By Jadon Frank

There were a lot of firsts for Briercrest men’s basketball during the 2012-13 season, as head coach Rod Adrian worked to build a strong, stable program in the ACAC. The team ended the regular season first in the ACAC standings with a strong 19-1 record, ranked first in the final five CCAA National rankings of the season and won a bronze medal at the ACAC Championships for the first ever ACAC medal in program history.

The 19-1 record also marked the first winning season since the program’s inaugural ACAC season in 1996-97, and earned the team a berth in the ACAC playoffs for the first time since 2007-08.

Fifth-year players and co-captains, Gradyn Childerhose, Matt Myers and Kendell Boese were recognized by the ACAC for their contributions at the end of the season. Childerhose and Myers were selected as First-Team ACAC south division All-Conference players while Boese was selected as a Second-Team ACAC south division All-Conference.

Coach Adrian was selected as the ACAC south division men’s basketball coach of the year.

Childerhose’s accolades continued as he was selected as the ACAC men’s basketball player of the year and ACAC male athlete of the year across all sports. On the national level he was recognized as a CCAA All-Canadian, the CCAA men’s basketball player of the year and as an SIRC-CCAA Academic All-Canadian.

Childerhose, Myers and Boese will be hard to replace, but the team will have a strong nucleus returning for the 2013-14 season.