In the opening, seeding round, held in Brampton: …………………………………………………… The 4th-seeded Windsor W.D. Lowe Trojans defeated the 10th-seeded Guelph John F. Ross Royals 67-63 in overtime after nearly squandering a nine-point lead in the fourth quarter. “They just made some three-pointers that you wouldn’t have believed,” Lowe coach Jerry Brumpton told the Windsor Star. But guard Jamie Price scored seven of his game-high 38 points in overtime to pull out the win. David Elliott added 11 for Lowe. “This Ross team is the 10th seeded, but they beat a good Waterloo Collegiate Institute team to get here and Waterloo was ranked ahead of us in the final OBA rankings,” Brumpton said. “We figured they’d be a pretty good team and they were.” Mike Grozelle led the Royals with 19. …………………………………………………… The 13th-seeded London Central Golden Ghosts edged the 7th-seeded St. Catharines Saints 60-57 as Shawn Lodge scored 14. The score was knotted at 41 after three quarters. But the Saints went scoreless for six minutes while Central took a 53-46 lead with 41 seconds to play. The Saints closed with a 7-0 run, including a driving layup by David Phillip with 9 seconds on the clock. London opened the extra session with a 5-0 run. David Phillip led the Saints with 21. Martin Hajek added 9 and David Jackson 9. Saints coach Larry Miller said his troops, in overtime “were too busy celebrating tying the game up. It’s hard to get a handle on tonight. … The other team showed a lot more composure. They outhustled us for a lot of loose balls and they got a lot of easy layups and that shouldn’t have happened. … I guess we were on cloud nine. We fought so hard to come back, we were nervous and a little anxious … I thought we had the momentum heading into overtime but the team that gets the first basket in overtime has a hell of an advantage.” …………………………………………………… The top-seeded Toronto Eastern Commerce Saints throttled the 11th-seeded Sault Ste. Marie St. Mary’s Knights 74-54 as 6-4 Roger Nurse scored 17 and Mark Ambers 13. The Saints led only 34-30 at half but exploded for 16 points in the first five minutes of the second half to take command. Mike McLean led the Knights with 17. Dustin Jones added 13. Saints coach Simeon Mars told the Toronto Star that his troops came out flat. “Only in the second half did he play like we are capable of. … I don’t think we can afford to be overconfident because this tournament brings together all the champions. I think the boys were just a little over-charged and did not play up to their potential. But after we settled down, it was different. But one also has to realize that the Knights play a very disciplined game and they did not make it easy for us.” Knights coach Loris Pecile said “our plan was to slow down the game as much as we could because we were up against a team with some outstanding athletes. But for some reason we lost our composure at the start of the second and we tried to play their game. This is something you cannot afford to do against such a talented team. Coming into this game we did not expect to beat them, but I am happy with the way the boys played. (It was) a disciplined effort for three-quarters of the game and a five-minute letdown.” …………………………………………………… The 6th-seeded Oakville White Oaks Wildcats defeated the 16th-seeded Sydenham Golden Eagles 64-36 as Jamie Duncan scored 18. “They really wore us down in the paint,” Sydenham coach Doug Fraser told the Kingston Whig-Standard. “The size of the kids is incredible up here. It got away from us in the second quarter. After that, it was fairly even.” Tyler Huehmer led Sydenham with 13. Mike Templeton added 9. …………………………………………………… The 2nd-seeded North York Bathurst Heights Bears thumped the 12th-seeded Brampton St. Augustine Falcons 72-55 as Ahmed Wright scored 18. Jason John led the Falcons with 17. …………………………………………………… The 3rd-seeded Mississauga Westwood Wildcats dumped the 9th-seeded Ottawa Sir Robert Borden Bengals 52-41 as Jerome Robinson scored 15. John Doherty led the Bengals with 10. …………………………………………………… The 8th-seeded Toronto St. Michael’s Blue Raiders clipped the 14th-seeded Pickering Dunbarton Spartans 68-54 as Mike Gleeson scored 17. Ben Madden led the Spartans with 25. …………………………………………………… The 5th-seeded Scarborough Cedarbrae Colts clipped the 15th-seeded Woodbridge Holy Cross Catholic Academy Hawks 50-40 as Clyde Gray scored 19. Kul Pompei led the Hawks with 15.
In the second round: …………………………………………………… The top-seeded Toronto Eastern Commerce Saints defeated the Sydenham Golden Eagles 94-32 as Roger Nurse scored 20. Mike Templeton paced the Golden Eagles with 12. “They could have easily scored 150 points if they’d wanted to,” Sydenham coach Doug Fraser told the Kingston Whig-Standard. The Golden Eagles (coached by Fraser) included Jason Wimmer, Tim McGill, Tyler Huehmer, Jeff Ronan, Geoff Ronan, Malone, Dave Merz, Crevier, Williams, James and Mike Templeton. …………………………………………………… The 7th-seeded St. Catharines Saints defeated Windsor W.D. Lowe Trojans 77-69 in double overtime as 6-6 center David Phillip scored 45, including 22 in the fourth quarter and both overtimes. Jamie Price led the Trojans with 24. David Elliott added 23. Price went to the line with the score 51-51 and hit the first of two foul shots. In the scramble off his miss of the second shot, the ball ended up in the hands of teammate Cedric Henry who was also fouled. Henry made also made his first foul shot but missed the second. The Saints pushed the ball up court and knotted the score at 53 by pumping it inside to Phillip for a bucket. “Their big guy did a good job against us,” Trojans coach Jerry Brumpton told the Windsor Star. “But we still had a chance to win it with 10 seconds left in regulation.” Price went to the line with the score 51-51 and hit the first of two foul shots. The scramble for his miss on the second shot ended up with the ball in the hands of teammate Cedric Henry who was also fouled. Henry also made his first foul shot but missed the second making it 53-51 Lowe. St. Catharines pushed the ball up and dumped it inside to Phillip who sent the game into overtime. …………………………………………………… The 12th-seeded Brampton St. Augustine Falcons dumped the 5th-seeded Scarborough Cedarbrae Colts 61-53 as Kevin Gordon scored 20. Claude Simms led the Colts with 15. The Colts included Blair Adderley, Sean Whyte, Chris Davey. …………………………………………………… The 3rd-seeded Mississauga Westwood Wildcats clipped the 14th-seeded Pickering Dunbarton Spartans 77-66 as Isaac King and Jerome Robinson each scored 12. Mike Sloan led the Spartans with 19. …………………………………………………… The 10th-seeded Guelph John F. Ross Royals tripped the 1oth-seeded London Central Golden Ghosts 72-58 as Mike Grozelle scored 29. Jeremy Potts led the Golden Ghosts with 19. The Golden Ghosts (coached by Herb Peterson) also included Ryan Heimpel, Josh Pringle, Steve Neumann, Ernest Greenstein, Dexter Greenstein, Karan Dhami, Jeff Ramsden, Ethan Adeland, Mark Johnson, Ryan Leigh, Colin Creider, Shaun Lodge and Derek Richardson. …………………………………………………… The 2nd-seeded North York Bathurst Heights Bears defeated the 15th-seeded Woodbridge Holy Cross Catholic Academy Hawks 66-54 as Cornell Brown scored 18. Marco Roda led the Hawks with 16. …………………………………………………… The 9th-seeded Ottawa Sir Robert Borden Bengals edged the 8th-seeded Toronto St. Michael’s Blue Raiders 53-46 as John Doherty scored 16. Mike Gleeson the Blue Raiders with 17. The Blue Raiders (coached by Greg Paolini, assisted by Jeff Zownir and E John) also included Mike Zavershnik, Jason Farrell, Marco Mazzulla, John Kim, Dave Tarrington, Scott Martin, Chris Italia, Evan Green, Vincent Racco, Ryan Kimens, Kevin Scott, Linas Underys, Gamal Smith and Mike Grochmal. …………………………………………………… The 6th-seeded Oakville White Oaks Wildcats defeated the 16th-seeded Sault Ste. Marie St. Mary’s Knights 71-64 as Ben Gorham scored 17. Scott Rankin led the Knights with 23. Kyle Punch added 14, Rod Moynan 11 and Scott Deluca 7. The Knights (coached by Loris Pecile) also included Mike McLean, Dan Mazzrea, Dustin Jones, Mark Brogno.
In the quarterfinals, the top-seeded Toronto Eastern Commerce Saints defeated 9th-seeded Ottawa Sir Robert Borden Bengals 57-44 as Mark Ambers scored 20. Colin Charles added 17. John Doherty led Borden with 12. “I think our players were a little fatigued after that big win the morning (a 60-point blowout of Sydenham),” Saints coach Simeon Mars told the Toronto Star. Borden coach Ted Edwards said he was disappointed but said “our boys have to be given credit for keeping Commerce off the offensive board.” The Bengals (coached by Edwards) also included Ryan Bell, John Purdy, Richard Anderson, David Brophy, James MacLean, Brock MacNab, Darin Davidson.
The 12th-seeded Brampton St. Augustine Falcons pulled their second straight stunner by knocking off the 7th-seeded St. Catharines Saints 44-39. St. Augustine held 6-6 centre David Phillip to 18 points (also reported as 17). Andre Hrvatin led the Falcons with 14. The St. Catharines Saints led 26-16 at the half but the Falcons chipped away at the lead in the third quarter. They opened the second half with a 17-2 run and took a 32-28 lead. The Saints rallied to move ahead 39-38 with two minutes to play but they repeatedly turned over the ball and the Falcons held them scoreless down the stretch. “We got the tempo going in the second half thanks to some outstanding work from Elvis Dennis,” St. Augustine coach Derek Ramalho told the Toronto Star. “He turned our fortunes around with his defensive play and we are now looking ahead to the game against top-ranked Eastern Commerce. No doubt we will be playing against a very talented team but now that we have two upsets under our belts, anything can happen. The fact that we will finish in the top four or better is superb for our program.” Phillip told the St. Catharines Standard that “we didn’t execute well at all. … We should have beat that team by 15 or 20 points, that’s a given. I don’t know why we didn’t but we made some key mental mistakes.” Martin Hajek added that “we should have won. … We were getting totally outplayed but we were only down by seven and I thought we had weathered the storm. We play in surges and we usually come back but I guess the magic ran out.” Saints coach Larry Miller said “you could just sort of feel it wilting and drifting away. The mental part of the game wasn’t there. They might have been into it physically but mentally. … the turnovers were atrocious.” The Saints (coached by Miller) also included David Jackson, Mark Lessey, David Hastings, Anders Oinonen, Marc Wood, Anthony Heyes, Caprice Turner, Craig Groen, Art Liszak and Alley Ivey.
The 3rd-seeded Mississauga Westwood Wildcats defeated the 6th-seeded Oakville White Oaks Wildcats 61-52 as Vance King scored 20. Arthur Ballame-Kongo led the Wildcats with 14.
In the last quarterfinal, the 2nd-seeded North York Bathurst Heights Bears defeated the 10th-seeded Guelph John F. Ross Royals 59-48. The Royals matched the Bathurst Bears until the last four minutes of the game before falling to their more experienced opponents. “We made the mistake of playing their game,” Bears coach Bob Maydo told the Toronto Star. “And this is the reason the game went right down the wire.” Cornell Brown paced the Bears with 20. Wayne Smith added 16. Bjorn Trow led the Royals with 24. Mike Grozelle added 15. The Royals (coached by Pete Grozelle, assisted by Darryl Milne and Dale Smith) included Bjorn Trow, Mike Grozelle, Geoff MacNeill, Peter Cuthbert, Ryan Duffield, Ian Brewster, Justin Sudds, Rob Hofstetter, Jeremy Wilkes, Sean Spender and Chris Wehkamp.
In the semis, the 3rd-seeded Mississauga Westwood Wildcats defeated the 2nd-seeded North York Bathurst Heights Bears 61-55. Isaac King led the Wildcats with 27. Cornell Brown led the Bears with 22. “It appears our boys weren’t hungry enough,” Bears coach Bob Maydo told the Toronto Star. The Wildcats made some superb shots at the start of the third period and got some crucial points. Our boys tried hard to close the gap in the final minute of the game but the Wildcats did well to keep us out.” The Bears were only able to score 5 in the third quarter.
In the other semi, the top-seeded Toronto Eastern Commerce Saints defeated the 12th-seeded Brampton St. Augustine Falcons 70-43 as Doug Johnson scored 23. Kevin Gordon was the top scorer for St. Augustine. Falcons coach Derek Ramalho told the Toronto Star that he was ecstatic. “We didn’t expect to go this far so finishing in the top four was really great.”
In the bronze medal match, the 2nd-seeded North York Bathurst Heights Bears defeated the 12th-seeded Brampton St. Augustine Falcons 56-52 as Ahmed Wright scored 17. Jason John scored 22 for Brampton. Falcons coach Derek Ramalho told the Toronto Star “it was a great way to finish by finishing fourth in this tourney. “We played some great basketball and I am extremely happy with the way the boys played right through.” While disappointed his team did not make it to the final, Bathurst coach Bob Maydo was pleased the players weren’t going home empty-handed. “We suffered a letdown at the start of the second half when Westwood scored some crucial points,” Maydo told the Toronto Star. “We are still a young team. And we can only get better.” The Falcons also included Kevin Gordon, Andre Hrvatin and Elvis Dennis.
In the final, the top-seeded Toronto Eastern Commerce Saints nipped the 3rd-seeded Mississauga Westwood Wildcats 49-47. With 1.7 seconds left, Wildcat Isaac King stole the ball under the Saints’ basket but failed to go for the two points to send the game into overtime. Thinking the deficit was three, King passed up a look in the lane to race out to the arc but time expired. “It was unfortunate it had to end this way,” Wildcats coach Mal Simms told the Toronto Star. “I thought the game would go right down to the wire and it did.” With two minutes to go, King nailed a trey to trim the margin to 43-41. With 27 seconds remaining, Collin Charles hit 2 free throws to extend the Saints margin to 4. He added 2 insurance free throws with 7 seconds to play. “Collin was under tremendous pressure tonight,” said Saints coach Simeon Mars, “but he came up big. `I have always maintained that Collin is one of the finest players in Canada and today he proved he can do it when the pressure is on.” Charles scored 13, while 6-6 Doug Johnson led the 44-0 Saints with 24. Johnson said “we worked hard all year and there couldn’t have been a better way for this team to end the season.” Mars said “tonight’s close victory was no surprise. I said before all the teams in the final 16 are all champions and anything is possible. Westwood played a very disciplined game and their players hustled all the way.” King and Jerome Robinson each scored 11 to lead the Wildcats.
The bronze medalist North York Bathurst Heights Bears: Wayne Smith; Cornell Brown; Ahmed Wright; Everton Young; Simeon Powell; Junior Allen; Joseph Asante; Andrew Campbell; Ronald James; Richard Mills; Ian Oakley; Roger Sealey; Greg Smith; Markus Wright; coach Bob Maydo
The silver medalist Mississauga Westwood Wildcats: Isaac King; Jerome Robinson; Vance King; Mike Brown; Paul Archer; Duane Bynoe; Everton White; Jason Stapleton; Chris Bennett; Gill Smalling; Dennis Pellington; coach Mal Simms
The gold medalist Toronto Eastern Commerce Saints: Roger Nurse; Doug Johnson; Mark Ambers; Jamaal Magliore; Collin Charles; Jason Dawkins; Wilton Edwards; Erick Wynter; coach Simeon Mars