MVP-contender Bercy no longer sorry he chose St. F.X.

Bercy is a franchise player who is making a strong case for AUS most valuable player in his fourth year with Konchalski. Despite a recent three-game losing streak, the team has clinched a spot in the AUS tournament at Scotiabank Centre beginning March 3.

By: Monty Mosher

It's funny what a difference a few years can make.

A few years ago, Kevin Bercy was in a prep school in Waterloo, Ont.,  hoping like so many Canadian kids that a big-time NCAA program would want him in their basketball uniform.

His team played in U.S. tournaments in front of the kind of coaches who could make Bercy's dreams come true.

It looked promising for the six-foot-seven forward for a while. There were nibbles, but in the end a quality offer didn't emerge.

He was from Ottawa and the hometown Gee-Gees made a strong pitch. Bercy, an athletic forward with great skill around the basket, wasn't all that interested in kicking around such familiar environs for another four or five years.

In the end, St. Francis Xavier X-Men head coach Steve Konchalski swept in and won the sweepstakes, claiming one of the better prospects in the 2013-14 class.

And the two locked arms and lived happily ever after. Well, not quite.

Bercy, simply put, regretted his decision.

"To be completely honest, when I committed I really wasn't happy," he said. "I was actually very disappointed at myself committing to St. F.X. I just really wanted to go down south."

But St. F.X., and Antigonish and its surroundings, worked its magic, like it has on dozens of recruits before him.

"Once I got here, I fell in love with the campus," said Bercy, a 22-year-old forward in his fourth year. "I realized the competition in the AUS, and Canada generally, is at a high level. Now, committing to St. F.X. has probably been the best decision of my life to this day."

Bercy is a franchise player who is making a strong case for AUS most valuable player in his fourth year with Konchalski. Despite a recent three-game losing streak, the team has clinched a spot in the AUS tournament at Scotiabank Centre beginning March 3.

It ends two years out of the tournament for the X-Men, unprecedented in Konchalski's four-plus decades with the team, after Bercy and a host of fellow rookies went to the AUS final against Saint Mary's in 2014.

Bercy is fourth in AUS scoring at 20.2 points per game, tops in shooting percentage (62.1) and second in rebounding at 11.0.

He's become a better mid-range shooter, likely what kept him out of the NCAA in the first place, as his career has progressed. He even has three three-pointers on seven attempts this year.

Despite playing only five games in 2014-15 due to injury, he has 970 points in his career. He also missed two games in his rookie season due to injury.

"Kevin's leadership has developed to a great extent," said Konchalski. "He's had major injuries and he's battled through that. He's built up his body. He's having one of the best years of anybody in the country right now."

Konchalski said he knew Bercy was a good player when he got him. But this?

"Not to this extent, but what you can't measure is a player's determination and heart and work ethic. He's in the gym constantly, in the weight room constantly. That's what you couldn't measure."

Bercy came in with Julius Antoine, Davonte Provo and Cameron Walker and all have become cornerstone players, along with point guard Akil Charles, a Maryland native who transferred in.

Getting to the final as a fourth seed in their first try together might have been the worst thing that could have happened.

"I think we thought it was going to be easy to get back there," Bercy said. "We didn't realize how tough it is in the AUS just to make the playoffs. Really, teams from first place to sixth place are all at the same level."

Maybe they took the last two seasons too lightly. A 9-31 overall record was strange for an X-Men program that won six titles in a span of seven years only a decade ago.

"This year, we realized we didn't make the playoffs two years in row and we didn't want that to happen again," Bercy said. "I think a big part of that is team chemistry and the rookies that came in. They've come in and given us extra firepower off the bench. I think that's a big thing that has pushed us to playoff-level basketball."

The team has been better this season at accepting the ups and downs of a long season. Some of it is the maturity of players like Bercy and the other veterans.

"I still think I have a lot of improving to do as a leader," he said. "But I've definitely grown as a leader, and a man, from first year to senior year.

"I tried to lead by example and be one of the hardest-working guys, but I wouldn't get on guys. Just with growing up it's been easier to do that."

Injuries might have derailed the whole thing. In his first scrimmage at St. F.X. in his freshman year, he tore his meniscus, leaving him sidelined through the exhibition schedule and the first two games of the regular season.

Five games into the regular season in his sophomore year, he fractured a vertebra and had to sit out the remainder of the year.

"Luckily I've been able to remain healthy for all of my third year and all of this year so far," he said. "I'm hoping the streak will continue.

"Obviously, I wish I had never been injured, but these injuries made me appreciate playing more and it made me mentally tougher."

He said it will be great to be back on the floor in Halifax at tournament time.

"It's been a winning tradition at St. F.X., so it definitely feels good to be back on a winning note. It will be great to experience the playoffs again.

"At one point in the final (in 2014) against Saint Mary's it was me, Cameron, Davonte and Julius on the floor at the same time. It will be the four of us taking part in the playoffs again. We have a chance to get back to that championship game and hopefully win it."