In the wild card games: …………………………………………………… The Winnipeg Kelvin Clippers edged the Winnipeg St. John’s Tigers 94-91. The Tigers (coached by Adam Masi) included James Bacamas, Carl Bacasmas, Ren Balmaceda, Sel Diotay, Matthew Hebert, Matthew Kirby, Dakota Lewis, John Quidoles, Nathan Smith, Jordan Thomas, Asher Wood and Payton Yakimshyn. …………………………………………………… The Winnipeg Maples Marauders clipped the Winnipeg Sturgeon Heights Huskies 70-56. The Huskies (coached by Stephen Tackie) included Uriel Attiglah, Yao Bo Yao, Jack Connolly, Josh Dale, Logan Fedak, Matt Fedak, Tyson Jensen, DeMar Kraus, Shawn Madore, Daniel McCullough, Josh Robinson, Mark Russell, John Sokoloski and John Vasili.
In the opening round, held in Winnipeg: …………………………………………………… The 8th-seeded Winnipeg John Taylor Collegiate Pipers clubbed the 9th-seeded Winnipeg Kildonan East Reivers 95-78. The Reivers (coached by Lloyd Celones) included Max Asuncion, Kahvi Dennis, Vinh Giang, Michael Goldenstein, Seth McKenzie, Shemar Omar, Matt Peter, Jeremy Pillay, Devin Sumar, Jared Wiens and Akoi Yuot. …………………………………………………… The 5th-seeded Winnipeg Sisler Spartans whipped the 12th-seeded Winkler Garden Valley Zodiacs 106-70. The Zodiacs (coached by Walt Giesbrecht) included Nate Andrade, Ryan Bueckert, James Dycks, Isaiah Friesen, Preston Giesbrecht, Ryan Giesbrecht, Caleb Klassen, Roman Maschkin, Bob Matuszewski, T.J. Matuszewski, Carter Nickel, Tiago Oliveira, Michael Sawazki and Trent Wiebe. …………………………………………………… The 6th-seeded Winnipeg Dakota Collegiate Lancers crushed the 11th-seeded Winnipeg Kelvin Clippers 108-79. The Clippers (coached by Don Lamont) included Ben Anderson, Mark Brygidyr, Taye Frazier, Deng Gulak, Cyril Hernandez, Nicolas Kasmik, Ethan Lam, Luke Lintz, Brendan Paukovic, Joe Pham, Mehr Rakshani, Jhe Jhe San Jose, Nico San Jose and Miguel Valera. …………………………………………………… The 10th-seeded Winnipeg Maples Collegiate Marauders stunned the 7th-seeded Winnipeg Garden City Fighting Gophers 89-86. The Fighting Gophers (coached by Phil Penner) included J.C. Aaron, Gene Acurin, Khoi Bui, Kevin Camara, Neil Delarna, Riley Francey, Miguel Guevarra, Jordan Kashton, Kyle Lai, Justin Omaga, Cole Penner, Tyrece Viner-Cox and J.B. Yeboah.
In the quarterfinals, the top-seeded Winnipeg Oak Park Raiders rolled the 8th-seeeded Winnipeg John Taylor Collegiate Pipers 95-56. The Pipers (coached by Spiros Kavadas) included John Alibango, Ben Allarie, Brett Armstrong, Hunter Coates, Ibriheem Dilishi, Jake Doiran, Noah Gandier, Kyle Geske, Erik Kummerfield, Andrew Ly, Donah Mahamat, Devon Michelle, Jarred Muise, Sammi Sharaka and Risto Zimbakov.
The 4th-seeded Winnipeg Vincent Massey Trojans outlasted the 5th-seeded Winnipeg Sisler Spartans 112-94. The Spartans (coached by Scott Martin) included Malachi Alexander, Devyn Bandusiak, Alec Canteras, Don Dayrit, Jiolo Dimanaunahan, James Lucero, Raynold Manual, Shawn Maranan, Elijah McKay, Jalen Millan, Janssen Paguio, Jonathan Salunga, Andrei Sansano and Jerome Santoyo.
The 3rd-seeded Winnipeg St. Paul’s Crusaders dumped the 6th-seeded Winnipeg Dakota Collegiate Lancers 85-63. The Lancers (coached by Dean Favoni) included Dini Ahmed, Markos Bockru, Jagman Brar, Carter Butterfield, Isaiah Dizon-Deguzman, Nathan Dyck, Trent Favoni-Grossart, Redeemed Kabashiki, Zeru Kindi, Matt Klysh, Connor Kyliuk, Kelvin Liang, Israel Musenga, Ankit Raturi, Aliou Sesay and Reid Vankoughnett.
In the last quarterfinal, the 2nd-seeded Winnipeg Fort Richmond Centurions dispatched the 10th-seeded Winnipeg Maples Collegiate Marauders 81-71. The Marauders (coached by Myles Panganiban) included Psalm Arnuco, Mark Asino, Nick Baidwan, Dalaver Brar, A.J. Cabanlong, Renzo Francia, Keshav Kaushal, Nico Maitland, Tiernan Marshall, Kim Ochengo, Karnveer Ranu, Armando Ruiz, Norman Sigua and Matthew Villigraci A.
In the semis, the top-seeded Winnipeg Oak Park Raiders defeated the 4th-seeded Winnipeg Vincent Massey Trojans 84-72. The Trojans led 17-16 after one quarter. The Raiders led 39-26 at the half, largely on the marksmanship of Shakur Harris and despite star Wyatt Tait being on the bench with three fouls, and 60-50 after three quarters. A loose ball scrum 2:31 into the third quarter saw Harris and Massey guards Terrel Jordan and Andreas Dueck resulting in flagrant foul ejections for Harris and Terrel and an unsportsmanlike technical foul call on Dueck. “I saw my teammate Ivan (Mugisha) go down, so I just went to help him,” Harris told the Winnipeg Free Press. “And then I was pushed and I just pushed back… It happens. You can’t really do anything about it. It’s the ref’s decision. I was just protecting my teammate.” Raiders coach Jon Lundgren said “I didn’t think it was that big a deal. I didn’t see any punches or anything. So, I question the ejections, but that’s me.” Trojans coach Nicholas Lother said “not typical in the sense of seeing ejections. But there’s a lot of work put into this for both sides. Years of work. And sometimes sports escalates into situations like that. … It happens so fast. I suppose the referees thought that was the most necessary course of action (to make sure) things didn’t escalate. It’s unfortunate.” Lundgren said “at this time of the year, you know each other so well. It’s not going to be a work of art. It was ugly. We came out slow but they battled through. That’s all you can ask for because you’re playing really good teams. So, if you win, you feel good.” The Raiders depth proved the difference down the stretch, particularly reserve Ivan Mugisha. “Ivan was outstanding for us, right,” said Lundgren. “He’s one of those guys, it doesn’t matter. He doesn’t feel pressure — he just plays the game… whether he plays a second or 30 minutes, he’s going to play the same game.” Mugisha said “the starting five now has been playing together forever. I’m in Grade 11, the sixth man, who comes on. I’m just there. It feels good.” Dueck said “it’s definitely a tough way to go out. This is a great group of guys. I enjoyed every minute of this season. It was a helluva season for us at Massey. It’s not really a place that Massey is at, in the Final Four. We kind of put Massey on the map this year. It was a great season for us. Yeah, it didn’t finish the way we wanted. But overall it was a success.” Ivan Mugisha paced the Raiders with 19 on 5-13 from the floor, 2-6 from the arc, 7-9 from the line, 5 boards, 3 assists and 3 steals. Shakur Harris added 17 on 7-10 from the floor, 1-2 from the arc, 2-2 from the line, 4 assists and 2 steals. Wyatt Tait notched 16 on 5-11 from the floor, 1-2 from the arc, 5-8 from the line, 11 boards, 2 assists and 3 steals. Cole Adamson added 14 on 7-10 from the floor, 7 boards and 5 steals. Chris Chang scored 12 on 2-10 from the floor, 1-5 from the arc, 7-8 from the line, 5 boards and 4 assists. Cam MacNeil added 6 on 2-7 from the floor, 1-4 from the arc and 1-2 from the line, while Huy Luu, Adesh Bhullar, Chris Alexander, Thomas Devlin, Jay Dangerfield, Caden Konu, Steven Lucovic, Travis Ham and Shawn Koifman were scoreless. The Raiders hit 28-61 (.459) from the floor, 6-19 (.316) from the arc and 22-29 (.759) from the line, while garnering 35 boards, including 5 on the offensive glass, 11 fouls, 13 assists, 15 turnovers, 2 blocks and 15 steals. Kyler Filewich paced the Trojans with 16 on 7-17 from the floor, 0-1 from the arc, 2-7 from the line, 24 boards, 4 assists and 2 steals. Andrea Dueck added 16 on 6-14 from the floor, 3-6 from the arc, 1-2 from the line, 6 boards and 3 assists. Tim Guillou scored 14 on 5-16 from the floor, 4-13 from the arc, 4 boards and 2 steals. Zachary Feakes added 13 on 6-10 from the floor, 1-2 from the line, 5 boards and 2 steals. Terrel Jordan scored 5 on 2-6 from the floor, 0-2 from the arc, 1-1 from the line and 2 boards. Aaron Sackey added 4 on 1-6 from the floor, 0-2 from the arc, 2-2 from the line, 2 boards and 2 steals. Donald Stewart scored 4 on 2-8 from the floor and 4 boards, while Jaden Elias, Abdul Gassama, Mackenzie Bartlett, Neelansh Visen, Shazil Ghourri, Tong King and Lucas Meyer were scoreless. Meyer nabbed 2 boards. The Trojans hit 29-80 (.363) from the floor, 7-25 (.280) from the arc and 7-14 from the line, while garnering 57 boards, including 26 on the offensive glass, 23 fouls, 10 assists, 26 turnovers, 2 blocks and 10 steals.
In the other semi, the 3rd-seeded Winnipeg St. Paul’s Crusaders clipped the 2nd-seeded Winnipeg Fort Richmond Centurions 93-82. The Crusaders led 21-18, 43-34 and 67-60 at the quarters. “The key to our game was how well we rebounded the ball,” Crusaders coach Jeff Laping told the Winnipeg Free Press. “Unfortunately, I think they still got close to 20 offensive rebounds. We did enough on offence, particularly, our point guard. He had a helluva fourth quarter. He really put us on his back.” Mark Tachie paced the Crusaders with 38 on 14-24 from the floor, 1-2 from the arc, 9-14 from the line, 6 boards and 3 assists. He notched 21 in the fourth quarter, including the Crusaders first 17 points in the frame. Noah Dornn added 20 on 9-21 from the floor, 2-8 from the arc, 5 boards and 2 assists. Bryce Stubbings added 11 on 5-12 from the floor, 1-5 from the arc and 4 boards. Ben Gardner scored 11 on 5-9 from the floor, 0-3 from the arc, 1-2 from the line, 12 boards and 2 steals. Matt Yaworsky added 11 on 4-13 from the floor, 3-4 from the arc, 6 boards and 2 assists. Austin mattes scored 2 on 1-2 from the floor and 3 boards, while Connor Egan, Matt Indome, Jonah Gall, Andrew Metcalfe, Stephen Crew, Ibrahim Ashique and Fabrice Kazadi were scoreless. The Crusaders hit 38-83 (.452) from the floor, 7-22 (.318) from the arc and 10-18 (.556) from the line, while garnering 51 boards, including 11 on the offensive glass, 16 fouls, 11 assists, 8 turnovers, 3 blocks and 6 steals. Kniel Sullera paced the Centurions with 37 on 16-33 from the floor, 0-4 from the arc, 5-7 from the line and 15 boards. Rodney Mutaasa added 20 on 8-28 from the floor, 2-9 from the arc, 2-4 from the line, 9 boards, 2 assists and 3 blocks. Kurt Iguis scored 8 on 3-9 from the floor, 0-1 from the arc, 2-3 from the line and 6 boards. Josh Ajibola scored 7 on 2-5 from the floor, 1-2 from the arc, 2-2 from the line and 8 boards. Suvig Dua added 6 on 2-5 from the floor and 2-4 from the arc. Josh Charr notched 4 on 1-5 from the floor, 0-1 from the arc, 2-2 from the line and 4 boards, while Ali Bangura, Emmanuel Adesida, Aman Chahal, Xizhe Hu, Devin lam, Shreyas Chaudhari, John Olukoju, Anthony Cui, Sam Bell and Phil Wong were scoreless. Bangura dished 2 assists, while Adesida and Chahal each nabbed 2 boards. The Centurions hit 32-89 (.360) from the floor, 5-22 (.227) from the arc and 13-18 (.722) from the line, while garnering 58 boards, including 22 on the offensive glass, 16 fouls, 8 assists, 16 turnovers, 4 blocks and 3 steals.
In the final, the top-seeded Winnipeg Oak Park Raiders edged the 3rd-seeded Winnipeg St. Paul’s Crusaders 78-73 to complete a boys-girls provincial double for the school. The Raiders led 23-14 after one quarter and 43-33 at the half. The score was knotted at 58 after three quarters. The Raiders went on a 13-2 run to open the final frame and led by 3 with 30 seconds to play when forward Wyatt Tait drove the lane but missed a layup. Guard Chris Change was there for putback, which iced the win. It was the Raiders 23rd offensive board of the game. “He has my back,” Tait told the Winnipeg Free Press. Coach Jon Lundgren said “I’m most happy for our seniors,” Raiders coach Jon Lundgren said. “Cole Adamson, Wyatt (Tait), Shakir (Harris), (Chris Chang and Cam MacNeil), our whole starting five. They’ve been here for four years now. They’ve stuck together as a group. If they didn’t practice, they always listened. I know it’s hard, it’s like listening to your mom or dad every day getting on you. They reacted well to it. I’m really happy for those guys.” Tournament MVP Tait said “it’s my last chance… my last game in an Oak Park jersey.” Crusaders coach Jeff Laping said “we were out-rebounded by 18 in the first half and gave up just offensive rebounds in the third quarter. Unfortunately, their last play there (in the fourth quarter), they got the O-board they needed.” Crusaders Mark Tachie said the loss was “pretty tough, as you can imagine.” Cole Adamson told the Winnipeg Sun that the school’s double was “crazy. It just shows how strong of a basketball school we are … to share the experience together — we both worked very hard for it. We both deserved it.” Tait said of Chang’s putback “that was teammate coming with a great play. He has my back. We have a different leading scorer each night.” Lundgren said “no one did anything out of the ordinary, which is good in a game like this. If you’re expecting somebody to do something, they haven’t done through the year you’re probably in trouble. We came in as the favourite because those guys were able to do that all year.” It was Tait’s second title with the Raiders, who last won two years ago. “This one’s more special, because it’s my last chance, senior year,” said the U of Manitoba-bound forward. “Last one in an Oak Park jersey, so it’s pretty special. My other win was against them in the final, too. We have such a great rivalry, they play us hard every time. It’s kind of historic — it’s been going on for such a long time. It means everything. Basketball is my whole life. I think about it all the time.” Laping said “we competed really hard. We just fell a little short. That gap was just too much for us to overcome in the fourth. They’re a very good team. I mean, they’ve got everything you need.” Wyatt Tait paced the Raiders with 24 on 12-28 from the floor, 0-2 from the arc, 15 boards and 2 assists. Cam MacNeil added 13 on 5-9 from the floor, 3-4 from the arc and 3 boards. Shakur Harris scored 13 on 6-16 from the floor, 1-5 from the arc, 0-2 from the line and 4 assists. Chris Chang added 13 on 6-16 from the floor, 1-6 from the arc, 0-2 from the line and 7 boards. Cole Adamson added 12 on 5-11 from the floor, 2-5 from the line, 21 boards and 3 blocks. Ivan Mugisha scored 3 on 1-3 from the arc, 4 boards and 3 steals, while Huy Luu, Adesh Bhullar, Chris Alexander, Thomas Devlin, Jay Dangerfield, Caden Konu, Steven Lucovic, Travis Ham and Shawn Koifmann were scoreless. The Raiders hit 35-83 (.422) from the floor, 6-20 (.300) from the arc and 2-9 (.222) from the line, while garnering 58 boards, including 23 on the offensive glass, 12 fouls, 8 assists, 16 turnovers, 4 blocks and 3 steals. Mark Tachie paced the Crusaders with 26 on 10-23 from the floor, 2-4 from the arc, 4-4 from the line, 5 boards and 2 assists. Matt Yaworsky added 19 on 7-17 from the floor, 3-9 from the arc, 2-4 from the line, 11 boards, 2 blocks and 3 steals. Bryce Stubbings added 11 on 4-10 from the floor, 3-8 from the arc, 2 boards, 5 assists and 2 steals. Ben Gardner scored 11 on 5-10 from the floor, 1-3 from the arc, 0-3 from the line, 4 boards and 3 steals. Noah Dornn added 6 on 2-14 from the floor, 2-7 from the arc, 6 boards and 2 assists, while Connor Egan, Matt Indome, Jonah Gall, Andrew Metcalfe, Stephen Crew, Ibrahim Ashique, Fabrice Kazadi and Austin Mattes were scoreless. Kazadi nabbed 3 boards and Mattes 2. The Crusaders hit 28-74 (.378) from the floor, 11-31 (.355) from the arc and 6-11 (.545) from the line, while garnering 42 boards, including 14 on the offensive glass, 14 fouls, 10 assists, 13 turnovers, 4 blocks and 10 steals.
The co-bronze medalist Winnipeg Vincent Massey Trojans: Mackenzie Bartlett; Andreas Dueck; Jaden Elias; Zachary Feakes; Kyler Filewich; Abdul Gassama; Shazil Ghouri; Tim Guillou; Terrel Jordan; Tong King; Lucas Meyer; Isaiah Peters; Aaron Sackey; Donald Stewart; Neelansh Visen; coach Nick Lother
The co-bronze medalist Fort Richmond Centurions: Emmanuel Adesida; Josh Ajibola; Ali Bangura; Sam Bell; Aman Chahal; Josh Charr; Shreyas Chaudhari; Anothony Cui; Suvig Dua; Xizhe Hu; Kurt Iguis; Devin Lam; Rodney Mutaasa; John Olukoju; Kniel Sullera; Phil Wong; coach Ogo Okwumabua
The silver medalist Winnipeg St Paul’s High School Crusaders: Ibby Ashique; Stephen Crew; Noah Dornn; Connor Egan; Jonah Gall; Ben Gardner; Matt Indome; Fabrice Kazadi; Austin Mattes; Andrew Metcalfe; Bryce Stubbings; Mark Tachie; Matt Yaworsky; coach Jeff Laping
The gold medalist Winnipeg Oak Park Raiders: Cole Adamson; Chris Alexander; Adesh Bhullar; Chris Chang; Jay Dangerfield; Thomas Devlin; Travis Hann; Shakur Harris; Shawn Koifmann; Caden Konu; Steven Lucovic; Huy Luu; Cam MacNeil; Ivan Mugisha; Wyatt Tait; coach Jon Lundgren