Memorial men’s basketball tournament at Dalplex.

The X-Men got 25 points, four assists and three steals from Jeremy Dunn in an 88-77 semifinal win over the Concordia Stingers on Saturday. Will Silver added 20 points, eight rebounds and nine assists.

St. F.X. played without two-time league MVP Christian Upshaw. Konchalski didn’t elaborate, but said Upshaw, who played Friday against Laurentian, was not injured and would play today.

The host Dalhousie Tigers beat the Acadia Axemen 71-59 in the other semifinal. Today’s title game is at 3 p.m.

The X-Men will be out to avenge a loss in last year’s Shoveller final to Saint Mary’s. They also lost to Carleton the year before, ending a three-year championship run for Steve Konchalski’s team.

"We’ve been pretty good getting to the final," Konchalski said. "Hopefully, we can take another step tomorrow."

St. F.X. led 41-28 at the half and extended the advantage to 19 in the second half. Concordia got 24 from Kyle Desmarais.

The Tigers beat the CIS fifth-ranked X-Men in November in Antigonish.

Simon Farine had 30 and Joseph Schow 17 for Dalhousie in its win over Acadia. Anthony Sears had 26 for the Axemen.

In the consolation semifinals earlier Saturday, Saint Mary’s defeated Laurentian 93-87 after trailing by seven at the half. Joey Haywood had 36 and Miguel Pink 13 to pace the win.

Laval thumped Queen’s 95-72 in the other consolation game.

Queen’s and Laurentian play for seventh this morning at 9 a.m. with Saint Mary’s facing Laval for fifth at 11 a.m.

Concordia meets Acadia for third at 1 p.m.

On Friday, it was Concordia 90 Saint Mary’s 84, Acadia 85 Laval 80, Dalhousie 79 Queen’s 63 and St. F.X. 100 Laurentian 61. Acadia rallied from 24 points down for its win.