1982-83 Waterloo – uSports men

	WEST
	Alberta	56
	St. F.X.	53	Alberta	67
(1)	Victoria	89	Victoria	83	Victoria	66
	Winnipeg	72
	EAST						Victoria	63
(5)	St. Mary’s	87
	Brock	75	St. Mary’s	73	St. Mary’s	61
	York	74	York	67
	New Brunswick	61							—–VICTORIA
					(3) Waterloo	73
							Waterloo	52
	MIDWEST
	Calgary	74
	Concordia	49	Calgary	59	Brandon	72
(2)	Brandon	83	Brandon	86
	Dalhousie	82

The CIAU finally adopted the recommendation of the National Association of Basketball Coaches of Canada and moved to a regional format in 1982-83. But only three regionals were held as Waterloo, champions of the host OUAA, were given a direct bye to the finals.

       In the western regional, top ranked Victoria defeated Winnipeg 89-72 as Eli Pasquale scored 22, Kelly Dukeshire 21 and 10 rebounds, Tom Narbeshuber 17, Greg Kazanowski 8, Phil Ohl 6, Gerald Kazanowski 6, David Sheehan 4, Ryan Burles 2, Quinn Groenheyde 2 and Dan Brosseuk 1, while Vito Pasquale was scoreless. Victoria forced 29 Winnipeg turnovers. Anthony Kaufman led the Wesmen with 15. Art Koop added 14, Grant Greenwood 10, Gord Tucker 9, Perry Scarlett 8, Wayne Harder 8 and Mark Johnasson 8, while Curt Brnner, Craig Buss, Wes Hebert, Willy Parker and Russ Rednault were scoreless. …………………………………………………… On the bottom half of the bracket, host Alberta defeated St. Francis Xavier 56-53 as Jay Loukes scored straight free throws in the last 36 seconds of play. Loukes, Mike Kornak and Jim Pratt shut down the X-Men on defence, while Leon Bynoe and Fred Murrell provided strong support on offence.

In the West regional final, Victoria defeated host Alberta 83-67 before a standing room only crowd of 1,100. The Golden Bears took a 43-33 lead at the half but the experience and strength of the Vikings proved the difference in the second half. “I think we just weren’t patient on offence,” said Eli Pasquale, who scored 37. “We weren’t any less confident coming out in the second half. We knew what we had to do.” The Vikings shut down Alberta for the first three minutes of the half while regaining the lead. Mike Kornak led Alberta with 18 points. Fred Murrell added 17. Victoria’s zone defence befuddled the Bears in the second half. When Alberta got in foul trouble midway through the second half, Victoria took command. The regional all-tournament team featured MVP Eli Pasquale (Victoria); Fred Murrell (Alberta); Leon Bynoe (Alberta); John Hatch (St. Francis Xavier); Tom Narbeshuber (Victoria); and Kelly Dukeshire (Victoria)

       In the Midwest bracket, Brandon defeated Dalhousie 83-82 as Earl Roberts hit a field goal from the free throw line with no time on the clock, touching off a wild melee. The Tigers had thought they’d won it on a bucket by Bo Malott with six seconds to play. Tiger coach Doc Ryan riled an official protest, which was not upheld. Roberts told the Dalhousie Gazette “I know I shot the ball and then heard the buzzer.” ……………………………………………………  Calgary defeated wildcard Concordia 74-49 as Karl Tilleman scored 38. Concordia is “not a very good outside shooting team,” Dinos coach Tom Bishop told the Gauntlet. Because players like Meagher, Nash, and Lawrence didn’t allow them to go inside the Stingers were “forced to take shots they didn’t want to take.” The Dinos defence held the Stingers to just 17 in the first half.

       In the Midwest final, Brandon thumped Calgary 86-59 as John Carson, Keith Streeter and Jan Bujan scored 52 and grabbed 25 boards between them. The Bobcats limited Calgary’s Karl Tilleman to 6-20 from the floor and 16 points. “Our goal was to try and limit (Tilleman) to 30 shots,” said coach Jerry Hemmings. “We thought if we could do that, we would have a good chance of winning.” Dinos coach Gary Howard told the Gauntlet that the Bobcats “came out very intense next night. We knew what they were going to do. … (But they) shot well.” Karl Tilleman said “the first half was one of the worst halves we played. …………………………………………………… The regional all-tournament team included: John Carson (Brandon);

       In the semis of the East regional, held in Fredericton, St. Mary’s defeated Brock 87-75 as Rob Latter scored 24 and Greg Williams 14. Doug Fast paced the Badgers with 28. Paul Treitz added 13, Dave Hodges 10 and Jim Zareski 8. The Huskies broke to an 11-4 lead. Badgers coach Garney Henley told the Hamilton Spectator that “the game was established right off the bat. We anticipated them to be really physical but not as physical as they were. With three minutes gone, David (Hodges) had three fouls and sat down the rest of the half – that hurt.” The Huskies led 43-27 at the half, and by as many as 22, while shooting 29-62 from the floor and outrebounding the Badgers 37-27. Brock hit 29-67 from the floor. Henely said “I’m proud of the kids. They got behind and never gave up. We made a good drive on them to bring the score within reason … We didn’t do some of the things we’re capable of, nevertheless, it was disappoint but not a disgrace – St. Mary’s is a good ball club.”  …………………………………………………… York defeated New Brunswick 74-61 as centre John Christensen scored 23. Tim Ryder added 14 and Enzo Spagnuolo 11. Scott Devine paced the Varsity Reds with 17. York led 36-29 at the half and opened the second half with an 8-0 run. They quickly extended the lead to 15. Devine told The Brunswickan “you can’t go down 13 or 17 points like we do – and I don’t really know why we put ourselves in that position. We’ve been doing it all year and getting burned but we still do it. We seem to hit a flat spot for about a four or five-minute stretch, which the main reason we lost ball games. We only play 30-35 minutes of basketball and it’s those five or seven minutes we don’t play that kill us.”

       In the East regional final, St. Mary’s defeated York 73-67 by dominating the boards. The Huskies led form the start and extended their edge to as many as 13 in the second half before York closed the gap to four with a minute to play. “There was a lot of missed shots,” said Huskie Rob Latter, who scored 20 and was chosen game MVP.  Bob Oostveen, who added 15 for the Huskies said, “it was a battle of the boards.” Greg Williams added 10. John Christenson led the Lions with 22. Enzo Spagnuolo added 12. Huskies coach Gary Heald told The Brunswickan that his troops shot “poorly. We missed some key foul shots and that helped them keep it close. But we were in control for most of the game. When you’re shooting poorly, you have to play good defence and have some strong rebounding, and that’s where our strengths are.” York interim coach Gerry Barker (Bob Bain was on sabbatical) told The Excalibur that “we just got behind too many times against St. Mary’s and couldn’t get back into the picture. But give them credit, they played a great game. They were hungry for the win. Their big men dominated the boards and they just never let up.” The regional all-tournament team included MVP Rob Latter (St. Mary’s); Enzo Spagnuolo (York); John Christensen (York); Doug Fast (Brock); Scott Devine (New Brunswick); and Bob Osteveen (St. Mary’s).

       In the national semis, top ranked Victoria edged 5th-ranked St. Mary’s 66-61, despite having Eli Pasquale and post Gerald Kazanowski on the bench for most of the first half, each having picked up two fouls in the first few minutes of play. Pasquale scored 14 of his 16 points in the second half. St. Mary’s opened in a 1-3-1 zone and sought to keep the ball out of the post. Victoria coach Ken Shields said “our passes were slow and we seemed lethargic. We were struggling all night. St. Mary’s coach Gary Heald credited Pasquale for the Victoria victory. “He’s a good player. He’s an excellent player, very patient. He made the shot he had to make – we didn’t. He also gave our guys fits on defence.” Shields told the Kitchener-Waterloo Record that “they played a 1-3-1 zone and did a great job of keeping the ball out of their court. We tried three or four things to get something going but nothing worked. No question, Pasquale bailed us out. We didn’t attack them as much as we should have. I would have liked to see more momentum. We were struggling and I wasn’t please at all with the rebounding.” Heald said “we didn’t let them off the court easily. Everyone gave 110%. We just didn’t put the ball in the basket when we had to. We just stopped executing in the second half. That’s inexperience. I don’t know if they did any more to stop us. I don’t think they did.” St. Mary’s was ahead 47-45 midway through the second half when Victoria responded with a 12-0 run. Kazanowski finished with 10, Quinn Groenhyde 10, Tom Narbeshuber 10, Gerald Kazanowski 8, Kelly Dukeshire 6, Ryan Burles 2, Phil Ohl 2 and Dan Brosseuk 2, while Dave Sheehan, Vito Pasquale and Dave Bakken were scoreless. “Their experience beat us,” said Heald. “Every time they needed a basket, Pasquale got it or passed to someone who did.” Rob Latter led St. Mary’s with 23. Greg Williams added 12, Nick Briggs 8, Rod Buckland 6, Gary Bratty 6, Mike Williams 4 and Bob Oostveen 2, while David Smith, Rob Rankin, B.J. Ross and John Murphy were scoreless. The Vikes led 32-23 in the second quarter but the Huskies rallied to within 34-33 at the half. Huskies coach Gary Health told Canadian Press that “we had a good game plan, but when it came down to pressure situations, their experience beat our inexperience. Eli (Pasquale) didn’t show us anything until they really needed it – that’s when it became evident to all that he is the best point guard in Canada.” Shields said “St. Mary’s adjusted well. We tried four different defences, and none of them worked. They are a very determined young team, and we are lucky in that a few breaks their way could have put us instead of them in tomorrow’s consolation.” The Vikes hit .380 from the floor, while the Huskies were .340 and outrebounded Victoria 39-35.

       In the other semi, third-ranked Waterloo, which had been given a direct bye to the final as the winners of the OUAA, defeated second-ranked Brandon 73-72 on a last second 18-foot jumper by Peter Savich. Brandon had rallied from a 47-36 deficit to take a 72-71 lead. With four seconds to go, Waterloo got the rebound under its own basket, passed it ahead to Savich at mid-court and he worked his way down court to hit a 20-foot jumper at the buzzer. “I kind of felt they felt the game was over and there was no pressure on me,” said Savich, who scored 28, including 16 in the second half and 14 of Waterloo’s last 16 points. Brandon led 72-69 with 1:25 to play when Jude Kelly drilled a baseline jumper. The Warriors cut the lead to 72-71 and had the ball when 6-10 forward Steve Atkin was called for charging with 26 seconds remaining. That gave Brandon the ball, but forward Jan Bujan lost it on a steal with 18 seconds left. They went to Savich, who worked one-on-one with Brandon’s Earl Roberts and banged a bank shot off the rim. Brandon’s John Carson rebounded and was fouled with four seconds showing on the clock. Brandon called a timeout and coach Jerry Hemmings decided not to line up any of his players along the lane. “In hindsight, maybe we should have lined up,” Hemmings said. “But they were in the bonus and I didn’t want to take any chance of a bump or a bad call getting them to the line.” Carson rattled the front end of the bonus off the rim. The Warriors’ rebounded, moved the ball quickly up the floor and Savich, who had missed his last three shots, popped the winner from the baseline. Hemmings said “there were things we were supposed to do if John missed the free throw and they really didn’t get clone. But I’m not going to criticize any of my players . . . they won a lot of games this season.” Waterloo led 47-36 at the half. “I couldn’t believe the way we played in the first half,” Hemmings said. “We got down a little bit and then tried coming back too quickly, I guess.” Warriors coach Don McCrae said “this is the first time all season that we’ve had four, five or six players play well. Everything we tried worked well. I thought we controlled play about five minutes into the second half. But they came at us with some tough man to man defence. That gave us some decisions to make on the floor and we made some bad ones. … They really came back on us. They’re tough hombres.” Dave Burns added 14 for Waterloo, Paul Van Gorschot 13, Atkin 10, Randy Norris 4, Phil Jarrett 2 and Paul Boyce 2. Savich told the Kitchener-Waterloo Record that “I never had one of those game-winning shots before and it sure helps me forget missing five straight free throws that we really needed in the closing minutes. … It was a set play for me to get the ball if the shot was missed since they (Brandon) sent no one in to rebound. Once I got the ball I thought about cranking (it up) from halfcourt but I saw I had three seconds so I went to the corner for a better shot.” McCrae said “I just can’t believe we keep doing thi. … That first half was probably the best four, five or six-man effort we’ve had this season and I thought it (the lead) should habe been even more. But Brandon is a great ball club and they plugging away at us. They really took the game away from us around the midway mark of the (second) half and their pressure caused us to stop doing some good things we had done in the opening half.” Brandon outrebounded Waterloo 41-31. John Carson led Brandon with 17. Jan Bujan added 13, Jude Kelly 12, Grant Coulter 12, Earl Roberts 8 and Kenny Fields 6. The start of the game was delayed by 43 minutes to replace a backboard that broke on a John Carson slam during warm-ups.

       In the bronze medal match, the Brandon Bobcats defeated the St. Mary’s Huskies 85-72. The Bobcats dominated but lacked zeal. Bobcats guard Jude Kelly told Canadian Press that “we were obviously let down. I feel this simply

shows how keen we were to be in the final.” The Bobcats pressure made it extremely difficult for the Huskies to get the ball across midcourt for most of the affair. Brandon led by 17 at the half. Coach Jerry Hemmings said the loss in the semi was “a tough loss to take. … being so close to the big one. Some teams refuse to play consolation and consider it a waste of time and energy. Bouncing back and getting it together is extremely important even if your heart is not exactly in what you’re doing.” Jude Kelly paced the Bobcats with 20. John Carson added 16 and Keither Streiter 18. Hemmings told the Kitchener-Waterloo Record that “our team was very dejected after losing to Waterloo but the kids bounced back well tonight and showed a lot of character. I think we were more mentally ready than St. Mary’s.” Brandon led 402-5 at the half and outrebounded the Huskies 35-21. Rob Latter led the Huskies with 23. Gary Bratty added 14 and Bob Ostveen 15. Huskies coach Gary Heald said “I really don’t know how we made it this far, but here we are and that says a lot. Somehow, they find ways to win basketball games – we are a team with character.”

       In the final, played before 4,100 fans on Waterloo’s home court, the Vikings defeated Waterloo 63-52. They held the Warriors scoreless for the first five minutes as they took a 12-0 lead, using the defensive pressure that was the hallmark of all the great Victoria teams. Waterloo finally scored when Steve Atkin hit a jumper five minutes into the game. But the Warriors fought back and when Paul Boyce scored his only basket of the game with 3:20 left in the half, the Warriors took a 26-24 lead, their only lead in the game. The Vikings clawed back for a 34-28 halftime lead. They kept up the pace early in the second half and opened up a 13-point margin and although the Warriors fought back to within six halfway through the second half, the issue was never in doubt. Playing without Dukeshire, who’d injured his ankle in the semis, the Viking were keyed by Eli Pasquale, a point guard from Sudbury, who knew of Shields from his days at Laurentian. He scored 11 straight Victoria points in the second half to give the Vikings a comfortable lead, and finished with 23. They cruised to the title to finish the season 33-3, and unbeaten against Canadian teams. “There are a lot of things about this victory that make it the best. The road here was the toughest we’ve ever been through,” Shields said. “Then, here, St. Mary’s gave us all we could handle in our first game and Kelly Dukeshire gets hurt and we lost a second-team all-Canadian (i.e. Dukeshire). … So we had to rely on guys like Phil and Danny and Quinn, who came in and played like superstars. They came off the bench and did an excellent job and I can’t think of any other circumstances that could make me prouder.” Prior to the game, Shields had noted “everyone in the place is hoping Waterloo can knock us out and become the Cinderella team. To me, this experience is the ultimate experience in athletics, to face such adversity and to play with such composure and intensity we played with – I just can’t be prouder of them. Pasquale noted that the adversity is “what makes this win so good. It was a total team effort.” Pasquale told the Kitchener-Waterloo Record that “we miss Kelly (Dukeshire, out with a sprained ankle) but we’ve got a tremendous bench and I thought we did a heckuva job rebounding in what was a very physical game.” Greg Kazanowski scored 12, while nabbing 13 boards, and Tom Narbeshuber 12. Waterloo was led by Peter Savich 16 and Steve Atkin 15. Each also nabbed 9 boards. Kazanowski and Dukeshire were playing in fifth national tourney in a row. Pasquale was the star, scoring 33 in the rough, physical affair. He took a cut near the eye, and elbow in the mouth from Waterloo’s Paul Van Gorschot. Peter Savich led the Warriors with 16 and Atkin finished with 15 and Dave Burns 9. “Eventually the poor start is what hurt us. It wore us down because we had to keep our key people in, in order to come back. By the end of the game, when we needed our big guns, they were worn out,” said Waterloo coach Don McCrae. Victoria coach Ken Shields noted that “there are a lot of things about this victory that make it the best. The road here was the toughest we’ve ever been through, having to first get by Calgary and then Alberta in the final at our regional. Then, here, St. Mary’s gave us all we could handle in our first game and Kelly Dukeshire gets hurt (sprained ankle) and we lose a second-team all-Canadian. So we had to rely on guys like Phil and Danny and Quinn, who came in and played like superstars. They came off the bench and did an excellent job and I can’t think of any other circumstances that could make me prouder.” Pasquale added that “That’s what makes this win so good. It was a total team effort.” Waterloo coach Don McCrae said “eventually, the port start is what hurt us. It wore us down because we had to keep our people in, in order to come back. By the end of the game, when we needed our big guns, they were worn out.” Victoria finished (33-3) on the season. Shields told The Imprint that “almost any other team in Canada would have broken under the pressure of the Warriors. The kids off the bench (Phil Ohl, and Dan Brosseuk) were very strong. Phil did an excellent job. We were a little impatient for a while there in the first half, and took low percentage shots. We had to play both the Warriors and their fans – a formidable challenge because both are the best. Those fans would die for Waterloo. We had to take the crowd out of the game. I didn’t want a Cinderella story.” Warriors coach Don McCrae said “the officials surprised us early. The first seven or eight minutes were really strange, but the referees were fine from then on. They’re the two best around. We had champagne (ready) regardless. I thought we were going to have a celebration either way. It was a straight war. Our players were reaching for something that they didn’t have. They’ll have it next year.” The Vikes hit .410 from the floor and 11-17 from the line, while the Warriors hit .350 from the floor and 4-6 from the line.

       The all-tourney team featured: MVP Eli Pasquale (Victoria); Greg Kazanowski (Victoria); Steve Savich (Waterloo); Jude Kelly (Brandon); Jerome Ell (Lethbridge); and Rob Latter (St. Mary’s)

       Coaches meeting at the CIAU tourney voted to go to a four regional, from a three regional event commencing in 1984. When the CIAU moved to a 16-team event, teams were seeded 1-16 and 1-4 in separate regionals. No regional was allowed to have more than two teams from a conference. At least three conferences had to be represented in a regional. No first-round games between conference members. The coaches also recommended that three-point shot be introduced. As well, the CIAU moved to limit all teams to three players born out of Canada. In June of 82, the AUAA said they’d abide by an order limiting the number of foreign players to three. The coaches also urged that the CIS adopt the three-point line.

       The bronze medalist Brandon Bobcats: John Carson; Jude Kelly; Earl Roberts; Jan Bujan; Butch Gayton; coach Jerry Hemmings

       The silver medalist Waterloo Warriors: Peter Savich; Steve Atkin; Dave Burns; Kenneth Haggert; Phil Jarrett; Mark Korchok; Bruce Milliken; David Moser; Randy Norris; Scott Rand; Bogdan Urosevic; Paul Van Oorschot; Paul Boyce; Bob Urosevic; coach Don McCrae

       The champion University of Victoria Vikings: Eli Pasquale; Gerald Kazanowski; Kelly Dukeshire; Tom Narbeshuber; Quinn Groenheyde; Greg Kazanowski; Dan Brosseuk; Ryan Burles; Phil Ohl; Dave Sheehan; Dave Bakken;

Vito Pasquale; coach Ken Shields