Kelowna’s Shephard to represent Canada

Kelowna’s Grant Shephard was one of six Canada West players named to the Canadian men’s basketball roster for the upcoming Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast, Australia.

A 6-foot-10, 225-pound forward for the UBC Thunderbirds, Shephard was recently named Canada West’s Rookie of the Year after averaging 8.7 points and 4.1 rebounds per game. He posted season-highs of 20 points, 10 rebounds, four assists, four steals and two blocks, while totalling 271 points and 128 rebounds in suiting up for all 20 games during UBC’s 17-3 regular season.

The Thunderbirds lost in the Canada West semifinals to the Calgary Dinos, who went on to win the U SPORTS national championship for the first time in the program’s history.

Still, it was a successful debut season for Shephard, a much sought-after recruit who previously played for the KSS Owls before heading to Florida to finish his high-school career at Montverde Academy.

Also named to the Canadian men’s team were Shephard’s teammate with the T-Birds, Conor Morgan, the two-time Canada West Player of the Year, plus Mambi Diawara (Calgary), David Kapinga (Calgary), Mamadou Gueye (Alberta) and Justus Alleyn (Manitoba), who led Canada West in scoring this season with 24.1 points per game.

Summer Masikewich (Saskatchewan) was the lone Canada West player named to the Canadian women’s team.

Canada is making its basketball debut at the Commonwealth Games, as Basketball Canada didn’t enter teams at the 2006 Games in Melbourne, which marked the only other time the sport has been part of the event program.

The basketball tournaments are set to open on Friday, April 6, with the Canadian men tipping off against host Australia at 12:30 a.m. PT, while the Canadian women will face England at 1:30 a.m. PT.

The Commonwealth Games run through April 15.