REGULAR SEASON
| Victoria | 16-4 | 26-8 | Guy Vetrie | |||||
| Lethbridge | 15-5 | 22-12 | Dave Crook | |||||
| Alberta | 15-5 | 25-15 | Don Horwood | |||||
| U.B.C. | 9-11 | 12-15 | Rich Chambers | |||||
| Calgary | 4-16 | 5-19 | Cory Russell | |||||
| Saskatchewan | 1-19 | 4-30 | Steve Roth | |||||
Playoff non-qualifiers:
Calgary Dinosaurs: Donnie Marchuk, Richard Wiebach, Kevin Bryan, Paul Guze, Sean Stetson, Brad Gallup, Chris Harris, Wes Jickling, Andrew Gustafson, Alex Weis, Colin Inman, Troy Gedlaman, Greg Montgomery, Byron Place, coach Cory Russell
Saskatchewan Huskies: B.J. Melle, Jody Glines, Mike Lambert, Mike Zeller, Jamie Dickson, Paul Seipp, Scott Gordon, Derek Czarnota, Geoff Glines, Steve Berschaminski, Jamie Sommerfeld, Wade Bourassa, coach Steve Roth
In the semis, Victoria defeated U.B.C. 82-83; 78-74; 78-62 (2g-1). …………………………………………………… In the opener, fourth-place (9-11) UBC knocked off first place (16-4) Victoria 83-82 to become the first team to defeat the Vikings at McKinnon Gym all season. Star centre Eric Hinrichsen had a chance to tie game with no time on the clock. He hit the front end of one-and-one but missed the second. UBC led by 8 with 12 minutes to play when Hinrichsen scored 12 unanswered points to give Vic the lead. But the Vikes got sloppy and David Buchanan made them pay with a steal, a layup and a three on next possession. UBC led by six with one minute to play and by 4 with 22 seconds on clock. Vic rallied back on a steal and a Hinrichsen hoop. But the Vikings left Nick Seredik alone under the bucket to score the winning hoop for UBC. Hinrichsen scored 38 and grabs 11 boards. Aaron Olson adds 6. Nino Sose hits 33 for UBC, including 6-9 from line. David Buchanan hits 18 for UBC, which was coached by Rich Chambers, who in 23 years as a high school coach made 19 provincial tournament appearances. Chambers was replacing Bruce Enns, who was on sabbatical for a year. …………………………………………………… In game two, Victoria defeated UBC 78-74. UBC built a 13-point lead early and moved ahead 45-34 at the half on perimeter bombing including a buzzer beating trey by David Buchanan. Victoria asserted itself in the second half with an 18-4 run and took a 10-point lead with two minutes to play. But Nino Sose and Gerald Cole hit threes down stretch to make it close. “We went brain dead in the second half,” UBC head coach Rich Chambers admitted afterwards. “We just had too many breakdowns and we didn’t execute down the stretch. “In the second half, I think it got to the point that we had too many guys trying to do it all by themselves.” The T-Birds went seven minutes without a bucket at one point. Sose finished with a team-high 16 points, while point guard David Buchanan and swingman John Dykstra added 13. Victoria got 19 points from Eric Hinrichsen, and 10 points and five assists from Allister Wilmott. …………………………………………………… In game three, Victoria defeated UBC 78-62. The Vikes coasted. “They’ve got a lot of weapons and they’re very well coached,” said UBC head coach Rich Chambers. “And they took away a lot of the things that worked for us in the first two games, and that’s a credit to their coaching staff. We played hard – we just can’t match up.” UBC started with an 8-0 run. But by the half Victoria was ahead 36-27 and, led by reigning national player of the year Eric Hinrichsen, the Vikes pulled away after the intermission. UBC closed the margin to nine points, at 63-54, when Nick Seredick nailed a free throw with 6:06 to go, but the game never really seemed in doubt. “I’m disappointed, because I really thought we had a chance to win Saturday night,” said Chambers. “I don’t have any complaints about the kids. They played super hard. And this has been a great experience. The kids have been great. The people at UBC have been great.” Centre Eric Hinrichsen counted 25 points for Victoria, while shooting guard Seth Adler and forward Colin Martin both added 13. UBC swingman John Dykstra notched 23 in a losing cause.
In the other semi, Alberta defeated Lethbridge 93-89; 71-76; 86-60 (2g-1). …………………………………………………… In game one, Alberta prevailed 93-89 by dominating the paint. The Bears led 50-43 at the half but Lethbridge roared back in second half with 10-0 run to take a lead before going ice cold. Alberta rallied back to a four-point lead, which they maintained until the final buzzer. Mark Humphrey scored 24 points, nabbed 6 boards and dished 5 assists for the Bears. Mark Filteau added 17 points, 3 rebounds and 5 assists. Darwin Semeniuk added 17 points, 6 boards and 11 assists. Danny Balderson led Lethbridge with 25 boards and 6 rebs. Spencer Holt added 19 and 6 boards, while Bob White scored 13 and dished 7 assists. Rollingson scored 10 points and dished 4 assists. Ryan Hall scored 6 and dished 6 assists. “It was tight right down to the wire,” said Bears guard Max Darrah. It’s crunch time now. It was down to who wanted it more and we wanted it. Our two teams are pretty evenly matched. We just executed a little better.” Bears coach Don Horwood called it “a great ball game. These are two close teams, and there was a real ebb and flow. It was a tough game, and both teams played well. We’ve struggled from the foul line all year, and I was afraid that if it came down to foul shooting, we weren’t going to win. We tried to have our key guys on the line when it counted, and they came through.” Filteau went 6-for-6 from the foul line in the final two minutes, allowing Alberta to pull away after the teams were tied 80-80 with three minutes to play. Lethbridge used a late turnover to pull within two points with 35 seconds left, and forced a second turnover to give the team a third possession. A travelling call with 22 seconds to play ended the threat and Filteau hit his final two free
throws to stretch the lead to four. “It was a one possession game at the very end, and we didn’t get the shot,” said Pronghorns coach Dave Crook. “It was a great game, but we made some mistakes. They did a good job defensively, and we missed a lot of shots early.” Filteau said “we have some good one-on-one defenders in Darren (Semeniuk) and Max (Darrah), and they did a great job in the first half.” Horwood said “I thought the key for us was we stayed mentally composed. We knew we couldn’t give Danny too much space, and still he makes two three-pointers, and Spencer makes another. I have a great deal of respect for that team.” Alberta hit 20-26 from the line, while Lethbridge hit 21-26. …………………………………………………… In game two, Lethbridge defeated Alberta 76-71. The Pronghorns took 11-1 lead early but the Bears rallied to cut the gap to 38-31 at the half. The Bears trimmed the lead to four midway through the second half and then took a one point lead with three minutes to play. Danny Balderson hit a trey in the final minute and Rollingson hit two free throws with 35.7 seconds on clock. Balderson grabbed a key board to set up Ryan Hall bucket at the other end. Jared Heidinger had 17 points and 4 boards, Rollingson 16 and 12 assists. Balderson 15 and 5 boards, Bob White 13, 5 boards and 5 assists, Spencer Holt 11, 5 boards and 6 assists. Nick Hughes led the Bears with 20 points and 5 boards. Mark Filteau added 18 and Max Darrah 11. Jeff Collier added 7 and Mark Humphrey was held to 2. “It was a great game,” said Pronghorns coach Dave Crook. “It looked like it was going to be easy at the beginning, but they battled back with a lot of heart. We did a much better job defensively than we did last night. The guys worked hard, and (Jared) Heidinger played tonight, when he didn’t play last night.” Heidinger said “I talked with John Tschritter (‘Horns’ forward), and he pointed out a lot of stuff (Humphrey) was doing that totally helped me. That was a big part in the changes we made.” Tschritter said “we looked at last night, and we knew (Humphrey) has some main moves, and we didn’t let him have those. Me and Heidinger talked 10 or 15 minutes after last night’s game, and talked about what we wanted to do, and things worked out for us.” Horns forward Tim Rollingson said “one of the changes we had to make was inside. They got too many easy points inside, and we had to shut them down. We did, especially in the first half. In the second half I felt I was going to hit my shots. When I started to make my threes, they had to respect me more, and that’s when I could give a little pump fake and pass inside. We knew they were going to get on a run, and we just had to weather the storm.” Rollingson nailed two free throws with 31 seconds on the clock to give the Kodiaks a 74-71 lead. Alberta took its first lead at 68-67 with three minutes to play, and a Filteau trey with 1:20 left put the Bears up 71-69, Lethbridge regained momentum when Bob White rifled a pass through the key to Danny Balderson camped outside and the Magrath grad nailed his second trey of the game. …………………………………………………… In game three, Alberta defeats Lethbridge 86-80 as Mark Filteau scored 20, Darren Semeniuk 21 and Mark Humphrey 17. Danny Balderson hit 19 for the Pronghorns. Bob White added 17, along with 13 boards, Spencer Holt 13, Jared Heiding 10 and John Tschritter 10. “By that time we had played each other six times this season: there were not secrets,” said guard Max Darrah. “Jeff Collier, Mark Humphrey and Darren Semeniuk all stepped up and led by example. Jeff showed us championship ring in the huddle and got us fire dup. That really focused us. I can’t say enough about those guys. They really led.” Golden Bear forward Mark Humphrey said “revenge carried us. It’s super irony, that’s what I was thinking about. This is my last year, and I didn’t want to have it end yet. I really feel for (graduating Pronghorn) Bob White. He was great today.” Bears coach Don Horwood said their diamond-and-one defence did an excellent job on Danny Balderson. “Danny Balderson can get hot so easily. He can burn you. Max (Darrah) covered him, and Stephen Parker spelled him off, because we had to have fresh legs on him as much as possible. We had to wear him down.” Darrah said Balderson “is always going to be a factor, and he is an assignment you have to take seriously. It is different than playing any other team. We threw a diamond-one at him to shut him down, and try and give him something new. We hadn’t used it all year. That’s what we said coming in — we can’t let Danny beat us.” Pronghorn coach Dave Crook said the diamond-and one gave us “opportunities elsewhere, and we were getting good looks. Things just didn’t go for us. We were prepared to play, we made some simple changes. (Alberta) just played really well. All three games, through 120 minutes, it’s down to last possession all three nights. All you can do is hope you come out on top.” Lethbridge opened strongly with White, Balderson and Tim Rollingson all hitting three-pointers in the games’ first six minutes. The Pronghorns led 19-10, and the lead swung from five to nine points before Alberta capped the half with a 19-6 run to lead 45-40 at half. “Filteau hit some tough, tough shots,” said Horwood. “Our big guys help to get the points from the perimeter, but Filteau showed poise. We knew this was going to be a dog fight. I thought we could win, but I wouldn’t say we were confident. But the guys played with a lot of guts today.” Crook said “the first game they dominated us down low, they worked us hard. Their perimeter guys were great, but they still had the big guys able to tuck it in, and Humphrey makes that shot at the end — suddenly it’s a two-possession game again.” Down five at half, Lethbridge would take the lead back when Rollingson hit consecutive treys early. Heidinger would take his fourth foul seven minutes in however, and Alberta would score the next 10 points to lead 70-61 — an advantage they’d never surrender.
In the finals, Victoria defeated Alberta 75-71; 76-78; 76-62 (2g-1).
In game one, Victoria defeated Alberta 75-71. Alberta’s guards penetrated at will early as the Bears took a 37-35 lead at the break and out-rebounded Vic 20-12 in the first half. Victoria played better defence in second half and quickly took a 5 point lead in first 35 seconds of the frame. The Vikes ran that up to 11 but Alberta cut it back to two several times. Yet, Victoria always had an answer. In the final two minutes, Eric Hinrichsen ripped an enormous offensive rebound to give the Vikings a four-point lead. Hinrichsen led Victoria with 27 points, 13 boards, 2 blocks and 3 steals. Aaron Olson added 16 points, and Allister Wilmott 9 points and 4 assists. Darren Semeniuk led Alberta with 16 points. Max Darrah added 12, Nick Hughes 17 and 4 boards, Mark Filteau 8, and Jeff Collier 8. Mark Humphrey nabbed 8 boards. Alberta out-rebounded Victoria 29-26 but committed 21 turnovers to the Vikings 9. Vikes coach Guy Vetrie noted that “both teams are hard-nosed and emphasize nitty-gritty basketball. We won the game because of effort and execution, we had a great work ethic.”
In game two, Alberta prevailed 78-76 in double overtime before a packed house of 2300 at Victoria’s McKinnon Gym. Seth Adler opened the overtime with a trey and Eric Hinrichsen quickly added a three-point play. But then Mark Filteau hit an off-balance trey to rally Alberta. The Bears took a one point lead with 22 seconds to play. Victoria had the ball and rimmed out a three. Alberta grabbed the rebound and hit free throw with 0.1 on the clock to ice it. Eric Hinrichsen scored 37 points, nabbed 9 boards and made 3 blocks for Victoria. Seth Adler added 14 points 6 boards, 6 assists. Colin Martin added 14 points, 5 boards. Aaron Olson added 11 points, 4 boards 3 assists. For Alberta, Mark Humphrey notched 24 points, 10 boards, 4 assists. Darren Semeniuk added 23 points while shooting .700 from the floor and dishing 5 assists. Jeff Collier scored 10 and Nick Hughes 9, while nabbing 6 boards. The score was knotted at 61 after regulation. “To come out on top of a game like that … in double overtime is indescribable. I feel like I’m at nationals right now,” Darren Semeniuk said, adding that the Bears were prepared for the match by a tough series against Lethbridge a weekend earlier. “Those games were just practice for this, I think we’ve learned not to panic – we have confidence in or scoring and our defence.” UVic and Alberta played nip-and-tuck basketball all evening with each team reeling in the other as soon as one took off on a run of points. Vikings coach Guy Vetrie said his troops played excellent defence. “They played strong defensively as well.
In game three, Victoria took the series with a 76-62 win before a packed McKinnon Gymnasium. The Vikings opened the game with a 10-2 run before Mark Filteau hits a pair of threes to get Alberta back in it. Alberta took five point lead and led 38-36 at half. The teams traded the lead in the second half until Eric Hinrichsen took control of the offensive boards. Victoria moved ahead by eight and then Aaron Olson hit a trey to put them ahead by 11. Alberta cut the lead to eight but the Vikings iced it at the free throw line. Matt Loveless came off bench to score 12 points for Victoria, while grabbing 2 boards and dishing 2 assists in 18 minutes of play. Olson notched 20 points on 4-6 from the floor, 9-11 from line, 1-1 from arc, 3 boards 3 assists. Eric Hinrichsen scored 18 points, nabbed 13 boards and blocked 2 shots. Donnie Fitzpatrick scored 12, nabbed 3 boards and made 4 steals. Seth Adler had 8 points, 2 blocks, 3 assists, 3 steals. For Alberta, Mark Filteau notched 24 points on 7-10 from arc, 3 assists. Darren Semeniuk had 11 points, 3 boards and 6 assists but committed 10 turnovers. Jeff Collier had 9 points and 8 boards. Mark Humphrey had 6 points and 3 boards. “What a way to go out,” said Vikes guard Donnie Fitzpatrick. “I can’t think of a better place to have played university basketball,” he says. It was Fitzpatrick who brought the ball up the floor for the final time, pumping his fist in the air as he bounced over half court, but even then, it didn’t really sink in that this was it. The fashion-conscious noted that the dapper Horwood wore a purple blazer Friday, black on Saturday and the green, Alberta Golden Bears Basketball blazer on Sunday. The teal-green sport coat did not make the trip. “They were great games,” said Bears captain Jeff Collier. “The fans were clapping for both teams on the floor. Both teams were playing with such hustles. It was two playing their hearts out.” Guard Darren Semeniuk added that “we gave it all we had. Sometimes if you lose it’s disappointing because you think you could have played better but we played well.”
In May 1998, Canada West UAA announced the addition of Langley’s Trinity Western University, commending in the 1999-2000 campaign.
After the season, Saskatchewan turfs Steve Ross and hires Greg Jockims as head coach. Jockims had been head coach of Cape Breton the past four seasons and returned to his alma mater. He was member of two Huskie teams that made the nationals (1986 and 1988) as well as a silver medalist of the Saskatchewan junior team that finished 2nd at the nationals in 1986. He was head coach of the Saskatchewan juvenile team in 1992 and 1993, an assistant for the Huskies from 1989-92, and an assistant for Guy Vetrie at Victoria from 1992-94. “I am excited about the possibility of having an opportunity to rebuild the once proud Huskie program,” Jockims said. “I feel I am more than prepared to restore ‘Huskie Pride’ to the men’s basketball program and would be honored with the opportunity.”
The co-bronze medalist British Columbia Thunderbirds: John Dykstra; Christopher Mitchell; Joel Nickel; Gerald Cole; Nino Sose; Dominic Zimmerman; Alexander Zabori; Alex Seal; Nick Seredick; Mikkel Hanse; Jeff Sharma; Jamie Wilmott; Dave Buchanan; coach Rich Chambers
The co-bronze medalist Lethbridge Pronghorns: Danny Balderson; Bob White; Spencer Holt; Jared Heiding; John Tschritter; Nick Noronha; Greg Roberts; Dennis Bekkering; Chris Wilde; Ryan Hall; Rob Kain; coach Dave Crook
The runner-up Alberta Golden Bears: Stephen Parker; Brad Berikoff; Mark Humphrey; Max Darrah; Mark Filteau; Darren Semeniuk; Chris Horwood; Jeff Collier; Ryan Dunkley; Nick Hughes; Jason Maher; Patrick Crevolin; Rob Killen; coach Don Horwood
The champion Victoria Vikings: Eric Hinrichsen; Allister Wilmott; Colin Martin; Seth Adler; Aaron Olson; Donnie Fitzpatrick; Matt Lovelace; Ole Schmidt; Tyler Bates; Keith Bustard; Ralph Chillious-Carter; Aaron Buckham; coach Guy Vetrie