| (1) | St. Mary’s | 67 | ||||||
| (8) | Saskatchewan | 60 | St. Mary’s | 87 | ||||
| (4) | Concordia | 65 | Concordia | 73 | St. Mary’s | 60 | ||
| (5) | York | 62 | ||||||
| (3) | Brandon | 100 | —–VICTORIA | |||||
| (6) | Windsor | 86 | Brandon | 68 | Victoria | 74 | ||
| (2) | Victoria | 89 | Victoria | 75 | ||||
| (7) | St. F.X. | 68 |
In a season prefaced by the near-collapse of the CIAU as a result of a controversy stemming from OUAA objections to athletic scholarships and awards, Ontario threatened to withdraw after learning that the AUAA proposed to offer first part athletic awards. In 1981, a committee had proposed that three awards be allowed within each institution. The motion defeated in Sept-81 after Ontario’s threat to withdraw.
Tourney organizers abandoned rankings based on previous year’s results. Selected as wildcard entries were Saskatchewan and St. Francis Xavier, outraging Brock coach Garney Henley. His Badgers had been ranked in the top ten all season, while St. FX hadn’t been included until the final week of the season.
In the quarterfinals, held in Victoria, 4th-seeded Concordia edged 5th-seeded York 65-62. The Yeomen were playing in their fifth straight national tourney. The Yeoman had gone undefeated 12-0 in OUAA East play and had defeated the Stingers by a single point earlier in the year, but Concordia prevailed as John Gissendanner broke a 62-62 tie with 17 seconds to play. He hit one of two free throws. York called a time out. Concordia forward Gary McKeigan added an insurance field goal at the buzzer. York’s David Coulthard hit 1-7 in the first half but scored 19 in the second half. Concordia had led 33-27 at the half. “Any time you can keep Coulthard under 20 points, you’re doing a good job,” said Stingers coach Doug Daignault. “Our game plan was to stop Coulthard and we did a pretty good job of it. We tried to put a box on him. We didn’t play that well and it wasn’t a pretty game but we played tough defence.” Gissendanner, a five-year vet from Minnesota, led the Stingers with 21. Rodney Jeanty and Gary McKiegan each added 15. Tim Rider added 14 for York, while Grant Parobec tossed in 14.
2nd-seeded Victoria, shooting for its third straight CIAU title, dusted 7th-seeded AUAA wild-card entry St. FX 89-68. The Vikings used their 2-2-1 zone press to good effect, opening with 10-2 run and going ahead 22-6 and then 46-26. “It’s good to get one under our belts,” said coach Ken Shields. St. FX coach Steve Konchalski noted that “we ran into a very good team tonight, no doubt about it.” Konchalski also complained about the officiating, nothing that Victoria was very physical. They “jump on you back and foul the heck out of you in backcourt.” He predicted that Victoria would go on to face St. Mary’s in the final and the Huskies had “better wear some shoulder pads when they bring the ball up court.” The Vikings were basically B.C.-born and bred with the team featuring seven Vancouver Island products, including Greg and Gerald Kazanowski of Nanaimo; Kelly Dukeshire and Craig Higgins of Victoria Oak Bay H.S. and Ken Larson of Cowichan. Gerald Kazanowski and Eli Pasquale were both national team members and all-Canadian first team selections.
GPAC champion and 3rd-seeded Brandon clipped OUAA West winners and 6th-seeded Windsor 100-86. Will Marshall, from Beaumont, Texas led Brandon with 22 points as all five Bobcat starters scored in double figures. Stan Korosec led Windsor with 35 points and 15 rebounds. Brandon led 49-31 at the half. Keith Wilder scored 16, Cheddi Warner 16 and Jude Kelly 18. Brandon shot .560 from the floor, while Windsor shot .490. Phil Hermanutz added 20 for Windsor. Ron Wallman and Brian Hagen each scored 10. Five minutes into the game, John Ritchie hit the floor with an injured right knee. Windsor was leading at the time. Stan Korosec picked up his third foul in the first half and the Bobcats took over the tempo and raced to the 18-point halftime lead. Lancers coach Paul Thomas told the Windsor Star that “a bunch of things happened. The big guy (Stan Korosec) gets three fouls, the little guy (Brian Hogan) needs a rest and Ritchie gets hurt. Both of Ritchie’s knees are shot. His knees are so bad, they don’t hurt any more. Ritchie made a big difference. With him in there, we were leading. We were on a roll.”
In the last quarterfinal, top-ranked and AUAA champ St. Mary’s dusted Canada West wild-card entry Saskatchewan 67-60. The western Huskies tried to slow the contest to a crawl but wilted down the stretch. The teams traded the lead in the first half after which Saskatchewan led 36-33. They again traded the lead early in the second before St. Mary’s took the lead for good at 52-51 with eight minutes to play. St. Mary’s led 36-33 at the half. Rob Latter led the way with 22 points. Tom Kappos and Lee Davis each added 16. Mark Redekopp paced Saskatchewan with 29. Murray Redekop scored 4. St. Mary’s coach Gary Heald noted “to tell you the truth, I was worried the whole game because we just weren’t playing our normal type of game. Saskatchewan is a very scrappy team and we were playing their style. Any time, you do that, you can be upset.” St. Mary’s bench was much stronger. Saskatchewan shot .330 from the field and the Huskies were all but done in when forwards Murray Redekopp and Dave Wilson got in early foul trouble.
In the semis, 2nd-seeded Victoria defeated 3rd-seeded Brandon 75-69. Victoria had been ahead 32-10 on a thundering dunk by Gerald Kazanowski and tough defence in the first half when Brandon rallied to within 43-31 at the half. Brandon pulled to within four 72-68 with 48 seconds to go but Bobcat Keith Wilder missed a 15-footer with 30 seconds to go. Shields said “that’s the danger of playing on emotion. You can’t sustain it for 40 minutes. Everything started falling and then the guys started taking shots outside the offence. …The tendency is to back off when you get a big lead. And Brandon settled down and played very well.” Brandon coach Jerry Hemmings said “we made a tremendous comeback. I’m just tickled without players. They made me extremely proud coming back the way they did. We outplayed them over the last 30 minutes. Victoria has to play another team tomorrow but this was the championship game. I’m convinced of that.” Hemmings also noted that Brandon “never faced pressure like that all year. They played great those first eight minutes and we just go so erratic. We played like we were down 20 points with one minute to go. … Some of our kids also got into early foul trouble and they let up a bit on their intensity.” Hemmings was proud of his Bobcats, who started two sophomores and on freshman. “They’ve got to be recognized as one of the finest teams ever assembled in Canada. I’m proud of the way we came back.” Shields said “our pressure defence and our ability to break really allowed us to keep pressure on them and we won the game going away. We had a 20-point lead and we more or less cruised.” Kelly Dukeshire scored 26 for Victoria while Gerald Kazanowski added 14 and Eli Pasquale 11. The Bobcats were led by freshman Keith Wilder from Alexandria, Virginia, who scored 16.
In the other semi, St. Mary’s defeated Concordia 87-73 as Ron Blommers scored 26. “We just played our game. We wanted to go inside. As it turned out, they got into foul trouble,” said Blommers. Concordia was called for 33 fouls as compared to St. Mary’s 19. Concordia coach Doug Daigneault called it “the worst refereed game I’ve ever seen this year. And the worst refereed game I’ve ever seen. It’s just a shame that this happened. They allowed St. Mary’s big guys to do anything they wanted.”
No bronze medal match was held.
In the final, Victoria defeated St. Mary’s 74-60 to hand the Huskies their first loss of the season after 32 consecutive wins. The Vikings, playing before 3,293 hometown fans, took a 22-10 lead by 8:33 of the first half when they called their second time out and emerged to race to a 41-28 lead by the half. Vic was ahead 56-29 eight minutes into the second half as their pressure defence essentially shut down St. Mary’s all-Canadian guard Lee Davis. “I suspected that the Huskies wouldn’t be accustomed to the pressure defence,” said forward Tom Narbeshuber, who scored 16. Kelly Dukeshire scored 12. Eli Pasquale scored 11 and Gerald Kazanowski 11. “Obviously, we panicked,” said St. Mary’s coach Gary Heald. “They’re a helluva defensive team. They killed us with their press. They beat us on the boards. In fact, they beat us just about everywhere.” Victoria used tough defense to clog the inside lanes and the key. “The best offence is the best defence,” Dukeshire said. “The way we stress defence to have to have a team concept. Ken is the best teacher I’ve ever known.” The team featured four national team members; Dukeshire; Larson; Gerald Kazanowski and Pasquale. Shields noted later that “I was happy with the way we were able to play defence without getting into foul trouble. … Our game plan was to pressure the guards and keep the ball away from Davis, as much as possible. Our defence controlled Davis pretty well. I stressed to the players before the game that we had to play hard both on defence and on offence.” He also commented that “I have compassion for St. Mary’s. We caught them on a day when they didn’t play as well as they could have. They couldn’t cope with the pressure. … We dictated tempo.” St. Mary’s was led by Ron Blommers 19, Rob Latter 14 and Lee Davis 14. “Every time we win it gets more exhilarating,” Dukeshire said. “This is the best victory of all three championships. There was a little pressure on us because the girls had won their third straight.” Shields noted the squad may be his “strongest team” ever. “And technically, we’re not losing anybody, (although Craig Higgins may not return).” Heald noted of Victoria: “they’re not only the best in Canada. They’re the best by 14 points. They’re also one of the best teams, period, in Canada. As far as I’m concerned, they’re a good NCAA division I team. Ken certainly does a great job with them.” Shields was born in Beaverlodge, Alberta and moved to Massett, B.C. when he was six and then Prince Rupert when he was in grade 11. He played one year at Calgary Mount Royal College, two years at the University of Calgary, and two at U.B.C. Shields added that “I was happy with the way we were able to play defence without getting into foul trouble. Our game plan was to pressure the guards and keep the ball away from Davis as much as possible. Our defence controlled Davis pretty well. I stressed to the players before the game that we had to attack both on defence and offence.”
The all-tourney featured: MVP Kelly Dukeshire (Victoria); Tom Narbeshuber (Victoria); Mark Brodie (St. Francis Xavier); Rob Latter (St. Mary’s); Will Marshall (Brandon); and Mark Redekop (Saskatchewan)
The co-bronze medalist Concordia Stingers: John Gissendanner; Gary McKeigan; Rick Brown; Noel Nedrick; Steve MacNeil; Ian Hunter; John Kordich; Robert Bush; Lloyd Bentley; Anthony Brown; Rodney Jentry; Terry Jaszkowski; Joel Stuart; Sophocles Taylor; coach Doug Daigneault; assistant John Dore; athletic director Dr. Edmund Enos; SID Bob Philip
The co-bronze medalist Brandon Bobcats: Keith Wilder; Cheddi Warner; Jude Kelly; Will Marshall; Earl Roberts; Grant Coulter; Butch Gayton; Jan Bujan; Wallace Mainor; Brian Ackroyd; Tom Price; Bob Dodds; Keith Wilder; John Bukich; Don Thompson; Rich Pass; coach Jerry Hemmings; assistant Murray McLeod; athletic director George Birger; SID Barb Smith
The silver medalist St. Mary’s Huskies: Ron Blommers; Lee Davis; Tom Kappos; Rob Latter; Bob Oostveen; Rod Buckland; Ralph Draws; Mark Vickers; David Smith; Larry Collins; Dwaine Riley; Kent MacLeod; Ron Davis; Imants Koskins; coach Gary Heald; assistant Adrian Singer; assistant Rick Plato; assistant Hugh MacDonald; athletic director Robert Hayes; SID Debi Woodford
The champion University of Victoria Vikings: Eli Pasquale; Kelly Dukeshire; Tom Narbeshuber; Gerald Kazanowski; Bruce Hamilton; Craig Higgins; Greg Kazanowski; Ken Larson; Ryan Burles; Dan Brosseuk; Dave Sheehan; Phil Ohl; coach Ken Shields