In the interzone playoffs, the Brandon Crocus Plains Plainsmen dispatched the Steinbach Sabres 116-89. Jason Scott led the Plainsmen with 30. Kevin Pratt added 27, along with 10 assists and 9 boards, and Trever Penner 15, along with 9 boards. Phouba Pathamavong led the Sabres with 41. “That kid Pathamavong was as good a shooter as I have seen and it wasn’t like we weren’t playing good defence against him,” Plainsmen coach Dwight Kearns told the Brandon Sun. “But we had some good performances too from a lot of guys. Scott really shot it well and Pratt dished it out well for us. We definitely executed well.” Crocus led 65-59 at the half. The Sabres (coached by Glen Hiebert) also included Mike Desmarais.
In the opening round: …………………………………………………… The 6th-seeded Winnipeg Dakota Lancers clocked the 11th-seeded Winnipeg Churchill Bulldogs 88-62. The Bulldogs included Scott Klassen, David Friesen, Scott Coulce, Brian Schellenberg. …………………………………………………… The 5th-seeded Winnipeg Transcona Titans dispatched the 12th-seeded Winnipeg Sisler Spartans 97-79. The Spartans include Garth McAlpine, John Bagnus. …………………………………………………… The 7th-seeded Brandon Crocus Plains Plainsmen defeated the 10th-seeded Winnipeg Tec Voc Hornets 72-61 as Jason Scott scored 23. Trever Penner added 20, along with 17 boards. Lawrence Mangaron paced the Hornets with 24. Kevin Chief added 19. “We were able to hold off their two big scorers (Mangaron and Chief) in the second half,” said Plainsmen coach Dwight Kearns. “It wasn’t as comfortable as the score made it look. The half score was 33-32 for us, and we were up 50-49 after three quarters . . . they really gave us a good game.” …………………………………………………… The 8th-seeded Winnipeg Kelvin Clippers stomped the 9th-seeded Winnipeg Kildonan East Reivers 81-63. The Reivers included Elliott Unger.
In the quarterfinals, the 5th-seeded Winnipeg Transcona Tigers dumped the 4th-seeded Winnipeg St. John’s Tigers 103-101. Titan forward Kevin Brown hit the winning free throws with 12 seconds to play. “Ever since Grade 10 games between us have been 100 points each,” Brown told the Winnipeg Free Press. “When we play it’s just run, run, run—no defence.” The Tigers led most of the affair despite having little depth (just two players on the bench). But it proved their undoing when they got in foul trouble. “That’s what we keyed on,” said Transcona coach Gerry Badiou. “We knew they were aggressive and we tried to keep going at them. I knew they would eventually get into foul trouble and we could take it to them.” Forwards Jeff Nelson and Art Ducharme had four fouls apiece in the first half. Ducharme fouled out in the third quarter, while Nelson’s defensive play suffered. “As soon as I saw (Nelson) get his first foul early in the first quarter, I knew our plan of waiting things out was starting to work already,” Badiou said. The Tigers led 25-14, 56-40 and 81-66 at the quarters. Despite their woes, they continued to push the pace. “It didn’t surprise me at all because that’s their game,” Badiou said. “They like to run and so do we.” Point guard Vince Bueno paced the Titans with 28, including six treys. Ray Rahaman added 27. Jeff Nelson led the Tigers with 36. The Tigers (coached by Irv Hanec) also included Garnet Desjarlais, Ron Unruh.
The Winnipeg Oak Park Raiders stomped the Winnipeg Kelvin Clippers 81-48. The Clippers included Julian Steltzer, Sajah Hashmi.
The 2nd-seeded Winnipeg Daniel McIntyre Maroons edged the 7th-seeded Brandon Crocus Plains Plainsman 72-67 in a foulfest in which four players from each time fouled out. “Both teams were really banging each other,” Maroons coach Tony Scott told the Brandon Sun. “They are a very physical team and you have to meet the challenge . . . I think we did that.” The Maroons led 49-33 at the half and by as many as 20. “It was a big hill to climb, so you’ve got to credit the boys with playing that hard right to the end,” said Crocus coach Dwight Kearns. Maroons forward Darryl Baptiste dominated the first half, scoring 22 points, including four three-pointers. “He was just unstoppable,” said Crocus forward Jason Scott. “Their whole team was. There isn’t a team in the province that could have stopped them.” Scott led the Maroons with 23. Ryan Oregas added 13, while Jeff Prosken nabbed 7 boards. Trever Penner led the Plainsmen with 18 points and 10 rebounds, while Kevin Bednorski and Kent Bednorski added 13 points apiece. Drayson Cowan added 10. Cowan contained Darryl Baptiste to just 2 points in the second half as the Plainsmen battled back from the deficit. “I just went by my instincts having played with him (Baptiste) this summer (on Manitoba’s juvenile team),” Cowan told the Brandon Sun. “If they hadn’t have been so hot in the first half, it would have been a different story. … It’s really hard to take. You work so hard and then …” The Plainsmen (coached by Dwight Kearns) also included Bart Walker, Jason Lee, Jason Scott, Kevin Pratt, Ian Boreyko, Jason Slater, Murray Matheson, Brad Dodds and Ken McLaren.
In the last quarterfinal, the Winnipeg Dakota Lancers dumped the Winnipeg Vincent Massey Trojans 76-53. The Trojans (coached by Jerry Hildebrand, assisted by Kris Hildebrand) included Peter young, Ryland Hart, Paul Unruh, Shelden Nemeth, Allan Horne.
In the semis, the Winnipeg Transcona Titans defeated the Winnipeg Oak Park Raiders 78-61 as Kevin Brown scored 24 and Vince Bueno 19. Jason Harrison led the Raiders with 20. “It feels just great,” Brown told the Winnipeg Free Press. “It’ll be perfect and all we need is one more upset.” Transcona coach Gerry Badiou said “it’s a great feeling. Oak Park played an excellent game and we were close all the way. We just needed to keep running and keep working hard and the guys did it.” The teams traded the lead nine times through the first half. Transcona broke open the tight affair in the second half when guard Vince Bueno hit three consecutive buckets to give the Titans a 50-43 lead. “We were close but Vince lit it up again,” Kevin Brown said. “He hit three in a row and that was it — the game was gone. When I saw Vince smokin’, I knew we had it.” The Raiders were hurt by defensive stopper Gerry Munday’s foul trouble, said Oak Park co-coach Darren Klapak. “When it’s close like that it’s going to go one of two ways. Losing Gerry Munday to foul trouble didn’t help us. He’s a big part of our team, but I’ve got to give the other guys credit. They sucked it up as best they could but it just wasn’t there for us.” After leading 32-31 at halftime, Transcona outscored the Raiders 20-12 in the third quarter. “The shots started going in for us and that made the difference,” Badiou said. “I think we had everybody working hard and the guys that were on the floor gave 100 per cent.”
In the other semi, the 2nd-seeded Winnipeg Daniel McIntyre Maroons dumped the 6th-seeded Winnipeg Dakota Lancers 57-50 as Ryan Oregas scored 18. Jon Hanec led the Lancers with 27.
In the final, the 2nd-seeded Winnipeg Daniel McIntyre Maroons defeated the 5th-seeded Winnipeg Transcona Titans 65-60 in overtime. Titan guard Ramil Sumonod had forced overtime by driving the lane for a layup with 12 seconds to play to knot the score at 55. The Maroons hit five free throws in the overtime to pull out the win. “If you were to tell me at the beginning of the year that we’d be in this position right now, I’d say you were a liar,” Maroons coach Tony Scott told the Winnipeg Free Press. “We’ve worked hard and believed in each other and we saw through our work ethic that we would get the opportunity to be here.” Paulo Queijo paced the Maroons with 20. Jeff Jezzerd led the Titans with 21.
The all-tournament team featured: MVP Ryan Oregas (Daniel McIntyre); Jason Harrison (Oak Park); Jon Hanec (Dakota); Vince Bueno (Transcona); Kevin Brown (Transcona); and Pavlo Queijo (Daniel McIntyre)
The co-bronze medalist Winnipeg Dakota Lancers: Jon Hanec;
The co-bronze medalist Winnipeg Oak Park Raiders: Jason Harrison; Gerry Munday; Joel Neufeld; Jed Hansen; Mike Bevan; Rob Thimm; Ross Paslen; coach Randy Kusano; coach Darren Klepak
The silver medalist Winnipeg Transcona Titans: Vince Bueno; Kevin Brown; Jeff Jezzaro; Ray Rahaman; Ramil Sumonod; Pete Wicha; Brad Cole; coach Gerry Badiou
The gold medalist Winnipeg Daniel McIntyre Maroons: Ryan Oregas; Pavlo Queijo; Jeff Prosker; Jason Scott; Darryl Baptiste; Ernesto Manlig; Patrick Quigley; Jason Santos; John Prosker; coach Tony Scott