There had been some significant changes to the format as the teams gathered at the University of Waterloo for the 1974 men's basketball nationals. The tournament was now an eight-team affair, including, for the first time, the addition of 'wildcard' teams.
Acadia, with one of their strongest teams in recent years, qualified for their eighth trip to nationals in 12 seasons as Atlantic conference champions after a 16-2 regular season and an 80-79 win over Saint Mary's in the conference final.
It was the first year the Atlantic conference champion had been determined through a playoff tournament. Previously, the first-place team in the regular season had automatically qualified.
The Huskies, as a consolation, also advanced to nationals as one of the wildcard entries. The other wildcard team was the Guelph Gryphons, who had been invited only after McMaster, the first choice from their conference, had backed out.
The reward for the eighth-seeded Gryphons was a first-round meeting with the top-ranked Axemen.
Acadia's roster had talent from top to bottom, but persistence and a 'never-say-die' attitude kept Guelph in the game. In the end, they engineered a huge upset by knocking off the powerful Axemen by a single point, 71-70. The final score represented the Gryphons' only lead of the contest.
Wells had a chance to at least force overtime and potentially win the game, but unfortunately missed both of his two foul shots at the buzzer. Cassey led the way for Acadia with 24 points. Wells added 15 and Beausang 14.
It was a disappointed group of Axemen who regrouped for a consolation semi-final against Ottawa. Acadia dug deep and came away with a 65-60 win. Wells led all scorers with 24 points and added 12 rebounds, and Cassey contributed 19.
In the consolation final, Acadia dropped an 85-67 decision to the Manitoba Bisons, who similar to Acadia, had also lost their first-round game by a point, 66-65 to Saint Mary's. Gordie West led the Axemen with 16 points, Wells added 14, 12 of them in the first half as he almost single-handedly kept the Bisons from running way with the game. Taylor and Cassey finished with 11 points apiece.
In the ultimate 'Cinderella story', Guelph made it all the way to the final, where the Gryphons edged Saint Mary's 74-72 to capture their school's first national title.
Contributed by John DeCoste '77. John's book, Living the Dream: The Acadia Axemen at the Nationals can be purchased by contacting John at jadecoste56@gmail.com