In the semis, the St. Stephen Spartans defeated the Sussex Sonics 72-55 as Brad Galley scored 21, Ricky Justason 16, Jeff Walker 12 and Aaron Knox 11. Kris Keith led the Sonics with 28.
In the final, the St. Stephen Spartans defeated the Sackville Tantramar Titans 68-58 in a physical affair. “They have two football players in (Derrick) Fury and (Ryan) Jardine and we just have volleyball players,” said St. Stephen’s Jason Speedy told the New Brunswick Telegraph Journal. “We knew we had to buck it up and get real physical and I think that is what we did really well today.” St. Stephen ripped off a 10-3 run midway through the second half to take command. Speedy came off the bench to score 15 and be selected the game’s MVP. Kirk Parker scored 14 and nabbed 6 boards. Justin Eldridge added 11, Brad Galley 8 and Aaron Knox 8. “We knew that we were in tough with their big guys,” said St. Stephen coach Don Walker. “We had lost twice to them previously and basically, in both of those games, we were outmuscled. Tonight, for a period of time, it was the same way, but our guys hung in there and we were mentally tough down the stretch when we had to be.” Andrew Olscamp paced the Titans with 25 points and 10 boards. Derrick Fury, quarterback for the Titans’ provincial champion football team, scored 19 and nabbed 11 boards. “We were trying to play a slow-down, half-court game,” said Olscamp. “They are a lot faster than us, so we wanted to use our size and run it in the post. That’s been our game all year. We played a great game but it wasn’t our day. We played them twice already but this is a totally different atmosphere. I think a lack of experience in final games at the Aitken Centre hurt us as well.” The teams played even up for most of the first half until Speedy’s jumper with 2:35 remaining ignited a 13-5 run to end the frame, punctuated by Jeff Walker’s buzzer-beating three-pointer for a 36-29 edge. They stretched that lead to nine on Ricky Justason’s bucket two minutes into the second half but the Titans, behind Fury, Olscamp and Jardine, fought back to tie it at 46 with 11:53 to go. That’s when the Spartans bolted, finally clinching it on Jeff Walker’s 50-foot pass to Justason, beating a Titan press, for a 62-56 edge with 1:40 remaining. “Kind of ironic isn’t it,” said Speedy of Walker’s football-style bomb.
The silver medalist Sackville Tantramar Titans: Andrew Olscamp; Derrick Fury; Ryan Jardine; coach Bruce Bell
The gold medalist St. Stephen Spartans: Jason Speedy; Kirk Parker; Justin Eldridge; Brad Galley; Aaron Knox; Jeff Walker; Ricky Justason; Greg Walker; Ryan Hyslop; Matt Harvey; Ryan Gagnon; Nick McLean; coach Don Walker; assistant Stacey Atkinson; manager Cheryl Bartlett; manager Angela Gayton; manager Jeremy McShane; manager Mike Hutchinson