A Dalhousie fan summed it up best when he hollered, “you’re clutch, Carson!”
Alex Carson came up big when the top-ranked Dalhousie Tigers needed him in the fourth quarter of the AUS Final 6 championship game Sunday against the No. 2 St. Francis Xavier X-Men. The six-foot-five all-star guard picked up a couple steals, had a crucial block on Azaro Roker and calmly drained a pair of three-pointers, all in the game’s final nine minutes, as the Tigers pulled off a 76-64 victory at Scotiabank Centre.
It’s the second consecutive AUS title for Dal and its fifth conference banner in six years.
“It’s amazing with what we have accomplished with this program,” said Lower Sackville’s Carson, who finished with a game-high 22 points and was named tournament MVP.
“It starts back with the guys who were with the program when I first came here – Ritchie (Kanza Mata), Kash (Kashrell Lawrence), Jarred Reid – they all started it. They all taught us to be leaders. And now guys like me, Keevan (Veinot), Sascha (Kappos), we are passing that onto the young guys this year and it’s really showing now.
“I’m just so happy for this team. We worked really hard, starting all the way back on Sept. 1. Just to see it all come together, I’m absolutely thrilled.”
Whether he’s in the starting lineup or he comes off the bench, if Dal needs a defensive stop or a key three-pointer, Carson has been a jack of all trades in his four seasons with the Tigers.
With such a deep and talented roster, head coach Rick Plato was able to utilize Carson more as a sixth man this season. Carson, who started just two of 17 games during the regular season, responded by averaging nearly 15 points per game and was named to the AUS second all-star team.
“Any role I have with this team, coming off the bench, starting, whatever, it doesn’t matter,” Carson said. “As long as our team is winning and that’s what we did and that makes me the happiest.”
Veinot, the conference’s most valuable player, finished with 18 points, nine rebounds and eight assists and was named the championship game’s MVP. Kappos added 14 points and six boards.
AUS rookie of the year Avan Nava paced St. F.X. with 18 points, Justin Andrew had 16 and Roker collected 12 points and 13 rebounds.
The X-Men, who played in the late semifinal on Saturday, took a while to get their game legs going. St. F.X. missed its first seven shots as Dal started on a 14-3 surge and built a 24-16 lead after one quarter.
The Tigers’ lead increased to 11 early into the second. But basketball is a game of runs and the X-Men had theirs, closing out the first half on a 15-5 spurt. Dal led 33-32 at intermission.
When Roker hit a jump shot 34 seconds into the third, the X-Men pulled ahead 35-33 for their first lead of the game. It lasted for about 15 seconds and the Tigers never trailed again.
“Our offence was struggling to produce shots but we knew our defence was playing well,” Carson recalled. “That’s always been the key for us.
“We’re a deep team and we kept going hard especially in the third and fourth quarter and that proved to work for us again today.”
The teams battled back and forth and the X-Men kept it to a one- or two-possession game until Carson and company pulled away in the fourth.
A close contest was expected between the tournament's top seeds. The Tigers have won 32 of their past 33 regular season and playoff games against AUS opponents dating back to Jan. 26, 2019. But their only setback was a 78-77 loss at St. F.X. on Jan. 11.
“They were the only team to beat us so that was in the back of our minds,” Carson said. “Sometimes you learn more from losing than you do from winning.
“We had an off day that game but we took a lot away from that and really used it to our advantage. We came back today, confident in one another and got the job done.”
Dalhousie will travel to Ottawa this week for the U Sports championship, which begins on Friday. The Tigers are ranked second for nationals and will play the No. 7 Ottawa Gee-Gees in their quarter-final at 9 p.m. (AT).
“We know we’re not done yet,” Carson said. “We have nationals next weekend and that is the ultimate goal this year. I’m really confident in our squad.”
St. F.X. will host nationals at Scotiabank Centre in 2021.
In Saturday’s semifinals, Dal cruised to an 84-64 win over the fourth-ranked Saint Mary's Huskies in the afternoon game while St. F.X. beat the third-seeded UNB Reds 84-77 in the late matchup.
Notes: Carson, Veinot, Nava, Roker and UNB's Markus Masters were selected as tournament all-stars. ... Over 4,800 fans attended the men’s final, boosting the attendance total to 18,358 for the three-day tourney.
