In the quarterfinals (there were 31 division 3 teams in the province in 2014), held in Port Hawkesbury, the top-seeded Monastery East Antigonish Educational Centre Mustangs dumped the 8th-seeded Tusket Par-en-Bas Sharks 87-68 as Kendall Breen scored 56, nabbed 12 boards and dished 5 assists. Dylan Stevens added 21 and Lucas Perry 9, while nabbing 10 boards. Mustangs coach Terry Long said Evan Green’s defence was exceptional. The Sharks included Marcel Boudreau,
The 4th-seeded Clare St. Mary’s Bay Stingrays edged the 5th-seeded Bridgewater Vikings 66-61. The Stingrays broke to a 20-12 lead as Byron Mullen scored 8. They extended the lead to 46-34 at the half on treys by Mullen, Shayne Clements, Toby Stone and Garrett Nesbit. Coach Brad Bright said “the boys got a little sloppy in the fourth quarter letting the Vikings dictate the pace resulting in a close game. The boys had to really tighten up defensively to pull out the win.” Clements and Mullen each scored 20. Stone added 11, Jacob Gavel 6 and Evan Moses 4. The Vikings included Tomaz Fougere, Zach Dowe, Mark Rogers, Jack Li, Connor Munroe, Will Gatchell, Luke Silver, Chris Johnson, Jared Wamboldt.
The 2nd-seeded Annapolis West Educational Centre Wolfpack clawed the 7th-seeded Dartmouth Carrefour Leopards 94-62.
In the last quarterfinal, the 3rd-seeded Kennetcook Hants North Rural Flames stomped the 6th-seeded Port Hawkesbury Strait Area Educational Recreation Centre Saints 88-59. The Saints (coached by Jason Seymour, assisted by Evan Kennedy) included Morgan Timmons, Jake MacDonald, Carmen D’Intino, Riley Kelly, James Poirier, Daniel MacRae, Julien VanAudenhove, Alex MacDonald, Connor Kelly, Matthew Wyler, Dawson MacColl, Zackery Pottie, Dustin Peters, Blake Foster and Johnny West.
In the semis, the 2nd-seeded Annapolis West Educational Centre Wolfpack whipped the 3rd-seeded Kennetcook Hants North Rural Flames 70-50.
In the other semi, the top-seeded Monastery East Antigonish Educational Centre Mustangs edged the 4th-seeded Clare St. Mary’s Bay Stingrays 77-72. The Stingrays broke to a 24-10 lead but the Mustangs rallied within 40-28 at the half. “We came out cold and they were hot,” Mustangs coach Terry Long told The Casket. “They hit nine of their first 13 shots and owned a 26-point lead in the second quarter. We didn’t panic but knew we had to get rolling. We played our game in the second half and with two minutes left Kendall [Breen] hit a deep three to put us up five.” SMBA coach Brad Bright said the team played so well in the first half but were unable to keep the momentum going in the second. “The boys played a strong first half and although Shayne Clements got into foul trouble early in the second quarter the team held their lead. We came out cold in the third not scoring in the first four minutes of play.” Breen finished with 38 points, including 7 treys, 15 boards and 4 assists. Dylan Stevens added 19. Byron Mullen led the Stingrays with 21. Shayne Clements added 20, Garret Nesbitt 15, including three treys, and Toby Stone 9.
In the bronze medal match, the 3rd-seeded Kennetcook Hants North Rural Flames whipped the 4th-seeded Clare St. Mary’s Bay Stingrays 83-50 by drilling 15 treys. The Flames led 39-32 at the half and 59-49 after three quarters. Shayne Clements led the Stingrays with 22. Toby Stone added 10, Byron Mullen 9, Garret Nesbit 8 and Jacob Gavel 5. The Stingrays (coached by Brad Bright) also included Evan Moses.
In the final, the top-seeded Monastery East Antigonish Mustangs dispatched the 2nd-seeded Annapolis West Educational Centre Wolfpack 82-70. AWEC broke to a 6-0 lead but the Mustangs rallied to a 33-32 lead at the half. “Kyle [Boudreau] and Evan Green played great defense again keeping their shooters under control,” Mustangs coach Terry Long told The Casket. Kendall Breen scored 38 and nabbed 24 boards. Dylan Stevens added 23, Lucas Perry 17, along with 9 boards, Evan Green 2 and Kyle Boudreau 2. Travis Dorsey led the Wolfpack with 28. Franz Heubach added 13, Duggan Nickerson-Fox 8, Josh Marshall 7 and David Bent 7. East Antigonish finished the season with a 25-8 record. “It’s a great accomplishment for a small school,” Long said. “Kendall has been amazing down the stretch and over the last seven games averaged 43 points, 15 rebounds and four assists a game.” Mustang guard Dylan Stevens told the Port Hawkesbury Reporter that “near the end, I went out in the hallway thinking I might throw up. We knew the championship game was going to come down to a battle. It was really a case of whoever wanted it more.” Stevens returned to the court a short time later and notched the go-ahead bucket after Annapolis West had rallied from a 10-point deficit and knotted the score at 70. “We worked hard, and we battled through it,” Stevens said. “The heart on this team is just amazing. I’m really excited to win gold in my senior year.” Following the Stevens’ layup, teammate Lucas Perry connected with a trey to make it 75-70. Perry said “I got into a good position, went for the shot and hoped it would go in. It feels great — it’s great to win it for the school. … We just had to settle down, get back on defense, and get ourselves in position to win.” Following the Perry trey, Kendall Breen sank 5-6 free throws to ice it. Breen said “we finished third every year since grade nine, and we finished fourth in grade Eight. It feels pretty good. We worked hard on it for the last five years.” Long said “we were hoping to win a provincial championship the last few years. This year, we finally got through the semi and got it done. … We were up by about 10 in the third, but they trickled back into it — we knew they would. They had players who could hit three pointers, so we knew even a 20-point lead wouldn’t be safe against them. Whenever we had a time out or stoppage, we kept telling our boys ‘we got 15 minutes left, 12 minutes, just keep pushing.’”
The bronze medalist Kennetcook Hants North Rural Flames:
The silver medalist Annapolis West Educational Centre Wolfpack: Josh Marshall; Travis Dorsey; Franz Heubach; Duggan Nickerson-Fox; Josh Marshall; David Bent; coach James Wiseman
The gold medalist Monastery East Antigonish Education Centre Mustangs: Kendall Breen; Kyle Boudreau; Lucas Perry; Keigan O’Neil; Evan Green; Dustin Breen; Dylan Wallace; Dylan Stevens; Rankin MacEachern; coach Terry Long; assistant Justin Delorey