Mounties Get Set for ACAA Championships this weekend!
Your Mount Allison Mounties have completed the regular-season schedule and now set their sights on the upcoming 2020 ACAA Basketball Championships this weekend; hosted in Halifax by Mount Saint Vincent University.
The men's basketball Mounties, who were 17-10 overall in exhibition and league play, finished the regular-season campaign with a 12-6 record. Despite last Saturday's, 98-92, overtime loss at St. Thomas, the Mounties finished in second-place for the ACAA standings and they have earned a bye into the first round of ACAA Basketball Championships this weekend.
Notably, the 2020 ACAA Basketball Championship on the weekend marks the Mounties' third time of the last four Mounties seasons where they finished in second place to secure a first round bye. The Mounties, who have appeared in the ACAA championship game two of the last three year’s, will be aiming for a third appearance in their bid for a league championship win and a ticket to the CCAA National Championships held in Toronto in two weeks time from March 18th to 21st.
According to Mounties Head Coach, Steve Chapman," this year’s championship is wide open as the ACAA exhibited parity across the board; which it has not seen in years."
Final placement for the weekend seedings at ACAA Basketball Championship 2020 are as follows:
Holland College Hurricanes 1
Mount Allison Mounties 2
St. Thomas Tommies 3
MSVU Mystics 4
Crandall Chargers 5
UNBSJ Seawolves 6
Chapman adds that “this was a pretty contested league throughout the year, with three teams in a second-place tie and teams from top to bottom beating each other all season. Regardless of league play, everyone is back to 0-0 and all believe that they have a chance to win. It will be that close. It is all just a matter of a team playing well at the right time and putting together a few games. In our case, we could not be prouder of our guys hanging in through significant roster changes and injuries from week one of the 2019-2020 men’s basketball season.”
Chapman’s reference is to the loss of the teams MVP, Aram Currie, who sat out the first half of the season following a knee injury incurred at a basketball tournament this past Fall 2019, in Montreal. While Currie returned after the Holiday Season, the team lost power-forward Diangelo Woodside and fifth year forward, Mack Chisholm, during the first week of January 2020 and more recently the Mounties’ first-year scoring-guard, Emanuel Adugna, of Toronto suffered a season-ending knee injury in late January 2020.
According to Chapman “we are certainly not the same line-up we started with and our overall depth is a lot different from what we had planned but our guys have been resilient and have stepped up throughout the season. After starting a season 0-2, we ran off 11 victories in 12 games, were in first-place or tied for first and nationally ranked from November 2019 through to early February 2020. Injuries are part of the game and nobody is truly healthy, at this point in the season. There are several teams with several injuries just like us, so it’s no different. One of our goals this season has been to obtain a 1st or a 2nd place bye and we have accomplished that. It’s difficult to play 3 games in three days, if you make it to the final game. Now we can focus on one semi-final game and then if fortunate, get to that final game and embrace an opportunity to win. Every team in our conference is confident they can win so it will be an exciting weekend and experience for our men’s basketball Mounties of 2019-20. The keys for us will be our ability to defend, execute and simply guys playing in the moment. We accomplish that, then I like our chances.”
2020 ACAA Basketball Schedule of Events
Friday, March 6, 2020
11:00 AM - Women's Quarter Final 1 - (3) vs (6)
1:00 PM - Women's Quarter Final 2 - (4) vs (5)
3:00 PM - Men's Quarter Final 1 - (3) vs (6)
5:00 PM - Men's Quarter Final 2 - (4) vs (5)
7:45 PM - 2019-20 ACAA Basketball Championship Banquet
Saturday, March 7, 2020
12:00 PM - Women's Semi-Final 1 - (1) vs Lowest seed QF winner
2:00 PM - Women's Semi-Final 2 - (2) vs Highest seed QF winner
4:30 PM - Men's Semi-Final 1 - (1) vs Lowest seed QF winner
6:30 PM - Men's Semi-Final 2 - (2) vs Highest seed QF winner
Sunday, March 8, 2020
12:00 PM - Women's Championship Match
2:00 PM - Women's Award Ceremony
2:30 PM - Men's Championship Match
4:30 PM - Men's Award Ceremony
The Mounties now head to Halifax on Friday for the 2020 ACAA Basketball Awards banquet and will also watch quarter-final matchups between St. Thomas (3), UNBSJ (6), MSVU (4) and Crandall (5). The Mounties face the winner of the STU vs. UNBSJ game held on Saturday at 6:30 pm; while Holland College will await the winner of the MSVU vs. Crandall 4:30 pm game; and then the Mounties take the court.
This Sunday’s ACAA Basketball Championship Game is scheduled for 2:30 pm, March 8th, 2020. The winner advances to the 2020 CCAA National Championships hosted in Toronto by Humber College from March 18th to 22nd.
#MOUNTIEPRIDE
Go Mounties!