In the wildcard game, the Somerset Mountain Lions defeated Camperville Minegoziibe Anishinabe Talons 72-64. The Talons (coached by Kenny Shane Parenteau) included Dustin Chartrand, Reynold Chartrand, Jerry Flatfoot, Joseph Genaille, Devin Mekish, Maverick Menard, Brendan Moosetail, Glen Nepinak, Dennis O’Quinn and Tyson Thompson.
In the opening round, held in The Pas, the 8th-seeded Hamiota Huskies edged the 9th-seeded Somerset Mountain Lions 59-56. Husky Junjun Taborlupa was chosen player of the game. The Lions (coached by Jeff Peacock) included Eller Lawrence Abalos, Richie Davy, Eric Demare, Ver John Gamboa, Nikho Angelo Hizon, John Mesina, Jonathan Pabalan, Kevin Pamplona, Dominic Picard, Patrick Picard, Donovan Pouteau, Kevin Mark Ramos and Dylan Van Deynze. …………………………………………………… The 7th-seeded Gilbert Plains Trojans dusted the 10th-seeded Churchill Duke of Marlborough Storm 104-80. Trojan Lucas Choma was chosen player of the game. The Storm (coached by George Power) included Codi Broney, Kyle Dingwall, Quinton Hart, Tyson Hart, Aaron McDonald, Aidan Power, Bryce Roberts, Kendall Spence, Alan-Michael Whitmore and Michael Whitmore.
In the quarterfinals, the 3rd-seeded Rosenort Redhawks clipped the 6th-seeded Pinawa Panthers 78-67. Panther Jon Hayter was chosen player of the game. He later received the player’s choice award for the tournament. The Panthers (coached by Jeff Hayter) also included Dylan Cecchini, Dylan Daymond, Jordan Daymond, Jesse Elcock, Tyler Flood, Josh Hayter, Brett Hessian, Britton James-Thiessen, Bob Nelson, Nicholas Pinel, Steven Simpson and Grant Trueman.
The 2nd-seeded Glenboro Panthers dumped the 7th-seeded Gilbert Plains Trojans 82-66. Panther Jeffrey Schwarz was chosen player of the game. The Trojans (coached by Jordan Dykun) included Brendan Apostle, Bradley Bator, Lucas Choma, Justin Ionisky, Hunter LeForte, Chase Macdonald, Chris Manchur, Rylee Payne, Blake Stevenson, Travis Stewart and Mark Yakimishen.
The 4th-seeded Portage La Prairie Westpark Royals clubbed the 5th-seeded St. Laurent Hawks 86-63. Brendan Roland was chosen player of the game for the Royals after scoring 20. Westpark coach Jeremy Siemens said “I thought this was the hungriest we’ve played all year. Our guys wanted it more than they did. We fought for loose balls and tipped their passes and all game we stayed with an aggression that fuelled us to the victory. We had a scouting report that we could run-and-gun against this team and that’s what we did. We used our fast-break and we used our press.” The Hawks (coached by Greg Lavallee) included Phoenix Abraham, Cole Allary, Cordell Burdett, Dustin Coutu, Ray Ducharme, Culley Kipling, Louis Lavallee, Braydon Mousseau, Bryce Smith, Shane Thomas, Henry Wieler and Max Wildhager.
In the last quarterfinal, the top-seeded Sprague Ross L. Gray Raiders crushed the 8th-seeded Hamiota Collegiate Huskies 94-49. Raider Justin Goodman was chosen player of the game. The Huskies (coached by Becky Young) included James Hunkin, Shaun Hunter, Joel Kirk, Randy Kirk, Mark Lawn, Jorden Leronowich, Daniel Miranda, Nico Miranda, Jason Ritchie, Junjun Taborlupa and Chris Usick.
In the semis, the top seeded Sprague Ross L. Gray Raiders clocked the 4th-seeded Portage La Prairie Westpark Royals 93-49. Raider Matthew Brown was chosen player of the game.
In the other semi, the 2nd-seeded Glenboro Panthers dusted the 3rd-seeded Rosenort Red Hawks 73-56. Panther Matthew Klassen was chosen player of the game.
In the bronze medal match, the 4th-seeded Portage La Prairie Westpark Royals clipped the 3rd-seeded Rosenort Red Hawks 69-59. It marked a remarkable shift for the Royals, who a year earlier did not win a single game. “We knew we were going to have a great year going in, as this same group dominated two years ago when they were in JV. We just had to wait for them to catch up a bit.” said co-coach Dave McCutcheon. “Our team did what every coach would want his team to do. “They worked hard at every practice and played each game to the best of their ability. We saw consistent improvement all season long, peaking at just the right time in the provincial playoff.” Rookie co-coach Jeremy Siemens implemented new offensive and defensive systems. “I think coaching was big,” said Caleb Solomon. “I think Mr. Siemens coming in to coach, he has a lot of coaching experience and is a great coach,” said Solomon. Siemens said “we knew that we could compete with them and we knew we could have a chance to come away with a medal. That was something that gave our guys a lot of inspiration. The difference in this game was my guys were offensively clicking. They were clicking throughout the game. It was a very unselfish game, they moved the ball a lot and everyone was getting points.” Solomon said the squad played with control and with “our emotions in check.” Siemens said his troops kept Red Hawk post Greg Dueck in check. “Our guys were able to shut him down. He probably averages 20 points and 10 rebounds a game and we had a defensive scheme that really eliminated his looks and shots and forced him into bad opportunities.” The Red Hawks (coached by Kevin Freisen) included Branden Baldwin, Jamie Bergen, Braden Cornelsen, Greg Dueck, Gregory Dueck, Dion Plett, Chris Sarrassin, Paul Schultz, Nolan Sveinson and Julian Waldner.
In the final, the top-seeded Sprague Ross L. Gray Raiders dumped the 2nd-seeded Glenboro Panthers 70-56 to capture their fifth provincial title in eight years. The Raiders were from a school with just 33 students from grades 9-12. Only a few of the eligible boys are not on the basketball team, reported the Steinbach Carillon.
The bronze medalist Portage La Prairie Westpark Royals: Leslie Abraham; Jamie Boese; Curtis Buchan; Sterling Dodd; Stewart Ferguson; Brett Foley; Bradley Narvey; Brendan Roland; Brian Schmidt; Caleb Solomon; Paul Stanley; Brody Thornton; coach Jeremy Siemens; coach Dave McCutcheon
The silver medalist Glenboro Panthers: Nic Claeys; Colby Cullen; Lachlan Fehr; Derek Hallgrimson; Matt Klassen; Matt Malyon; Riley Nicholson; Brad Ruston; Jeff Schwarz; Tyler Sjolander; Drake Wallis; Christian Wytinck; coach Ryan Diehl
The gold medalist Sprague Ross L. Gray Raiders: Matthew Brown; Kyle Cooper; Justin Goodman; Jordan Hebel; Josh Hebel-Allard; Cole Machej; Ian O’Connor; Marko Schoenbach; Alex Tocher; Tyler Vinet; coach Jared Baines; assistant Keith Preteau; manager Cam Brown