The St. Thomas University Tommies men’s basketball team made major strides in the 2019-20 season, going from 7-14 and missing the playoffs last year, to finishing 12-6 and tied for 2nd in the ACAA (sliding to 3rd in the standings because of tiebreakers in the ACAA constitution).
The new year brought new faces as the Tommies had 7 new members, plus a new coaching staff, led by John Hickey.
Hickey credits a lot of this year’s success to a preseason trip his team took with the women’s team.
“I think that we had one of our most important/defining weekends of our year early on when both the men's and women's teams were at Cranberry Island Resort for the weekend,” said Hickey. “I think that this set us up well for early success and it carried over into the start of the season.”
The Tommies would open the year with three wins in the Ken Gould Invitational, including an intense 79-77 victory over the Mount Allison University Mounties, and kicking off the regular season with three straight wins.
The Tommies were led offensively by a pair of ACAA All-Stars, Geoffrey Lavoie and Almin Dervisevic.
In his second year in the ACAA Lavoie took his game to a whole new level, being named an ACAA 1st Team All-Star and CCAA All-Canadian, averaging just under 17 points a game, while bettering almost all of his numbers from his rookie campaign.
“Geoff is the kind of player who can beat you in multiple ways, and he showed that this season,” said Hickey. “He wants the ball in his hands at the end of the game and is a very unselfish player.”
Dervisevic proved to the ACAA that he is an elite level playmaker, averaging 5.6 assists per game on his way to being named an ACAA 2nd Team All-Star.
“Al has a high basketball IQ and is a very good playmaker,” said Hickey. “He is a leader both on and off the court.”
The Tommies were ultra-competitive in the ACAA, having defeated every team at least once, and Hickey took note of how close the entire league was this past year.
“From top to bottom the league was fairly balanced this year, with anyone having a shot to win on any given day. As for our team, building a program that has a culture of winning is a process and I feel that we made some great strides towards that this year. We want to continue to build a program that has the players excited to be a part of.”
The Tommies season culminated at the ACAA Championships in their quarterfinal win over the UNBSJ Seawolves, when former Seawolf, Ian Watters, sank his former team with a clutch three pointer in the dying seconds. Watters had a knack for hitting big shots for the Tommies this season.
“Being in those close, championship type games were great for us. We’re excited to continue to work hard to continue to move that needle in our favour,” added Hickey.