EAST                
(12) Brock 98              
(16) New Brunswick 83 Brock  66          
(7) Lethbridge — Lethbridge  80 Lethbridge 48      
  bye —              
  WEST           Victoria 70  
(9) Winnipeg 77              
(8) Calgary 70 Winnipeg  62 Victoria 74      
(1) Victoria 95 Victoria 100          
(15) Dalhousie 68              
  MIDEAST               —–VICTORIA
(5) Brandon 94              
(14) Ottawa 78 Brandon  70          
(10) St. F.X. 78 St. F.X. 69 Brandon 68      
(2) York 77              
  MIDWEST           Brandon 62  
(4) Waterloo 83              
(13) McGill 55 Waterloo 83 Waterloo 61      
(11) U.P.E.I. 70 U.P.E.I. 70          
(6) Western 69              

       In the first year of play limiting teams to two foreign-born players, (a rule adopted by the CIAU as of Sept 1/83), the CIS also moved to a four-regional draw.

       St. Mary’s threw a bombshell at the East regional, announcing, only hours before play was to have commenced in Fredericton, that they were forfeiting their AUAA championships and their right to play in the national tourney because they’d used an ineligible player, Ron Lardge. The Fort Lauderdale, Florida native was selected the AUAA rookie of the year a week earlier. St. Mary’s also relinquished its AUAA title. The 26-year-old Lardge was ineligible because he had played college hoops in the U.S. a year earlier (for two years) and thus was ineligible at St. Mary’s. A week earlier, athletic director Bob Hayes had announced that St. Mary’s was forfeiting all games in which Greg Williams, also of Fort Lauderdale, had participated. It was alleged that Williams had played under his brother’s name but because he left school at Christmas, the school had trouble checking his background. As the highest-rated remaining team, Lethbridge moved directly into the regional final. …………………………………………………… The Brock Badgers dusted the host New Brunswick Red Raiders 98-83. The Badgers led 48-32 at the half but the Red Raiders rallied to within six with 3.5 minutes to play before Brock closed the door. Doug Fast led the Badgers with 19. Kelly Grace added 18 and Bob Yuhasz 17. Chris McCabe led the Red Raiders with 24.

In the regional final, the Pronghorns eventually breezed to an 80-66 win over Brock, leading 48-32 at the half by dominating the boards. Lethbridge was led by East regional tournament MVP Jerome Ell’s 20 points and 7 boards. Ken McMurray added 19, along with 6 boards, Murray Hanna 12, Brent Maxwell 10, Bob Arnett 9, Garth Van Gaalen 6, along with 7 boards, and Dave Ross 4. Kelly Grace hit for 19, Dave Fast 16 and David Hodges 11 for Brock. The Horns made the national finals with a 29-17 record, a year after finishing 4-33. “It’s unreal to think now that we’re into the final,” said all-star guard Ken McMurray. “Last year we weren’t really that bad; we had eight rookies and just didn’t blend. Now, we know what each other can do — it’s weird just how one year has changed our team.” The Pronghorns exploded with a 20-6 run early in the second half to rally from a 47-39 deficit. The Pronghorns hit 32-75 from the floor and 16-20 from the line.

       Defending champion Victoria opened the West regional against Dalhousie and for a few anxious moments, it looked like it might be a contest as the Vikings started slowly but they eventually prevailed 95-68. But by halftime, they were in sync, leading 46-27 and they breezed through the final half to win by 27. Greg Wiltjer led the Vikings with 20 points and 14 boards; David Sheehan added 18 points and Eli Pasquale 16. Patrick Slaughter led Dalhousie with 17. …………………………………………………… Calgary squared off against the GPAC’s second place finisher in other half of the bracket and the two teams traded blows down to the wire, with each holding the lead several times and Winnipeg leading by two with a minute to go. The Wesmen held off the Dinosaurs by hitting their free throws in the final minutes to prevail 77-70. Art Koop paced the Wesment with 17. Point guard Perrie Scarlett added 16, Mark Johannsson 15, Blaine Acton 15 and Gord Tucker 10. Coach Bruce Enns’ team hit 29-56 (.510) from the floor, while Calgary was 35-79 (.440). Calgary out-rebounded Winnipeg 50-30. Calgary committed 9 turnovers and Winnipeg 7. Winnipeg was 19-29 from the line while Calgary was 0-2. Calgary’s Karl Tilleman, playing his first game in three weeks since being sidelined with a severe case of influenza, scored 24 before fouling out with five minutes to play. Bill Nash added 16. The score was knotted at 36 at the half and the game featured 20 lead changes. “I wasn’t happy with our defence at all, they (Wesmen) penetrated our zone really well with their dribbling,” Dinos coach Gary Howard told The Gauntlet. “A couple of our guys lost their poise out there and as a result, they scored a lot of their points from the foul line. … We missed some easy inside shots and simply didn’t get very many breaks. Winnipeg played with confidence out there. This time we caught them at the peak of their game.” …………………………………………………… In the bronze medal match, Calgary pounded Dalhousie 95-68.

       There was little or no contest in the West regional final with the Vikings superior height advantage proving dominant in a 100-62 over the Wesmen. Regional MVP 6-11 Greg Wiltjer scored 28 points and grabbed 17 of Victoria’s 43 rebounds, including 13 on the defensive end. 7-0 Cord Clemens scored 25 while Pasquale added 12 for the Vikings, who out-rebounded Winnipeg 43-17. The Vikings shot 64% from the floor and held the Wesmen to 35%. Mark Johannsen and Blaine Acton scored 14 apiece for Winnipeg. Wiltjer took West region MVP honours with his 48 points and 31 rebounds over two games. Pasquale, Tilleman, Winnipeg’s Gord Tucker, Johannsen and Dalhousie’s Pat Slaughter were named to the all-tourney team. Winnipeg coach Bruce Enns noted that “Victoria has played some real clunkers this year and we had a solid game plan that we stuck to throughout the contest. They simply dominated the game above the boards. We only turned the ball over 9 times the whole game but they blocked 20 of our shots.”

       In the Mideast regional, 10th ranked St. FX opened against 2nd ranked York (31-4 entering the tourney under national coach of the year Bob Bain) and stunned the Yeoman 78-77 when Kyle Gayle stole the ball from Wayne Shaw in the dying seconds of the game and laid it in for the victory. John Hatch led the X-Men with 28. The Yeomen had led by nine early in the second half but the X-Men battled back to take a 7-point lead with 2 minutes remaining on the clock. St. FX coach Steve Konchalski told Canadian Press “I never go into a game expecting to lose. I knew we were up against a very good team and we knew we had to come up with a big effort to win. We needed to make our own breaks and we made them.” John Hatch led St. FX with 28. John Christensen led York with 25. …………………………………………………… Brandon defeated Ottawa 94-78 as Charles Douthit scored 26, including 4 slams. John Carson added 25. …………………………………………………… In the bronze medal match, York clipped Ottawa 91-81.

       In the Mideast regional final, 5th-ranked Brandon edged St. FX 70-69. The X-Men’s Kyle Gayle stole the ball with under a minute to go and put St. FX in the lead. But the Bobcats were able to come back and snatch the victory on a pair of free throws by Grant Coulter. Bobcat Kenny Fields came off the bench to scored 5 points in the final minute of play. With the score knotted at 63 and all-Canadian John Carson on the bench, Fields notched an and-one with 57 seconds to play. “That three-point play by Fields was definitely what won it for us,” Brandon coach Dwight Kearns told Canadian Press. “But I think we showed a lot of composure being able to hang on especially after Carson fouled out.” Carson contained X-Men post John Hatch to 13 points and 12 boards. “The main thing I got up for in this game was John Hatch,” said Carson, who scored 8. “And the rest of the team was able to defence their good shooters and we came out on top.” Kearns said “our game plan was to stop Hatch. He’s usually about one-third of their offence and he’s a great player but John did a super job on him defensively.” Charles Douthit led the Bobcats with 24 and was chosen MVP of the Mideast regional. “I was just playing my game and they kept falling for me,” said Douthit. “I just kept getting open and the shot was there so I took it.” St. FX coach Steve Konchalski said “I was quite proud of my team’s effort tonight. Both teams played a great game and one big play for Brandon won the tournament. Really, it could have gone either way. … That just goes to show you how inaccurate those rankings are. The way we played this weekend I think we showed that we deserve to be in the top three or four teams in the country.” Regional MVP Charles Douthit led Brandon with 50 points in two games, dominating the perimeter with his accurate outside shooting. East all regional: Ray Kybartas (Ottawa); John Christensen (York); John Carson (Brandon); John Hatch (StFX); Chris Selletri (St FX); and MVP Charles Douthit (Brandon).

       In the Midwestern regional, 11th-ranked UPEI stunned 6th ranked Western 70-69. The heavily favored Mustangs shot a miserable 38% from the floor and trailed by one with a minute to go. Western managed to gain possession of the ball four times in the final minute and each time missed what would have been the missing shot. PEI, which shot 45% from the field, was led by Mike Morgan’s 19 points, Tyronne Norman’s 14 and Tejan Alleyne’s 13. Ross Hurd paced the Mustangs with 20. Cavender added 15. Panthers coach George Morrison said there was no key turning point, although field goals by Curtis Brown and forward Tejan Alleyne in the final 90 seconds were decisive. “It wasn’t pretty but it was a win and it keeps us in the chase for a national berth.” The Panthers led 33-31 at the half.  Western coach Doug Hayes told Canadian Press that “we had trouble with our shooting. That’s it in a nutshell.” UPEI hit .480 from the floor, while Western was .380 but outrebounded UPEI 44-33. …………………………………………………… In the other opening round game, 4th ranked Waterloo stomped 13th ranked McGill 83-55. The game was close through the first half, with the Warriors leading 34-30 at the break. But in the second half, Waterloo pounded the ball inside as they ripped off a 10-0 run and established their dominance in the paint to handily pull away for the victory. Steve Atkin paced Waterloo with 22. Dave Burns added 18, Peter Savich 12, Norris 12, Paul Van Oorschot 12 and Dave Moses 12. The Warriors hit 36-59 from the floor, 11-13 from the line, while garnering 31 boards. The Redmen hit 19-48 from the floor and 17-23 from the line, while garnering 19 boards. Warriors coach Don McCrae told the Kitchener-Waterloo Record that “it was a terrible start for us because of early fouls, which forced us to sit some people down and special defences on Peter (Savich), which cause the guys to go out of some patterns we should have stayed with. McGill came in here tonight well-prepared. They played good defence against us in the first half and we really needed the key baskets we got from Steve (Atkin) and Dave (Burns) to get us going. … Because of the good defence they put on Peter (a four-man zone and one), I think guys like Steve and Dave realized they had to take charge. … Rob (Froese) turned in a fine job as point guard, which isn’t his normal role and coupled with Dave’s steadiness, it gave us some breathing room when it looked as if we were going to run into serious foul trouble.” Vilhelm Boggild scored 10 points for McGill, while Owen Officer, Ken Tucker and Claude Briere each added nine. “We got off to a terrible start in the first half but our defence turned things around in the second half and a couple of veterans played the way we expect to give us the scoring we needed,” said Waterloo coach Don McCrae. The Warriors hit .610 from the floor, while the Redmen were .400, while being outrebounded 31-19. …………………………………………………… In the bronze medal match, Western clipped McGill 7057 as Ross Hurd scored 25.

       The Midwestern final saw Waterloo use its superior height and bench to wear down PEI 82-64 (also reported as 68-61). The Warriors took a 41-32 halftime lead and led by as many as 16 in the second half before UPEI rallied with a 10-0 run. But Peter Savich, Paul Van Oorschot and Randy Norris notched buckets to quell the rally and Waterloo maintained a comfortable margin for the remainder of the contest as Savich scored 29, Randy Norris 18, along with 10 boards, Dave Burns 12 and Atkin 10, along with 13 boards. Savich told the Kitchener-Waterloo Record that “I haven’t shot as well as I thought I should since my vacation (a five-game OUAA suspension following an elbowing incident) but I felt I did today. If I shoot well, it opens things up for the other guys and that’s when we’re best as a team.” UPEI coach George Morrison said “I didn’t expect Savich would have that kind of game and we didn’t expect to be beaten on about five or six fastbreaks. When you bring a tournament all-star into the game off the bench, it tells you something about their depth.”  Mike Morgan paced PEI with 18. Tejan Alleyne added 17 and Curtis Brown 15. Morrison told Canadian Press that Waterloo had too much size, too much speed and too much scoring. The TR all-stars were MVP Savich, Norris, Atkin, Morgan and Western’s Ross Hurd. Savich said that losing to Western in the OUA West final was a major eye opener for the Warriors. “I never look at losses as a blessing but it woke us up.” Norris said that the Warriors weren’t sharp. “We were waiting for the streak scorers like Peter to get us going. And then all of a sudden, against Western, it wasn’t happening. We weren’t going down the court and hitting the 1- foot jump shots like we were doing before.” Waterloo extended its lead to 16 in the second half before the Panthers narrowed it to six. The Warriors called a timeout and never looked back. “Everyone decided now was the time to put it together and we did,” said Norris. “They key for us is offensive rebounds. If you can get inside position on the boards, then the other team’s defence is going to break down. That means they have to start chopping you and that puts them into foul trouble.” Mike Morgan led UPEI with 18 points. Tejan Alleyne added 17. McRae said his troops had trouble containing the Panthers penetration. “If Peter (Savich) didn’t play so well, the game might have been closer. … They seemed to go under our guys and then right up into our guys’ faces.” Waterloo hit .490 from the floor, while UPEI hit .450. Savich was chosen the regional MVP. The other regional all-stars included Randy Norris (Waterloo); Steve Atkin (Waterloo);

       In the national semis, held in Halifax, Vic easily handled Lethbridge 74-48, dominating them inside with their superior height and strength. Wiltjer scored 25 and grabbed 8 rebounds. Pasquale controlled the tempo, scoring 11 and handing out six assists. David Sheehan added 11. The Vikes led 35-24 at the half. Jerome Ell scored 14 and Bob Arnett 12 for the Pronghorns.

       The other semi pitted Brandon against Waterloo in a replay of the 1983 semi, featuring the Bobcats quickness versus the Warriors size. The Bobcats prevailed 68-61. Neither team held a lead larger than eight points and midway through the second half the Warriors were leading 55-48 and appeared to be headed to victory. But Brandon’s tough defence held Waterloo to two field goals in the last seven minutes and the Bobcats roared back to take the victory. Warrior coach Don McCrae attributed the lost to poor shot selection and poor organization. Game MVP John Carson led the Bobcats with 23, while nabbing 11 rebounds. Jan Bujan added 13, John Bukich 13 and Charles Douthit 10. Bobcats coach Dennis Kearns told the Kitchener-Waterloo Record that “we went to the press to get more tempo in our game and it went in our favour. I wasn’t worried when Waterloo pulled ahead in the second half. I’m more worried when we do that. I thought John Carson did a solid job offensively and we got good boardwork from our Blues brothers – forwards John Bukich and Jan Bryan.” Brandon led 37-35 at the half. Peter Savich led the Warriors with 18. Dave Burns added 16, Steve Atkin 8, Cal Keil 6 and Randy Norris 6. Warriors coach Don McCrae told the Kitchener-Waterloo Record that his troops played “awful. … This has been a long way to come and at great expense to turn in the kind of performance you saw tonight. We survived a terrible first half and I thought we’d be okay the rest of the way. When we got the lead to seven points with a little surge near the middle of the second half, I thought we were coming on. Instead of that, we got impatient and stopped finding the basket. What did we get in those last six minutes? Just two field goals. I can’t believe it. If you only scored 61 points in the national finals, you don’t deserve to win and we didn’t.” The Bobcats hit 25-59 (.420) from the floor, while the Warriors hit 27-58 (.450). The Bobcats outrebounded the Warriors 42-26.

       In the bronze medal match, the Lethbridge Pronghorns defeated the Waterloo Warriors 76-72. The Pronghorns took a 14-4 lead early but rallied to a 42-40 lead at the half by capitalizing on more opportunities at the free throw line. The Warriors hit 20 free throws in the first half and the Pronghorns 3. Waterloo led 56-49 with 13 minutes to play but the Pronghorns shifted to a tight 2-3 zone and took a 76-66 lead with a minute to play. “I’m really proud of you guys — you worked hard all year and you’ve got what you deserved,” Pronghorn coach Ken Olynyk told his troops. “We only gave up 30 points in the second half. We played super D — just great defence. It was just great. We haven’t used that defence all year. We saved it and used it when we needed it.” Waterloo coach Don McCrae asserted that a scorekeeping error proved the difference, as Horn forward Bob Arnett was only attributed four fouls in the first half, instead of five. Arnett was able to play the entire second half with four fouls and dominated the boards, McCrae said. For the second night in a row, “something happened. We were in a position to win both times. Lethbridge really sucked it up and we let them suck it up. I’m very disappointed that we came back from being down, went up by seven points, only to lose.” Player of the game Jerome Ell, Brent Maxwell and Ken McMurray each scored 14 for the Pronghorns. Murray Hanna added 11, Dave Ross 6, Garth Van Gaalen 6, Steve Rodehutskors 5, Bob Arnett 4 and Shawn Gilborn 2. Peter Savich scored 22 for Waterloo. Dave Burns added 16 (also reported as 10), Steve Atkin 12 and Froese 11. Waterloo led 42-40 at the half. Warriors coach Don McCrae told the Kitchener-Waterloo Record that “it was exactly the same story. … in terms of how we stopped playing good basketball and let things get away from us in the second half. … For the last six minutes of the first half, we may have played as good as we have this season and a lot of it was generated by Rob (Froese) who came off the bench about midway through the half and made some things happen.” Although the Warriors closed the contest with a 6-0 run, it was “too little, too late,” McCrae added.

       In the final, Victoria defeated Brandon 70-62 to capture their fifth consecutive title. Brandon rallied to within three briefly, down 28-25 with four minutes to go, but a 12-0 run in the final minutes gave Victoria a 40-29 at the half. The Vikings extended their lead to 15 early in the second. The Bobcats rallied to within 62-58 but the Vikes had the answers in the form of buckets by Eli Pasquale and Greg Wiltjer. Pasquale controlled the ball and the tempo of the game while leading the Vikings in scoring with 20, while Wiltjer added 18 and 14 rebounds as he dominated the boards. Dave Sheehan tossed in 18. Brandon was led by guard Earl Roberts 18 points and all-Canadian forward John Carson’s 15 points and 17 rebounds. “This one is just as memorable as the others and it’s particularly gratifying to be because we had eight new people on the squad this year,” Shields told Canadian Press. Pasquale, who became the first player to win five consecutive CIS titles, noted that “we played an exceptional game. We knew what we had to do and when we put a run together in the final two minutes of the first half, we were in pretty good shape.” Bobcats coach Dwight Kearns said “Vic has a great team and the only way we had a chance was to slow down the tempo and run down the 30-second clock. Our players executed the plan perfectly, but if we had been able to make some more free throws, we might have really given them a scare.” Pasquale also became a four-time tourney all-star. “Every championship had its own special parts and this one was special because it was Eli’s last,” said Shields. Victoria had now won 61 straight against Canadian teams. The Vikings were an all-Canadian squad coached by Shields, 38, who’d led his team to provincial high school title as a player in Prince Rupert. Seven of the Vikings were from Vancouver Island. Three –Pasquale, Wiltjer and Larson–were national team members. All five Victoria losses to American teams, including a five-point loss to UNLV at the opening of the Las Vegas-based school’s new convention Centre. Observers contended that Victoria dominance in basketball was a function of the fact that the school did not play football or hockey, so focus of university sports administration is on basketball. The Vikings finished (34-5) on the season. “We battled them and in the last minutes it could have gone from six down to four, but the shot rolled out,” Bobcats coach Dwight Kearns said. “That basket could have told a difference.”

       The all-tourney team featured: MVP Greg Wiltjer (Victoria); Eli Pasquale (Victoria); Jerome Ell (Lethbridge); Peter Savich (Waterloo); and John Carson (Brandon)

       The bronze medalist Lethbridge Pronghorns: Ken McMurray; Bob Arnett; Jerome Ell; Brent Maxwell; Murray Hanna; Dave Ross; Garth Van Gaalen; Steve Rodehutskors; Shawn Gilborn; Dean Cristante; Don Webb; Sean McNamee; Gary Milewicz; coach Ken Olynyk; assistant Don Gellatly; manager Craig Patton

       The silver medalist Brandon Bobcats: John Carson; Charles Douthit; Grant Coulter; Jan Bujan; Ken Fields; Earl Roberts; Courtney Bailey; Don Thomson; Brian Ackroyd; Rick Briscoe; Butch Gayton; Frank Bojarski; John Bukich; coach Dwight Kearns

       The champion University of Victoria Vikings: Greg Wiltjer; Eli Pasquale; Ken Larson; Cord Clemens; David Sheehan; Phil Ohl; Graham Taylor; John Munro; Shawn Kalinovich; Quinn Groenheyde; Randy Steel; Clint Hamilton; coach Ken Shields