In the quarterfinals, the Moncton Bernice MacNaughton Highlanders defeated the Saint John Simonds Seabees 63-49. The Seabees included Brad McLean, Mike Thomas, Derek McRae, Nick Doyle, John Tallis.
The Fredericton Black Kats defeated the Moncton Harrison Trimble Trojans 87-49.
The Sussex Regional Sonics dumped the Moncton Purple Knights 78-56. The Purple Knights included Clint Bateman, Chris Miller, Adam Robinson.
In the last quarterfinal, the Riverview Royals defeated the Quispamsis Kennebecasis Valley Crusaders 103-92. The Crusaders included Drew Stratton, Scott Hachey, Steve Wetmore, Adam Belyea.
In the semis, the Fredericton Black Kats defeated the Moncton Bernice MacNaughton Highlanders 51-49 as Danya Bubar scored 11 and Pat Sharkey 9. Chris Leger led the Highlanders with 19. Jeff Sadler added 12. Fredericton led 29-26 at the half.
In the other semi, the Sussex Regional Sonics dispatched the Riverview Royals 82-69 as Colin Swift scored 25, Merv Maxwell 21 and Ryan DeWinter 16. Jared Budd led the Royals with 26. Andrew Sullivan added 20. Sussex led 51-26 at the half.
In the final, the Sussex Regional Sonics defeated the Fredericton Black Kats 72-60. “It’s the best feeling I’ve ever had,” Colin Swift, who scored 27 on 9-20 from the floor, told the New Brunswick Telegraph-Journal. “We hear about John Ryan’s teams all the time,” he added in reference to the former Sussex star who paced the school to AAA titles in 1988 and 1991. “I have never seen him play but I hear he is the greatest ever. We look back and see the two championships they won and said hey (we can do that.).” The Sonics were also fired up by the return of injured senior Ryan deWinter. “We knew it was going to be a close game because we played them four times and split 2-2,” said Merv Maxwell, whose slashed for 24 points. “We had a little bit of a slow start in the first (defensively) but we came out in the second half and played a lot better.” The Sonics led 35-33 at the break, thanks to Swift’s 17 points. In the second frame, the lead changed four times in the first four minutes before the Sonics slowly seized control, taking a 54-48 advantage on three pointers by Maxwell and Aaron Johnson with 11:58 left. The Sonics hit 6-9 from beyond the arc. “Their outside shooting was unbelievable,” said FHS player of the game Pat Sharkey, who scored 14. “They didn’t stop. In the first and second half, they were dropping them all.” The Sonics, who won the AA title in 1997 and 2001, claimed their first AAA crown since 1991. Sonics’ coach Byron Barton told the Fredericton Daily Gleaner that he’ll tell his troops that “Once you hang that banner, that’s part of your school’s history. And anytime you come in the school after that, that represents what you did while you were here. And that’s something else.” Pat Sharkey said “we had seen them shoot the lights out before, but not like this. Their outside shooting was unbelievable. They didn’t stop. Their other guys put in a solid performance. We always try to stop Swift and Merv, but they get their points. We try to stop the other players from getting their points. We couldn’t do that tonight.” Merv Maxwell noted that “we knew it was going to be a close game. It was an even game coming in. This is great. This awesome. First Year AAA. It’s a great way to start it off.” Swift said team defence “did it. We came in really confident. We knew we could take them. We just played hard defence, and that was what happened.” Barton said “we know we’re going to score. The key was making sure we play well in the defensive end. If we do that, we’ll score enough points to win. Colin and Merv are exceptional offensive players. And tonight, pretty good in the defensive end too.” Kats’ coach Phil Wright said “I felt we played pretty well in the first half. I felt quite comfortable at half time only being down by two,” he said. “It was within reach. But they really got hot in the second half, and we kind of shot ourselves in the foot early in the half. We had two or three turnovers in a row and they converted on all of them. I’m really proud of our team. They never quit. They struggled and fought right to the end. From a coach’s standpoint, you can’t fault effort. That wasn’t our best game. When we only score 50-some points, that’s not the way we can play. Losing is disappointing. It hurts.”
The co-bronze medalist Moncton Bernice MacNaughton Highlanders: Chris Leger; Jeff Sadler; Struan Smith;
The co-bronze medalist Riverview Royals: Jared Budd; Andrew Sullivan; Clifton Wareham; Jake Laycock; Greg Halley; Jeff Archibald; Francis Best; Adam Cole; Jamie Dewolfe; Bryn Ferris; Kyle Keeping; Brett Langis; coach Brian Forsythe
The silver medalist Fredericton Black Kats: Pat Sharkey; Danya Bubar; Chris Brown; Chris Frame; Dean Lisson; Pat McAllister; Ethan McClellan; Kyle Munroe; Bruce Thompson; Andrew Wright; Mike Wright; Tyler Wyman; Adam Young; coach Phil Wright
The gold medalist Sussex Regional Sonics: Colin Swift; Ryan de Winter; Merv Maxwell; Aaron Johnson; Pat Cunningham; Matthew Finnis; Stephen Robinson; Luke Witt; Tim McAleenan; Kevin Sullivan; Peter MacLeod; Kris Leask; coach Byron Barton; coach Michael Swift; manager Lindsay Arsenault