(3) Victoria 82            
(6) Windsor 71 Victoria  75        
(7) Concordia 81 Concordia  63 Victoria 81    
(2) Brandon 69         —–VICTORIA  
(8) St. F.X. 85            
(1) York 73 St. F.X.  69 Acadia 70    
(5) Acadia 95 Acadia 102        
(4) Waterloo 89            

In the quarterfinals, held in Waterloo, defending champ and 3rd-ranked Victoria opened with an 82-71 win over OUA West co-champ Windsor. Centre Gerald Kazanowski paced the Vikings with 20 points and forward Kelly Dukeshire added 18. Lancer star Stan Korosec scored 22 was Windsor suffered its third consecutive national quarterfinal loss. Head coach Ken Shields later attributed the victory to the excellent play of Vikings guard Eli Pasquale, who scored 18, including 8-8 from the field and 2-2 from the line; Greg Kazanowski, who hit for 10 and Craig Higgins, who added 8 points. By contrast, the Windsor guards scored a scant 12 points, led by Brian Hogan’s six points. OUAA all-star Phil Hermanutz, a high scoring who’d averaged 20.3 ppg through the regular season, was held to a scant four points. Lancer head coach Nick Grabowski tried a diamond-and-one in the second half to contain Pasquale but it proved as unsuccessful as his first half match-up zone. Victoria coach Ken Shields told the Windsor Star that “I didn’t think either team played that well. I know that we’re certainly capable of playing better. But in the final accounting, I thought that our guards were more outstanding than their guards. … We’re probably not as powerful as last year. We don’t have the big horse, a prolific scorer like Billy Turney-Loos but we do have good balance. We entered this game with a defensive plan to key on Stan (Korosec) and Phil (Hermanutz). I thought we did an adequate job on Stan. You’ve got to concede him at least 20 points in any game he plays. And Greg Kazanowski did an excellent job on Hermanutz.” John Ritchie added 17 for Windsor, while Jim Kennedy scored 14. Windsor coach Nick Grabowski said “our guys never gave up and we were in the ball game all the way. We were spotty as far as breaking their defence was concerned. Our guards couldn’t look over their defence. May we should have tried to go inside more. We went into a match-up zone in the first half. I thought we could do a decent job with that. But it didn’t work out. Then we went into a diamond-and-one in the second half without a floater taking care of Pasquale. Another problem was that we had only one guard (Brian Hogan) bringing the ball up the court and trying to set up our offence. That’s something you can’t do alone. Windsor led 9-8 early but trailed 24-19 after one quarter. The Vikings led 48-40 at the half and 62-55 after three quarters.

       The upstart 8th-ranked Concordia Stingers, 21-11 entering the draw but riding a 13-game winning streak, knocked-off the GPAC champion and 2nd-ranked Brandon Bobcats 81-69. The Bobcats, the youngest team in the tournament, had sprinted to a 12-4 and 20-8 lead at the start of the contest but the more experienced Stingers outscored them 35-14 in the last 12 minutes of the first half to lead 41-34 at the half. Concordia breezed from there, especially after Brooklyn native and Brandon all-Canadian 6-10 centre Gerry Abernathy picked up three quick fouls in the first half. Abernathy eventually fouled out with 12 points, having spent most of the game on the pines. His absence allowed the Stingers to dominate the boards. Brandon did contain high-scoring 6-7 Californian John Gissendaner, and at one point managed to pull within five in the second half. But 6-4 all-star guard Doug Whaley from Orange, N.J., who had his teeth knocked out in a mid-season tourney game at York, hit for 19, while 6-7 forward Gary McKeigan scored 20 and nabbed 7 boards to key the upset for coach Doug Daigneault’s squad. John Gissandanner added 12. Jude Kelly scored 16 for Brandon. Gerry Abernathy and centre Wallace Mainer each added 12.

       St. Francis Xavier, 25-5, ranked fourth in the polls, and fresh from a 96-95 victory over Acadia (in which star guard Varouj Gurunlian hit two free throws with 22 seconds left in the contest to pull out the victory in the AUAA final) dusted the top-ranked York Yeoman 85-73. The heavily favored 35-3 OUAA champ Yeomen’s only loss to a Canadian team during the regular season was at the hands of the Victoria Vikings in the mid-season Pacific Rim tournament. The Yeoman had breezed through the OUAA undefeated even though all-Canadian forward Bo Pelech missed the last half of the season with a broken wrist. But yet another highly-regarded Yeoman squad bombed in the national tourney, when St. FX posted a startling first round upset after 6-2 All-Canadian guard Varouj Gurunlian duplicated his AUAA tourney antics by netting 22 points. The X-Men manhandled York, easily pounding the ball inside. They took the lead early and never looked back, although at one point in the second half, York closed the margin to within three before St. FX ran off straight points to seal the win. Gurunlian finished with 23. Tommy Sullivan added 17, all-Canadian forward Mark Brodie 15, Shawn Parker 12, Geoff McIver 11, Hatch 8 and Brown 1. National player of the year David Coulthard was held to a mere four points (2-11) in the opening half. Although he came back to score 16 in the second half, the Mike Moser trophy winner was never really a factor in the game. X-Men coach Steve Konchalski noted “we have a lot of pride in our team and a lot of pride in our league. When Ted Upshaw (Acadia) didn’t win the Moser Award, it gave us added incentive. We wanted to stop Coulthard. He is a fine player, mind you, but I don’t think he had the year Ted had.” St. F.X. shot 3057 (.530) from the floor, 25-31 (.810) from the line, while York shot an icy 34-85 (.440) from the floor and 5-8 (.620) from the line. York outrebounded St. FX 40-29. Bo Pelech added 16 for York, along with 11 boards, Paul Jones 10, Peter Greenway 10, Grant Parobec 2, Enzo Spagnola 4, John Christensen 3 and Ron Kaknevicius 8. “Personally, I thought we controlled the ball game throughout,” said Konchalski. We led by seven at the half and it could have been a lot more. Coulthard got going in the second half but we got a couple of guys in our conference in Donnie Ehler and Rick Plato who can stick it against a zone with anybody. We figured if we could hold those guys down, we knew we could do it against Coulthard.” Gurunlian said “we forced a couple of turnovers, had a couple of steals and capitalized on them. That was the turning point. We got up over 10 and any time you get it over 10, it’s tough to come back. Our plan was to go to the inside game and that helped us get the early lead. Their inside game isn’t as strong as ours. They live by the outside shot and in the early stages, weren’t hitting.”

       In the last quarterfinal, wildcard Acadia edged host Waterloo 95-89. The Axemen had been the top-ranked team in the nation and averaging 109 ppg until their loss to St. FX in the AUAA final. Led by rookie head coach Ian MacMillan, who’d just been named recipient of the CIAU coach of the year award, the Axemen won despite failing to score a single basket in the last five minutes of play. First-team All-Canadian Ted Upshaw, a 6-6 forward, hit 14 of 20 from the field and wound up with 29 points. Phil Coldwell added 18. Brother Bo and 6-4 freshman Larry Hampton scored 16 and 14 points, respectively, while junior guard Donnie Ehler netted 10, Robbie Upshaw 2 and MacLeod 6. Acadia led 53-47 at the half. Upshaw told the Kitchener-Waterloo Record that “Waterloo is always tough on their home court. All they need is some size.” Axemen coach Ian MacMillan said “we didn’t play well for more than five minutes out there. … We tried five different defence. Only one was played very well. For Waterloo, sophomore forward Tom Fugedi posted 25 and 6-6 forward Doug Vance 21, Cal Kiel 16, Jarrett 9, Leeming 12, Van Oorschot 12 and Breckbill 2. Warriors coach Don McCrae said “we just couldn’t stop Acadia running down the floor. There were too many early transition points and they really hurt us.

       In the semis, Eli Pasquale sparked the Vikings to 75-63 victory over Concordia by controlling the tempo and rattling the Stinger guards into several fumbles and steals. The Sudbury-Ont. born Pasquale finished with 16 points, hitting 8-12 from the floor, while Craig Higgins and forwards Gerald Kazanowski and Kelly Dukeshire tossed in 12 apiece. Greg Kazankowski added 8, Quinn Groenehyde 5, Ted Anderson 4, Bruce Hamilton 4 and Dan Brosseuk 2, while Ryan Burles and Jim Larson were scoreless. Pasquale later noted that the Vikings decision to play an up-tempo game was the difference. “They’ve got good ballplayers but they like to do things slow. They’re a team who likes to walk the ball up court. We felt that, by using the full-court press, we could speed things up, which would be to our advantage.” Stingers coach Doug Daigneault told reporters his team was too methodical. “I thought we could have taken it up court a lot quicker. Victoria’s press really threw us off balance, and their defence played really well. It’s probably the best defence we’ve played against all year.” The Stingers were also hurt by foul trouble as stars Gary McKeigan and John Gissendanner were each hit for their third personal by the 15-minute mark of the opening half and were forced to the bench. “That was big factor. Once they were out of the game, we lost our inside game, and that hurt us. That’s where we’ve won all year long,” Daigneault noted. McKeigan paced the Stingers with 19. John Gissendanner added 16, Doug Whaley 12, Mike Soloman 6, Rick Brown 6, Steve McNeill 2 and Alvie Blackett 2, while Robert Busch, Noel Nedrick, James Webster and Mike Arakgi were scoreless.

       In the other semi, Acadia avenged its AUAA tourney loss by defeating St. FX 102-69 in a game featuring an up-tempo pace replete with high-flying dunks, snappy passing and good deal of showmanship. The Axemen led by 14 at the half, 61-47, as their conference rivals struggled to cope with the loss of all-Canadian forward Mark Brodie, who’d sprained his ankle in the opening round against York. Acadia stretched the lead to 22 early in the second half but fell into the trap of protecting their lead. “We just got a 22-point lead and started trying to protect it,” said Acadia coach Ian MacMillan. “Then we stopped playing. We just got cautious with that big lead.” The Axemen became extremely cautious and soon threw the ball away several times, allowing the X-men to whittle the lead to five with 40 seconds to go. But four free throws by Acadia guards Alfie MacLeod and Kim Fells sealed the victory. All-Canadian centre Upshaw finished the game with 29 points, guard Donnie Ehler 20 and 6-6 forward Robert Hampton 18, along with 20 rebounds before fouling out with five minutes to go. Rookie forward, 6-5 John Hatch paced St. FX with 28 points and 11 boards, while guard Geoff McIver added 23 and Varouj Gurunlian 18. X-men coach Steve Konchalski later complained that his squad had been robbed of the victory by poor officiating.  “When my young athletes play that well without Brodie, one of our star players, and come back from behind like that, they do not deserve to be subject to that kind of officiating,” he told reporters. St. FX was cited for 22 fouls and Acadia 21. But the X-men total included two crucial fouls in the bonus situation of the last minute.

       In the bronze medal match, Concordia defeated St. FX 82-65 as Doug Whaley scored 27. Gary MacKeigan and John Gissendanner dominated the paint for the Stingers, while the X-Men were almost entirely perimeter oriented. Concordia shot .510 from the floor, while St. FX hit .390.

       The final featured the disciplined Vikings ball-control game and stifling defence against Acadia’s up-tempo offence. Ball control prevailed 81-70. Acadia opened the game stone cold. Upshaw, who’d hit for 29 in each of Axemen’s earlier wins, scored only three points in the second half. Ehler and Hampton couldn’t buy a bucket. Victoria led 50-38 at the half with 6-7 centre Gerald Kazanowski dominating the boards at both ends. Four minutes into the second half the Axemen were down 19, unable to master the pressing Viking defence, which rattled the Axemen into 21 turnovers. The Vikings stretched the lead to 22 but Hampton’s first basket of the game keyed an Acadia run which brought them to within three at 76-64 with seven minutes to play. But after all-Canadian first-team centre Ted Upshaw missed a lay-up that would have pared the lead to one, the turning point of the game, 20-year-old sophomore Pasquale hit a 25-foot jumper to trigger a Vic run of 10 unanswered points to put the nail in the Axemen’s coffin. After Kazanowski hit eight in a row and Ted Anderson two in a row, Vic was on top 75-64 with less than four minutes remaining. Shields said Pasquale was the key. His steals and play-making eventually wore the Wolfville team down. “Eli was never as much a factor during the season as he was here. In the first two games he just dominated the other guards. He’s young and turning into a sound ball player.” Pasquale’s pressing defence helped the Vikings close the inside passing lines and shut down Acadia’s perimeter game, forcing them further and further outside. “Our defence was in command all the way,” Shields later told the Victoria Times-Colonist. “They are a perimeter team. They key was to shut down their inside game and pressure the perimeter. Nobody shoots well from the perimeter when they are pressured.” He also noted that “defence is the answer. It’s like pitching in the world series, goaltending in the Stanley Cup playoffs. Disciplined defence will win most of the time.” Tourney MVP Pasquale, who’d averaged 12 ppg and shot .400 from the floor during the season, finished with 18 points and 7 rebounds. Gerald Kazanowski paced the Vikes with 21, while nabbing 14 boards. Forwards Kelly Dukeshire notched 13, along with 7 boards, Ted Anderson 11, Bruce Hamilton 10, Greg Kazanowski 5 and Craig Higgins 3, while Quinn Groenhyde, Ryan Burles, Jim Larson and Dan Brosseuk were scoreless. The Vikings shot 48% from the field, 17 of 26 from the line and out-rebounded Acadia 47-43. Acadia shot 43% from the field and 10-20 from the line. The Axemen had averaged 109 ppg in AUAA play through the regular season and their 70-point total in the national final was their lowest of the season. Robert ‘Bo’ Hampton paced the Axemen with 20. Guard Alfie MacLeod added 12, guard Donnie Ehler 11, Phil Coldwell 10, Ted Upshaw 10, Larry Hampton 8 and Robbie Upshaw 2, while Steve Cox, Wayne Kehoe, Ken Fells, Kelvin Armstrong and Mike Crowell were scoreless. Viking centre Anderson held AUAA all-start Ted Upshaw to 10 points, 19 below in regular season AUAA leading average. “We were either at one extreme or the other,” said MacMillan noted. “One minute we were too tentative on offence, the next minutes we tried to do it all at once. … Pasquale controlled the tempo of the game and played a big part in their win. We had a successful season but maybe that tough game with X Friday night took a little gas out of us. We seemed tired but Victoria won it fair and square.” Shields said neither team “played that well. I know that we’re certainly capable of playing better. But, in the final accounting, I thought that our game was more outstanding than their game.” Pasquale said “this year’s win was much sweeter than last year’s. Because we weren’t supposed to win, we knew we had a good club. We worked hard all year, the coaches did a helluva job and it finally paid off. We didn’t have any all-Canadians but this team is all-Canadian. I think we were kind of looked down upon coming into the tournament. Nobody really gave us much of a chance to win because we have no superstars on the team – no take-charge players. But everybody worked hard and played to their potential and that’s why we are here.” Pasquale’s comments also served to augur the future. With six rookies on the team, the Vikings were a dynasty in the making. Victoria finished (33-10) on the season. Ted Upshaw said “we had our cracks but I just felt turnovers in general hurt us. Vic played a good game but we didn’t help ourselves by missing a lot of short, inside stuff. We were sloppy and sluggish, especially in the first half. Pasquale controlled the tempo of the game and played a bit part in their win. We had a successful season but maybe that tough game with X Friday night took a little gas out of us. We seemed tired by Victoria won it fair and square.” Critics mumbled after the championships that Victoria was dominating the national scene because the B.C. government was automatically awarding $1,000 to any student-athlete who played a varsity sport, which gave teams from the province a competitive advantage over foes from around the country. “What’s wrong with giving an athlete a scholarship in compensation for the time spent training instead of working?” Vikes assistant Bill Turney-Loos told Canadian Press. “What people are afraid of is crooks going berserk, trying to buy talent, which is what has happened in the States.” He added that “you can’t legislate morality.”

       The all-tourney team featured: MVP Eli Pasquale (Victoria); Bo Hampton (Acadia); Gerald Kazanowski (Victoria); Eli Pasquale (Victoria); Ted Upshaw (Acadia); and Doug Whaley (Concordia)

       The bronze medalist Concordia Stingers: John Gissendaner; Gary McKeigan; Doug Whaley; Alwyn Blackett; Mike Solomon; Nick Arakgi; Rick Brown; Jeff Boyle; Rich Hagens; Steve McNeill; James Webster; Noel Nedrick; John Kordic; Ian Hunter; Ian Hunter; Robert Bush; Lloyd Bentley; coach Doug Daigneault

       The silver medalist Acadia Axemen: Ted Upshaw; Phil Coldwell; Bo Hampton; Larry Hampton; Donnie Ehler; Robert Upshaw; Ken Fells; Eric Skinner; Alfie MacLeod; Kevin Armstrong; Steve Cox; Mike Crowell; Wayne Kehoe; coach Ian MacMillan; assistant John Archibald; manager Mike MacKay; trainer Sue Hannam

       The champion University of Victoria Vikings: Gerald Kazanowski; Ted Anderson; Kelly Dukeshire; Eli Pasquale; Quinn Groenheyde; Bruce Hamilton; Dan Brosseuk; Greg Kazanowski; Ryan Burles; Craig Higgins; Kevin Dancs; Jim Larson; coach Ken Shields