BY JOHN DECOSTE
Kings County Advertiser/Register
After opening the pre-season in New Brunswick, the Acadia basketball Axemen take to the court for their home opener Oct. 15 at 7 p.m. as part of Acadia’s Homecoming weekend festivities.
Lakehead will provide the opposition, and the Axemen will be right back on the court on October 16, also at 7 p.m. against Bishop’s.
Head coach Steve Baur enters the 2010/ 2011 season with what he feels is a good mix of young veterans, transfer students and first-year players.
The Axemen are missing Alex Traikov, who has used up his CIS eligibility; Casey Fox, who has transferred to Dalhousie; and Jonathan Kamba, red-shirting this season for academic reasons.
Baur expects Acadia to be competitive, and believes the team will be even better next season when four additional transfer students he has recruited become eligible to play.
Right now, he expected to begin the pre-season this past weekend in Moncton and Sackville, N.B. with a projected starting lineup of Tyler Lutton, Anthony Sears, Dustin Poirier, Justin Boutilier and Owen Klassen.
Some might feel the inclusion of Poirier, a Central Kings graduate in his second year at Acadia, in the start is a bit of a surprise. Baur, though, has always liked what he has seen from the 6’4” Waterville native.
“Dustin has worked hard since he’s been here. He’s had a great summer, and he’s playing with a lot of confidence. We have three guys red-shirting at his position, which created an opportunity for Dustin that I’m expecting him to make the most of.”
Lutton will begin this season as he ended last season, as the starting point guard, with sophomore Tom Filgiano and Sears backing him up.
Klassen, last year’s conference Rookie of the Year, Sears, who joined him on the AUS All-Rookie team, and Boutililer, fully recovered from injuries that plagued him last season; are all a year older and raring to go.
Backing up the starting five are returnee Alex McLaughlin and a group of players who are either freshmen or in their first year at Acadia, including Sinclair Brown, a 6’7” post player who last played at Capilano College in B.C.
“Sinclair has looked great,” Baur says. “He challenges shooters, plays above the rim and brings a level of energy to his game that is unusual for someone his size.”
Alan Rivers-Bowerman, a 6’4” forward from New Brunswick who last played for UNB Saint John, is not only a potential scoring threat but was also chosen a CCAA National Scholar in 2008/ 2009. Like Brown, he joins the Axemen for his fifth and final year of eligibility.
Also on the roster are 6’2” Bojan Dodik, a transfer from the University of Ottawa in his third year of eligibility; 6’1” Patrick Bush, a transfer from Algonquin College; and 6’5” Lauchlan Gale, a freshman from Ottawa.
In addition to Kamba, other red-shirt players include Chris Jordan, formerly of the University of Winnipeg; Anthony Ashe, late of Carleton University; Jonathan Tull, formerly of Central Connecticut State; and Phil Leighton, late of Husson University in Maine; who can all play next year. Leighton is the younger brother of Axewomen soccer and basketball player Elizabeth (ZZ) Leighton and the son of Peter Leighton, an Axemen player and assistant coach in the 1970s.
Acadia travels to Ontario Oct. 22-24 for pre-season games against McMaster, Guelph and Brock; and wraps up the pre-season hosting Guelph Oct. 29 and Ottawa Oct. 30, both 7 p.m. starts.
