2008-09 AUS Men's Basketball All-Stars and All-Rookie Team Announced

March 3, 2009 (HALIFAX, NS) - Atlantic University Sport is pleased to announce the 2008-09 men's basketball all-star teams and all-rookie team as selected by the conference's eight head coaches. Four of the top five scoring leaders in the conference highlight the list of first-team selections, including two players from both the StFX X-Men and Saint Mary's Huskies.

Saint Mary's guards Joey Haywood and Mark Mclaughlin were each chosen after finishing first and third, respectively, in league in scoring this season. Haywood, in his first season with the Huskies, averaged a league-best 21.4 points per game, ranked second in free-throw percentage (87.7 per cent), third in steals (2.58 per game) and fifth in 3-point percentage (44.0 per cent). McLaughlin, the 2005-06 Atlantic conference Rookie of the Year is now a three-time AUS all-star who has led the league in minutes played for the second consecutive season. Mark scored 19.4 points per game this year and finished second in assists (4.50 per game) and ranked third in free-throw percentage (82.4 per cent).

The StFX duo of Tyler Richards and Christian Upshaw ranked second and fifth respectively in AUS scoring this season and were also selected to this year's first squad. Richards, a first team all-star for the fourth consecutive season averaged 19.6 points per game and finished second in the conference in steals (2.60 per game). Tyler, in his fifth and final year of eligibility, finishes his career with 1526 points in 96 regular season games, the second highest total in StFX history behind Fred Perry's 1741 points.

Upshaw, a third year guard from Halifax, NS, scored 19.1 points per game this season including a 38-point outing against the Cape Breton Capers where he established a new StFX record for 3-pointers made in a game with nine. Christian also led the #5-ranked X-Men in assists (4.00 per game - 5th in AUS), free-throw percentage (81.7 per cent - 6th in AUS) and three-point FG percentage (47.9 per cent - second in AUS).

Rounding out the first team selections is Phillip Nkrumah of the #9-ranked Cape Breton Capers. Nkrumah led the conference in rebounding (11.3 rebounds per game) and was the only AUS player to average a double-double this season. Phillip also led the AUS in steals (3.25 per game) and ranked fourth in the league in both assists (4.10 per game) and blocked shots (1.10 per game).

First team all-stars:
Tyler Richards, StFX (5th year - Halifax, NS)
Phillip Nkrumah, Cape Breton (3rd year - Brampton, ON)
Christian Upshaw, StFX (3rd year - Halifax, NS)
Mark McLaughlin, Saint Mary's (4th year - Dartmouth, NS)
Joey Haywood, Saint Mary's (2nd year - Vancouver, BC)

Dalhousie's Simon Farine and UPEI's Andrew Black are second team all-stars for the second year in a row, while Acadia's Alex Traikov, Cape Breton's Tremaine Fraser and UPEI's Gamaliel Rose are each all-stars for the first time.

Farine led Dalhousie in scoring once again this season and finished fourth in the AUS with 19.1 points per game for the third-place Tigers. He scored 20 or more points in a game nine times this season, including two 31-point performances. He also ranked third in assists (4.45 apg) and seventh in free-throw percentage (76.8 per cent). Simon's 106 free-throws made this season are the second-most ever in Dalhousie history, behind Nick Donald's 112 in the 2003-04 season.

UPEI's Rose and Black finished sixth and seventh in league scoring with 18.6 ppg and 18.2 ppg respectively. Black also ranked second in rebounding with 9.5 per game and his nine double-doubles this season were second only to CBU's Nkrumah. Rose, who joined the Panthers line-up after the holiday break, appeared in 13 games and scored 20 or more points in seven games, including four double-doubles.

Traikov, a fourth year forward with the Axemen, led the Atlantic conference in field goal percentage (57.7 per cent), finished seventh in rebounding (7.6 rpg) and 10th in scoring with an average of 14.7 points per game. Fraser, a member of last season's all-rookie team, averaged 12.3 points per game for the #9-ranked Capers.

Second team all-stars:
Simon Farine, Dalhousie (3rd year - Toronto, ON)
Andrew Black, UPEI (5th year - Toronto, ON)
Alex Traikov, Acadia (4th year - Mississauga, ON)
Tremaine Fraser, Cape Breton (2nd year - North Preston, NS)
Gamaliel Rose, UPEI (2nd year - Nassau, Bahamas)

This year marks the third time for the selection of an all-rookie team in men's basketball. Among the first year players selected to the team are Acadia's Casey Fox and Justin Boutlier, StFX's Jeremy Dunn, UNB's Dustin Anthony and Simon Marr of the Saint Mary's Huskies.

All-rookie team:
Jeremy Dunn, StFX (Wolfville, NS)
Casey Fox, Acadia (Halifax, NS)
Justin Boutilier, Acadia (Niagara Falls, ON)
Dustin Anthony, UNB (North Bay, ON)
Simon Marr, Saint Mary's (Saint John, NB)

The 2009 Subway Atlantic University Sport Final 6 Men's Basketball Championship is being held at the Halifax Metro Centre March 5-7, 2009. All tickets for the tournament are available through the Ticket Atlantic box office at 902-451-1221 or online at www.ticketatlantic.com. The championship schedule is as follows:

Thursday, March 5th
Quarter-final #1: Saint Mary's (4th) vs. UPEI (5th), 7:00pm
Quarter-final #2: Dalhousie (3rd) vs. Acadia (6th), 9:15pm

Friday, March 6th
Semi-final #1: StFX (1st) vs. Winner of Quarter-final #1, 7:00pm
Semi-final #2: Cape Breton (2nd) vs. Winner of Quarter-final #2, 9:15pm

Saturday, March 7th
Championship Game: Semi-final Winners, 7:30pm

The Atlantic University Sport champions will advance to the 2009 CIS Men's Basketball Championship, March 13-15, 2009, hosted by Carleton University in Ottawa. For more information on the 2009 Subway AUS Final 6 Men's Basketball Championship, visit the event website at www.atlanticuniversitysport.com/final6/

For further information, please visit www.atlanticuniversitysport.com