In the opening round of a 14-team tournament, held at Chatham-Kent High School: …………………………………………………… The Essex Red Raiders defeated the Acton District Bearcats 59-45. …………………………………………………… The 8th-seeded Chatham John McGregor Panthers edged the 12th-seeded North Bay Widdifield Wildcats 42-39. Tom Sutton led the Wildcats with 10. John Peck added 8, Wally Hayes, Jeff Harle 6 and Shaun Herbert 6. Trailing 40-39 with 10 seconds to play, Peck scored what appeared to be the winner but he was called for travelling. Chatham iced it with two free throws. Widdifield coach Peter Topolie told the Brantford Expositor that “it was a tough game. We just didn’t get any breaks. On the travelling call, it was very close as to whether he was or not.” …………………………………………………… The Orangeville Scarlett Bears clipped the London Central Golden Ghosts 69-62 as Tim May scored 32, Jamie Williams 13, Mark Henry 11, Reg Priester 7 and Kevin Myles 6. The Bears hit 26-76 from the floor and 17-28 from the line. Kevin Eck led the Golden Ghosts with 22. London Central, which led 35-32 at the half, hit 26-62 from the floor and 11-20 from the line. …………………………………………………… Dresden Lambton Kent edged the Richmond Hill Bayview Bengals 59-58.
In the second round: …………………………………………………… The Chatham John McGregor Panthers edged the Acton District Bearcats 51-45 (also reported as 54-41). The Bearcats (coached by Murray Kittman, assisted by Dave Boycott) included Bob Little, Paul Grojup, George Gidman, Dave Entwhistle, Harold Koehler, John Kwiatkowski, Matt Vuk, Steve Margetts, Scott Allenby and Gord Glenn. …………………………………………………… The London Central Golden Ghosts edged Dresden Lambton Kent (i.e., Chatham-Kent) 54-53. …………………………………………………… The North Bay Chippewa Secondary Raiders versus x. …………………………………………………… The Essex Red Raiders clipped the North Bay Widdifield Wildcats 53-42. Wally Hayes led the Wildcats with 16. Shaun Hebert added 6, John Peck 6 and Tom Sutton 6. Wildcats coach Peter Topolie told the Brantford Expositor that “we played them even from the second quarter one but we just couldn’t gain any ground.” The Wildcats (coached by Topolie, assistant Gary Payne) also included Jim Wilson, Chris Whelan. …………………………………………………… The Smith Falls Red Hawks torched Pembroke 92-32. …………………………………………………… The Orangeville District Scarlett Bears stomped the Richmond Hill Bayview Bengals 77-45 as Mark Henry scored 28, including 12-15 from the line. Tim May added 18, Jaime Williams 16, Kevin Myles 9 and Reg Priester 6. The Scarlett Bears led 38-36 at the half and hit 27-69 from the floor and 23-31 from the line. Jon Brillert led the Bengals with 17. The Bengals hit 25-82 from the floor and 16-21 from the line.. …………………………………………………… The Blenheim District Bobcats whipped the Welland HVS Tigers 65-45. The Tigers (coach Gene Oleskiw) included Pat Sardella.
In the quarterfinals, the 4th-seeded Blenheim District Bobcats edged the Orangeville District Scarlett Bears 54-53 as Bobcat Mike Nedvidek hit the winning free throw with eight seconds to play. Bobcat post Jim Smyth fouled out with 5:38 to play. Mark Henry hit two free throws to knot the score at 47. Jamie Williams notched a putback to give Orangevile its first lead with 2:37 to play. Blenheims John DeBruyn hit a jumper from the top of the key to knot the score at 53. Scarlett Bear Tim May was called for a charging foul with 15 seconds to play. Mark Henry was called for a foul on Nedvidek, who hit the winner. A Scarlett Bears attempt to inbound the ball was tipped to the Bobcats. Mark Henry led the Scarlett Bears with 18. Tim May added 15, Jamie Williams 12 and Kevin Myles 8. The Scarlett Bears (coach Ed Boates) also included Reg Priester, John Matthews, Dave Heimbecker, Peter Howard and Mike Walker.
The Essex Red Raiders nipped the Timmins HVS Blues 64-63. The Red Raiders led by 12 with 1:30 play and just managed to hang on for the win. They’d led 35-23 at the half and 44-39 after three quarters. Essex coach Barry Pepper told the Windsor Star that “I’ve never seen anything like it. I’ve seen some good comebacks before but not like this one, not even on TV. It should happen as far as I’m concerned.” Tracey Walls led the Red Raiders with 27. Peter Vandebovenkamp added 26. Mark Jansen paced Timmins with 18. Norm McDowall added 16 and Marc Boissoneault 13.
Belleville Collegiate defeated the Chatham John McGregor Panthers 51-45.
In the last quarterfinal, the Smith Falls Red Hawks clubbed the London Central Golden Ghosts 74-58.
In the semis, the Blenheim District Bobcats pounded top seeded Belleville Collegiate 58-38 after opening the game with a 10-0 run. Jim Smythe scored 21 for Blenheim. Don Grey added 16.
In the other semi, the Essex Red Raiders defeated the Smith Falls Red Hawks 54-51 in double overtime. Peter Van de Bovenkamp had hit a field goal with three seconds to play to tie the game at 45 and force overtime. Smith Falls won the tip and stalled the entire first overtime in hopes a last second shot would win it. But they missed the jumper. In the second overtime, the Red Raiders won the tip, ripped off a 9-2 run and then coasted to the victory. Tracey Walls and Van de Bovenkamp each scored 15 for the Red Raiders. Dave Kigar added 11. Chris Simpson led the Red Hawks with 16. Darren Reid added 13.
In the final, the Blenheim District Bobcats throttled the Essex Red Raiders 55-38. Jim Smythe led Blenheim with 26 points. Blenheim shot 17-27 from the line, while the Golden Hawks were 4-13. Tracey Walls paced the Red Raiders with 15. Essex coach Barry Pepper said his team was tired from the double-overtime semi. Blenheim opened a 23-8 lead and then put the game out of reach with a 9-0 run. Essex coach Barry Pepper told the Windsor Star that “we missed our first three shots of the game. They were all good shots too. And that more or less established the pattern of the game. In fairness to my kids though, I think they were just exhausted.” The Red Raiders were also hurt by a 10-minute scoring drought, he said. “We were scrambling all game, just trying to get something going.”
The silver medalist Essex Red Raiders: Tracy Walls; Peter Van de Bovenkamp; John Van de Bovenkamp; Dave Kigar; Jeff Siefker; Jeff Renaud; Mark Walcott; Sean Collins; Mark Knutson; Mark Meloche; Tim King; Vance Scott; coach Barry Pepper
The gold medalist Blenheim District Bobcats: Jim Smythe; Don Grey; John DeBruyn; Mike Nedvidek; coach Kevin Farquharson