In the interzone playoffs: …………………………………………………… In the semis, the Brandon T.A. Neelin Spartans dispatched the Virden Golden Bears 83-75. …………………………………………………… In the other semi, the Dauphin Clippers defeated the Swan River Swan Valley Tigers 67-62. …………………………………………………… In the final, the Dauphin Clippers clipped the host Brandon T.A. Neelin Spartans 78-70. “It’s just a great feeling,” Clippers centre Clinton Toes, who scored 18, told the Brandon Sun. “We were just bound and determined that we were going to win. Our goal all year has been getting to provincials so this is great.” Shawn Gavin led the Clippers with 19. The Clippers led 45-39 lead at the half. Mike Planidin led the Spartans with 32, along with 10 boards. The Spartans dominated the pain the first half but became entirely perimeter-oriented in the second half, despite hitting just 2-13 from the arc. “We may have gone to shooting threes too early, I don’t know,” said Spartans coach Larry Rodenbush. “But they were taking away our inside game, so we tried to get the job done from the outside. Unfortunately, we couldn’t.” Guard Rob Wowk said “it’s a big-time disappointment because weve been working for this all year and it comes down this game and we just didn’t come through. We just didn’t play well with the pressure.” Planidin said “they were doubling up on me and honestly I was kind of lost out there. It was just communication. We had a lot of fundamental breakdowns.” Dauphin coach Cam Bennett told the Dauphin Herald that being the underdog was an advantage. “Neelin was number one in the region and number three in the province. I always like being the underdog because you have nothing to lose.”
In the wildcard game, the 5th-seeded Brandon T.A. Neelin Spartans defeated the Swan River Swan Valley Tigers 75-69 after leading 38-29 at the half. Damon Hanly led the Spartans with 20. Rob Wowk added 18. Blair Campbell paced the Tigers with 23. The Tigers (coached by Duane Whyte, assisted by Ronn Peyton-Vestby, Alan Maidy and Ken McClintock, and managed by Adele McDonald, Lee-Ann Kichuk and Doug Kamfoly) included Jamie Rivard, Jody Sylvester, Garret White, Harley Haas, Jamie Stober, Terry Child, Bill Schell, Shawn Mosiondz, Tony Leslie, Larry Solomon, Darryl Carter and Berkley Fedorchuk.
In the quarterfinals, held in Thompson, the 5th-seeded Brandon T.A. Neelin Spartans thrashed the 4th-seeded Winnipeg Windsor Park Royals 92-67 as Rob Wowk scored 26 and Mike Planadin 22. Brian Laboissiere paced the Royals with 22. Neelin led 43-37 at the half. The Spartans were coached by Larry Rodenbush.
The top-seeded Winkler Garden Valley Zodiacs clocked the 8th-seeded Thompson R.D. Parker Trojans 85-41.
The Dauphin Clippers defeated the Stonewall Rams 74-70 in overtime. The Rams (coach Bruce Rutherford) included Phil Huesak, Tony DePetter, Jason Deprez.
In the last quarterfinal, the Winnipeg St. John’s Ravenscourt Eagles blasted The Pas Margaret Barbour Spartans 90-71. The Spartans included Alexander Pontic.
In the semis, the top-seeded Winkler Garden Valley Kodiaks stomped the 5th-seeded Brandon T.A. Neelin Spartans 83-45 as Werner Dyck scored 23. The Kodiaks led 33-23 at the half. Mike Planadin paced the Spartans with 15.
In the other semi, the Winnipeg St. John’s Ravenscourt Eagles defeated the Dauphin Clippers 52-47.
In the bronze medal match, the Dauphin Clippers defeated the Brandon T.A. Neelin Spartans 75-66. “Neelin was pretty confident. They thought the regional loss to us was kind of a fluke,” Clippers coach Cam Bennett told the Dauphin Herald. “My guys were kind of silently confident.” Clinton Toews scored 32, including 14 in the final frame. “Clint in that last quarter was basically on a mission. … There was a little bit of pressure on the guys, especially after last year’s second-place showing, to go one better than last year. And nobody other than us expected us to do that. But I think maybe that was the silent goal. So I think maybe we put a little too much pressure on ourselves. … Neelin was pretty confident. They thought the regional loss to us was kind of a fluke.” Bennett said Clinton Toews was unstoppable in the final minutes, scoring 14 in the final quarter. “Clint in that last quarter was basically on a mission. He scored quite a few in the last quarter and he got 32 points all together.” The Spartans (coached by Larry Rodenbush, assisted by Patrick Copps) included Rob Wowk, Mike Planidin, Jason Van Mulligan, Ryan Mitchell, Corey Korenicki, Nathan Chambers, Dave Taylor, Jon Bellas, Don White, Jamie Kennedy and late-season cut Damon Hanly.
In the final, the Winkler Garden Valley Zodiacs defeated the Winnipeg St. John’s Ravenscourt Eagles 79-49.
The bronze medalist Dauphin Clippers: Clinton Toews; Tylan Schmidt; Brad Towle; Des Strilchuk; Shawn Gavin; Chad Fournier; Kyle Palfy; Danny Hudson; Brad Senkiw; Dave Federowich; coach Cam Bennett; coach Greg Acevedo
The silver medalist Winnipeg St. John’s Ravenscourt Eagles: Jon Margolis; Adam Lazarek; John Marcells; Willie Reid; Ben Nevile; Thomas Androvic; Darren Wiebe; Derek Lloyd; Jay Scherer; Samir Khan; Curtis Beardy; Rob James; Gavin Singh; coach Henry Verbeck; assistant Dundan
The gold medalist Winkler Garden Valley Zodiacs: Werner Dyck; Mark Hamm; Line Neufeld; coach John Klassen