SHELBY BLACKLEY
The Cord (Wilfrid Laurier University)

Golden Hawks basketball player Max Allin tore up the court with 28 and 43 point performances after losing his father on Jan. 4.

WATERLOO (CUP) — Wilfrid Laurier University basketball player Maxwell Allin honoured his late father with hardcourt heroism Jan. 9 and 12.

Following an emotional moment of silence for his father Dave, Maxwell Allin stepped onto the court Jan. 9 for an unforgettable performance. Even Wilfrid Laurier head coach Peter Campbell, who has coached Allin for four years, was amazed.

“I [said] to him all the time… when his dad was alive, the one thing you can do for your dad is play well because your dad loved to watch you play,” Campbell said.

Allin’s father passed away Jan. 4 after being diagnosed late in 2011 with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, a disease characterized by progressive muscle weakness and deterioration throughout the body.

Allin missed the first two games in January, but exploded in his first game back, dedicating his performance to his dad.

“My dad was a big part of my life,” Allin said. “He taught me everything I knew about basketball and today he would want me to keep competing and achieving as much as I can out on the court.”

Allin recorded 28 points, 10 assists and seven rebounds to lead the Laurier Golden Hawks to a 112-92 upset win over the Windsor Lancers Jan. 9. A mere three days later Allin broke Wilfrid Laurier’s school record for points scored in a single game when he put up 43, and added eight rebounds and two assists for good measure.

“Mentally, I don’t know how he does what he does,” Campbell said of the fourth-year point guard.

“For the fall [semester], he carried us. We weren’t very deep; we weren’t playing a lot of guys, so we had a lot of trouble playing Friday night and Saturday night. He was the one guy that was consistently good both nights all fall.”

The school record for a single-game performance was previously held by WLU graduate Kale Harrison — one of Allin’s good friends — who recorded 39 points against the Carleton University Ravens on Nov. 12, 2010. That record was tied on Jan. 5 of this year when Allin’s teammate Will Coulthard scored 39 points in a game, but Allin took the record away from his teammate two games later.

“It’s pretty impressive, I guess you could say,” Allin said of his 43-point game. “It was nice that Kale was there in attendance during the game and I got to see him after.”
Allin’s performance earned him his 11th career Laurier Athlete of the Week honour and he was named the Ontario University Athletics’ Athlete of the Week for the second time in his career.

He also has the second best points-per-game average of all Canadian university basketball players at 23.3 and is fifth in the nation for rebounds per game with 10.5.
Allin says everything he has accomplished is because of his father.

“Since I was a little kid he taught me everything I knew about basketball,” Allin said. “He’s always helped me and criticized my game and helped me grow as a player and I’m thankful for having him teach me the game of basketball.”

Despite his individual accomplishments, Allin is still focusing his attention on improving his talent and helping the Hawks move into a playoff position.
“It’s an impressive record, but it’s not as important as winning,” Allin said.

“It sucked missing the two games, it sucked not being on the court with my teammates and I tried to make up for it in the last few games. I think we got a lot of talented guys on our team, we’ve just got to come together.”

Even though his father will no longer be physically present at WLU basketball games, Allin will continue to use his father as motivation throughout the rest of the season.

“Every time I step out on the court I play for him and I want to make him proud. So far I think I’m doing a good job and I’m going to continue to for the rest of the year.”

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Photo: Rosalie Eid