In the quarterfinals, held in Halifax, the top-seeded Bridgewater Park View Education Centre Panthers defeated the 8th-seeded Halifax Charles P. Allen Cheetahs 109-93 in overtime as Adam Arenburg scored 20, Jeff Saxby 25, Stuart Josselyn 23, Josh Langford 7 and Ben Pentz 4. Jayson Taker led the Cheetahs with 26. Jon Hall added 22, Garnet Estabrooks 19, Mike McPherson 13 and Teah Bailey 6. The Cheetahs also included Chris Gosse.
The 2nd-seeded Halifax West Warriors defeated the 7th-seeded Dartmouth Cole Harbour District Cavaliers 86-67 as Dana Brinton scored 29, Colin Franz 27, Dennis Wright 16, Andrew McNeil 7, Todd Brown 4, Lloyd Sepidoza 2 and Blair Balcom 2. Tremaine Smith led Cole Harbour with 28. Alfred Simmonds added 14, Alfonz Simmonds 13, Danny Cain 9, Marco Thompson 2 and Cory Fraser 1.
The 3rd-seeded Halifax Queen Elizabeth Lions dumped the 6th-seeded Glace Bay Panthers 108-94. The Panthers took an early lead by dominating the paint. But the Lions rallied back to a 50-37 lead at the half. Glace Bay got no closer than six. Captain Mike Steward told the Halifax Daily News that the Lions were “a little nervous at the beginning. It was sort of like playing at home. But once we started playing full court man-to-man, we tired them out a bit.” Panthers forward David Denny said Glace Bay couldn’t sustain its pressure D. “We had to come out fired up and we did. But they came out just as fired up. We ended up turning the ball over a few times and gave them the lead. We had great moments where we tried to come back but, in the end, our team just got fatigued.” Mike Budreski paced the Lions with 23. Mark Reardon added 15, Nick Harnish 14, Mike Steward 9, Geoff Williams 9, Jamaal Wright 7, Matt Wheeler 6, Justin Symonds 5, Sean Flemming 5, Scott Mader 5, Quame Mantley 3 and Steve Nemethy 2. David Denny led Glace Bay with 28. Steven Perry added 21, Jason MacNeil 12, Paul Larocque 9, Troy MacKenzie 7, Jeff MacEachern 7, Kirk MacDougall 2, Scott MacDonald 1 and Kent Eleffson 1.
In the last quarterfinal, the 4th-seeded Coxheath Riverview Rural Royals clipped the 5th-seeded Truro Cobequid Educational Centre Cougars 77-69 as Dougal Hickey scored 21, Brendan McCarville 16, Glen Cooke 13, Chris Robertson 7, Scott Cormier 6 and Matthew Smith 5. David Piers led Cobequid with 19. Jay Walsh added 16, Andrew Barnhill 13, Trevor Cloney 10, John Searle 4 and Robert A’Court 4. The Cougars (coached by Brent Baker, assisted by Marc Roberts) also included Mike McDonald, Lloyd Taggart, Matt Roblee, John Griffin, Vickas Khanna, Chris Johnston, Andy Maclean, Pat Havard, Will Vreugdenhil and Gavin Davidson.
In the semis, the 2nd-seeded Halifax West Warriors defeated the Halifax Queen Elizabeth Lions 69-65. The Warriors led 41-28 at the half but the Lions roared back to a 51-50 lead with nine minutes to play before Halifax West settled down and took command. “It was typical Halifax West,” said forward Colin Franz. “We made it pretty interesting at the end. We give the fans their money’s worth lately.” Dennis Wright led Halifax West with 19. Colin Franz added 16. Geoff Williams led Queen Elizabeth with 14.
In the other semi, the 4th-seeded Coxheath Riverview Rural Royals nipped the top-seeded Bridgewater Park View Education Centre Panthers 83-79 in overtime. The teams were knotted at 31 at the half and at 72 after regulation. The Panthers were irate about the officiating, charging that the refs had it for them. Adam Arenburg was so incensed he had to be restrained after the game. “I was upset,” +the 6-5 forward said. “They never gave us a chance from the start. They were calling a lot of inside fouls and weren’t giving us any breaks at all.” Jeff Saxby said he was a marked man. “The referee was out to get me. In overtime, a Riverview player threw me out of bounds and the ref looked at me and smiled.” Brendan McCarville paced Riverview with 25. Jeff Saxby led Park View with 33.
In the bronze medal match, the 3rd-seeded Halifax Queen Elizabeth Lions defeated the top-seeded Bridgewater Park View Education Centre Panthers 91-81 as Mark Reardon scored 17, Jamaal Wright 12, Geoff Williams 11, Matt Conrad 10, Matt Wheeler 7, Mike Stewart 5, Sean Flemming 5, Mike Budreski 5, Andrew Patterson 4, Scott Mader 3 and Justin Symonds 2. Jeff Saxby paced Park View with 24. Joel Thompson added 14, Matt Drennan 10, Mark Roy 7, Matt Sarty 7, Ben Pentz 6, Stuart Josselyn 5, Josh Langford 5 and Jason Haughn 3.
In the final, the 2nd-seeded Halifax West Warriors pounded the Coxheath Riverview Rural Royals 86-61. Halifax West exploded to a 13-2 lead and was never threatened. Warrior Dennis Wright said the team was inspired by a quote from injured Riverview guard Dougal Hickey to the effect that the Royals had already beaten Park View. “I wanted to show them who the number one team was and they hadn’t beaten us yet,” Wright told the Halifax Daily News. Colin Franz had inscribed Hickey’s quote on a warm-up T-shirt. “I know Dougal and he’s a great guy. But I was surprised when he said that. When I read it, I just shook my head. It’s nothing personal but you can’t just make predictions like that and not go out and back them up. It inspired us to go out and do what we did. We proved that this is our year.” Halifax West forced the Royals to perimeter and led 39-30 at the half. “I guess today was just an example of the law of averages,” Franz said. “We seem to blow our leads lately, so I guess we were just bound to win one big. They tried to make a run late in the game but we stayed on top of them and kept coming back at them. The best team won. We all grew up together and hang out together. We’re a very close-knit team, probably the closest in the province. The chemistry that we have on the court, you can’t teach that.” Warriors coach Mark Parker said team defence and conditioning also played a part. Royal guard Matthew Smith said “they just outplayed us. Their defence was tough.” Wright said he never doubted that the Warriors would win. “I definitely knew the whole season we had the team. It was just a matter of whether we could play and not act like prima donnas. And we didn’t.” Colin Franz paced Halifax West with 26. Dana Britton added 14, Dennis Wright 12, Billy Robinson 10, Andrew McNeil 6, Todd Brown 5, Lloyd Sepidoza 4, Blair Balcom 4, Mike Olsen 2 and Mark Burchell 2. The Warriors led 39-30 at the half. Matthew Smith led Riverview with 21, the majority on knifing drives into the paint. Brendan McCarville added 10, Scott Cormier 8, David Burns 8, Chris Robertson 5, Glenn Cooke 5, Trevor Black 2 and Robert Wadden 2.
The bronze medalist Halifax Queen Elizabeth Lions: Matt Conrad; Geoff Williams; Mark Reardon; Mike Steward; Jamaal Wright; Matt Wheeler; Sean Flemming; Mike Budreski; Andrew Patterson; Scott Mader; Justin Symonds; Quame Mantley; Nick Harnish; Steve Nemethy
The silver medalist Coxheath Riverview Rural Royals: Brendan McCarville; Matthew Smith; Scott Cormier; David Burns; Chris Robertson; Glenn Cooke; Trevor Black; Robert Wadden; Dougal Hickey; Dan MacNeil; Tyler Lahey; Richard Talbot; Robert Wadden; coach Bill Burns; assistant Dave Martell; manager Rohan Miller; manager Mark McLellan
The gold medalist Halifax West Warriors: Colin Franz; Dana Britton; Dennis Wright; Billy Robinson; Andrew McNeill; Todd Brown; Lloyd Sepidoza; Blair Balcom; Mike Olsen; Mark Burchell; Michael Callaghan; Rohit Seth; David Henningar; Adam Nalepa; Mark Howard; Colin Taylor; Troyce Ashe; Michael Olsen; coach Mark Parker; assistant Les Berry