In the quarterfinals, held in Halifax, the 2nd-seed Halifax Queen Elizabeth Lions defeated the 7th-seeded Bridgewater Park View Education Centre Panthers, coached by Tom Thomson, by a score of 68-53 as Cordell Colley scored 22 and Cyril Smith 21. Scott Rawding led the Panthers with 22. Chris Isenor added 12. “They’re good blue-collar workers,” said Cyril Smith. “They really work on the boards, so myself, Cordell and Bobby (Johnstone), our mission in this game was to keep them off the boards and I think we did a good job of that.” Rawding said the Lions defence was unsettling. “We were more expecting them to go zone so we weren’t ready for them to go man and that hurt us. But they just out-rebounded us. That probably did it right there.”
The 6th-seeded Coxheath Riverview Rural Royals upset the 3rd-seeded Greenwich Horton Griffins 85-80 as Todd Lewis scored 26, Greg MacDonald 24 and Jonathan Cook 15. Mark Clarke led the Griffins with 25. Derrick Van Hattem added 16.
The top-seeded Halifax St. Patrick’s Fighting Irish dumped the 8th-seeded Annapolis Royal Annapolis West Education Centre Knights 103-69 as Damien Cole scored 22 and Steve Harris 17. Wade Doucette led the Knights with 14.
In the last quarterfinal, the 5th-seeded Truro Cobequid Educational Centre Cougars defeated the 4th-seeded Halifax West Warriors 85-75 as Peter Hunt scored 22 and Jeff Piers 21, while dishing double digit assists. Fred Perry led the Warriors with 22. Keith Gough added 21. Cobequid led 48-38 at the half and opened the second frame with a 6-0 run. The Warriors responded with a 17-0 run that gave them a 56-54 lead but the Cougars countered with 12 unanswered points to put the game away.
In the semis, the top-seeded Halifax St. Patrick’s Fighting Irish defeated the Truro Cobequid Educational Centre Cougars 86-80. Terry Dixon paced the Irish with 30. Damien Cole and Doobie Taylor each added 15. “All day I was trying to prepare myself mentally to get into the game,” said Dixon. “But then I got in the game and it was so intense, I decided to let it all out.” The Irish led 45-38 at the half. Peter Hunt led the Cougars with 29. Jeff Piers added 28.
In the other semi, the Halifax Queen Elizabeth Lions outlasted the Coxheath Riverview Rural Royals 60-52. Barn McQuaid scored 7 of his 8 points in the last three minutes to help the Lions pull out a win. Riverview had led 52-51 with three minutes to play, but McQuaid hit a trey 21 seconds later. He followed it up with a jumper and a pair of free throws. Tim Maloney and Cyril Smith each notched 16 for the Lions. Todd Lewis led the Royals with 16. Greg MacDonald added 14 and Jonathan Cook 10.
In the bronze medal match, the Truro Cobequid Educational Centre Cougars defeated the Coxheath Riverview Royals x-x.
In the final, the top-seeded Halifax St. Patrick’s Fighting Irish captured their first provincial title by defeating the 2nd-seeded Halifax Queen Elizabeth Lions 75-62. “It feels great. It’s a dream come true,” said Irish point guard Daniel Williams. “All week, we stressed the good, hard defense. We just out-rebounded them and our defence prevailed.” St. Patrick’s built a 38-22 lead at the half and the Lions never recovered, although they rallied to within 66-60 on a Cyril Smith putback rebound with 2:15 to play. But the Irish cinched the win by responding with a 7-0 run. Lions guard Tim Maloney noted that “we played some tough defence but we just couldn’t convert on offence. They’re a great team. They played well and that’s the way it goes. One team has to lose.” Terry Dixon led the Irish with 29 points. Kevin Keeler and Damien Cole each added 16. Cyril Smith led the Lions with 16. Barn McQuaid and Louis Wolfson each added 10.
The bronze medalist Truro Cobequid Educational Centre Cougars: Chris Clarke; Steven Geense; Chris Patton; Jeff Piers; Shawn Davison; Peter Hunt; Chris Doyle; James Muir; Scott Walsh; Scott Patton; Robert Ryan; Mikel Roberts; coach Brent Baker
The silver medalist Halifax Queen Elizabeth Lions: Cyril Smith; Barn McQuaid; Louis Wolfson; Tim Maloney; Bob Johnstone; Cordell Colley;
The gold medalist Halifax St. Patrick’s Fighting Irish; Terry Dixon; Damien Cole; Kevin Keeler; Ashley ‘Doobie’ Taylor; Steve Harris; Daniel Williams; Darrell Moors; Dave Brown; Jason Jones; Chris Webb; Cooper Tardivel; David Terrior; Corri Dixon; coach Hugh MacDonald; assistant Alex Brown; assistant John Murphy; assistant Steve Forewell