Post-game interview with Jamelle Barrett

DORIAN GEIGER
Sports Editor

HALIFAX — If you ask the Huskies, they’ll tell you good things happen in pairs.

And the Green and White are now one step closer to accomplishing a repeat national championship after knocking off the Dalhousie Tigers on Friday 91-79 at the CIS Final Eight in Halifax. The win equates to a Huskies semi-final berth on Saturday against the young and agile Carleton Ravens.

By the time the buzzer sounded in the fourth quarter the Huskies had turned the formidable hometown Tigers into house-trained kittens in front of semi-packed Halifax Metro Center.

Jamelle Barrett, Michael Lieffers and Rejean Chabot were all unstoppable entities up front for the Huskies. And despite Chabot’s fouling out around the eight-minute mark, Barrett picked up the slack to slam the door on any chance of a Tiger comeback.

Dalhousie maintained momentum the first three quarters, taking a 37-36 lead over the Huskies heading into halftime.

The Tigers’ demise began to take shape in the final frame. Lieffers silenced the noisy hometown crowd with two monstrous dunks in the second half, giving the Dogs a ten-point cushion and 79-69 advantage with roughly four minutes remaining in the game.

Barrett was a frequent thorn in the Tigers’ side; in penetrating Dalhousie’s defence, the Tigers were unable to read if the California-grown Barrett would dish — or swish.

It would be an understatement to label the Huskies-Tigers bout as a physical affair given the obscene amount of fouls dealt out; a total of 42 personal fouls were called. In comparison to the total 13 fouls called during the Lakehead and Trinity Western match earlier in the tournament, it was evident the flow of the Huskies’ game suffered. Chabot, Barrett and Nolan Brudehl combined for 12 of the Huskies 24 fouls.

This led the referees’ judgment to come into question more than once by both benches. Huskies’ coaches Barry Rawlyk and Nathan Schellenberg were frequently on the tips of their toes exhausting their lung space in disapproval.

The Tigers are now in the rearview as the Huskies prepare to face the No. 2-seeded Carleton Ravens. Transitioning from battle with the Tigers to the Ravens — a team that has gone 22-0 in Ontario University Sport this season — will prove a challenge for the Huskies. This game is poised to be an electric affair but the key to victory lies in the Dogs playing smart basketball and avoiding another plethora of personal fouls. It will be difficult to survive the talons of the undefeated Ravens if they don’t.