REGULAR SEASON
| Victoria | 17-5 | 26-10 | Guy Vetrie | |||||
| Alberta | 17-5 | 28-8 | Don Horwood | |||||
| Simon Fraser | 11-11 | 15-21 | Scott Clark | |||||
| Lethbridge | 10-12 | 13-17 | Dave Crook | |||||
| U.B.C. | 9-13 | 13-19 | Kevin Hanson | |||||
| Trinity Western | 8-14 | 14-19 | Stan Peters | |||||
| Calgary | 8-14 | 12-18 | Dan Vanhooren | |||||
| Saskatchewan | 8-14 | 12-17 | Greg Jockims | |||||
Victoria won regular season title when Ali Wilmott hit three-pointer in the dying seconds of the final regular season game against Alberta.
Playoff non-qualifiers:
Calgary Dinosaurs: Whit Hornsberger, Andy Stordeur, Chris Harris, John Riad, Jeff Loomis, Wes Jickling, Richard Wiebach, Sean Paterson, Kurt Schoendorfer, Adam Begley, Rich Gill, Jonathan Woods, Brent Laycock, Dale Vanhooren, Paul Guze, coach Dan Vanhooren
Saskatchewan Huskies: Calvin Palmer, Ian Ferguson, Jody Glines, Ryan Leier, Jamie Charlton, Wayne Zarowny, Kyle Vermette, Seth Lang, Brant Melle, Steve Berschaminski, Erik Albrecher, Derek Boechler, Sean Homenick, coach Greg Jockims
In the quarterfinals, the Simon Fraser Clan defeated the Trinity Western Spartans 96-77; 89-84 (2g-0). …………………………………………………… In game one, the Clan took a 10-point lead in the first half 17-7 but Trinity rallied to take the lead at 28-26 before the Clan moved ahead by 44-43 at the half. The second half was all Clan as their shooters got on track. Jeremy Neufeld scored 24, including 4-5 from the arc and 10-15 from the field. Jordan Mason added 24, while Brent Charlton and Kevin Bryan each scored 18. SFU shot .660 from the field and .870 from the line. Josh Hall paced Trinity Western with 34. “By the time we fought back to 74-73 we were gassed,” said Trinity Western coach Stan Peters. …………………………………………………… In game two, SFU defeated Trinity Western 89-84. The Clan took a 54-41 lead at the half but Trinity ripped off a 15-2 run late in the affair, highlighted by back-to-back threes by Josh Hall to cut the margin to two. Trinity moved ahead by one but then Jeff Antwi hit a jumper with 56 seconds to give SFI an 85-52 lead. Rookie forward Brent Charleton led the Clan with 19 points. Guard Jeff Antwi added 15 points and seven rebounds. Jordan Mason added 16, Jeremy Neufeld 12. Josh Hall led Trinity Western with 30 including 9-13 from the field and 10-11 from the line. The Clan used their superior speed and athleticism to great advantage. The Spartans had trouble matching-up and catching up as Simon Fraser built a 74-59 lead midway through the second half. SFU did show its youth then, falling asleep while the spirited Spartans used a 17-2 run to create a 76-76 deadlock. SFU turned it back on from there and outscored the Spartans. The Spartans (coached by Stan Peters, assisted by Dave Heidebrech and Carlton Haak) also included David Martens, Tyler Coston, Alan Penner, Malcolm Campbell, Brian Redekop, Scott Portman, Jason Reeve, Ben Bauman, Brad Neufeld, Joey Maksymiw, Greg Montgomery and Andrew Vander Meulen.
In the other quarterfinal, Lethbridge defeated U.B.C. 81-80; 84-100; 90-64 (2g-1). …………………………………………………… In the opener, Lethbridge defeated U.B.C. 81-80 in overtime. Point guard Jason Maher counted 22 points, along with five assists and four steals, in a losing cause. …………………………………………………… In game two, the T-Birds evened the series with a 100-84 win as guard Courtney Kolla was 5-of-7 from three-point range on his way to 37 points. …………………………………………………… In game three, Lethbridge outclassed the T-Birds 90-64. The Thunderbirds (coached by Kevin Hanson) included Courtney Kolla, Jama Mahlalela, Tasso Kanovos, Ahren Schaefer, Ben Sansburn, Marami Reid, Pat McKay, Brian Host, Pete Hodson, Sherlan John, Jason Maher and Adam Nicholson.
In the semis, Victoria defeated Lethbridge 94-77; 71-79; 93-83 (2g-1). …………………………………………………… In game one, Victoria defeated Lethbridge 94-77 in game one as Ali Wilmott scored 31. Wilmott hit several critical buckets down the stretch to quell a Pronghorns rally. Lethbridge guard Ryan Reed hit 8-10 from beyond the arc en route to 36 points. Sandy Bisaro added 14 for Victoria, while Keith Bustard scored 15. Jason Harrison and Chris Wilde each had 11 for Lethbridge. The difference in the game was: “No. 11, Ali Wilmott. He’s a heck of a player,” Vikes coach Guy Vetrie said. “I didn’t think it was a very well-played game. It was a sluggish game.” The Vikings led 50-34 at the half, but Lethbridge rallied within six points with eight minutes to play, before Wilmott nailed a handful of clutch shots. He also initiated a particularly crowd-roaring scoring sequence from flat on the floor, flipping the ball to Chris Trumpy. Trumpy, with one of his nine assists, found Jason Crawford, who didn’t need any of his 11 rebounds to make the slam dunk. Lethbridge coach Dave Crook said the Viking backcourt of Wilmott and Bustard were deadly. “Ali Wilmott is one of the best players in the conference this year, and Keith Bustard is his running mate, and he’s just as good.” …………………………………………………… In game two, Lethbridge prevailed 79-71 as Jason Harrison scored 19, Nick Baldwin 16, Alan Spoonhunter 15, Ryan Reed 12 and Chris Wilde 12. “I think we just played nails defensively. We made it more difficult for their posts, and didn’t let their shooters get open looks,” said Lethbridge coach Dave Crook. Twice the Vikes came within four points in the final seconds when Ali Wilmott drained four throws but the team didn’t get the ball to Allister Wilmott, their perennial go-to guy, for the needed three-point attempts. Alister Wilmott paced the Vikings with 20 points on 9-9 from the line. Keith Bustard added 13. The Vikings shot .305 from the floor and trailed 43-39 at the half. …………………………………………………… In game three, Victoria took the series by registered a 93-83 victory as Allister Wilmott scored 26, dished 6 assists and nabbed 5 boards. Etienne Orr-Ewing added 9 points and 13 boards. Point guard Chris Trumpy added 14 points and dished 5 assists. Jason Crawford notched 12. “We weren’t at all (disheartened) just because we lost last night,” Vikes coach Guy Vetrie said. “We had won 10 in a row. We had built up a huge positive emotional feeling. One loss was not going to rock the boat.” The business-like Vikings took command early. The defence stayed close and personal with the Pronghorns’ big shooters, and Etienne Orr-Ewing came off the bench to grab eight first-half rebounds. He fouled out late in the game with a total of 13 rebounds and nine points. “I’m a fourth-year player. This is the season. I wanted to go get it,” said Orr-Ewing, who has had a slow recovery after tearing ligaments in his ankle late last summer. The 6-foot-6 forward was the top rebounder in the Canada West Conference last season, and was in the top 20 before that at Allen County junior college in Kansas. “You get a knack for where the ball is going to go,” he said. “You can’t back down.” The Vikes out-rebounded the Pronghorns 40-31, with forward Greg Bateson adding another eight boards. Keith Bustard had six rebounds. For the Pronghorns, forward Alan Spoonhunter drove with passion to sink 19 points before getting into foul trouble midway through the second half. Chris Wilde and Nick Baldwin had 11 points each, Jason Harrison 10, and sharpshooter Ryan Reed scored 20 points, but was held to one of six three-point attempts. “In the first half, we took away their big three,” Vetrie said. “It was nonexistent in the latter part of the game. We didn’t give them uncontested three-point shots.” The Vikes methodically stretched their lead to 49-35 by halftime, and led by as much as 16 with just over five minutes remaining. In a last, tired gasp, Lethbridge clawed back into the game to close the gap to six points in the final minute, but the crucial shots didn’t fall. “Third games are gut-checks,” Vetrie said. “It wasn’t a really pretty game to watch, but you’ve got to appreciate 24 kids pretty tired out there … depth comes into play.” The Vikings depth and defensive pressure were critical. “Our man-to-man defence was much better,” Orr-Ewing said. “It’s a team game, but individually you have to stop your man. That’s the bottom line.”
In the other semi, Alberta d’d Simon Fraser 81-65; 81-66 (2g-0). …………………………………………………… In game one, Alberta took a 39-34 lead at the half but played tentatively. Simon Fraser took a one-point lead with two minutes to play but the Bears closed out the half with three buckets, including two uncontested layups. The Bears broke the game open in the second half when Nick Maglisceau triggered a 14-0 run with a dunk off a superb pass from point guard Chris Horwood. “It always helps to get a big dunk,” said Maglisceau, who finished with 18 points and 14 boards and four blocks. “It gets the crowd fired up. It gets the team fired up and it really fires me up too.” Max Darrah hit a three pointer after the dunk and pair of foul shots on a technical. Pat Crevolin added a pair of free throws and a three-pointer and then Maglisceau capped it with another bucket. “It was just too much for us to get back in the game after that,” said the Clan’s Brent Charleton, who scored 17, including 13 in the first half. “I was just shooting the ball whenever I touched it. The offence really isn’t geared around me getting the ball that much. But I had the hot hand so I was just going to shoot it.” Bears coach Don Horwood praised his team’s defensive intensity. “The last time we played them, they scored at will. (In the first half) they were making tough shots. We kept that pressure on them and, eventually, they started to miss some of those shots. They started to turn the ball over and we started to use that fast break.” Alberta used its defensive pressure to take a 62-46 lead midway through the second half and cruised to the win. “We were making better decisions with ball movements and we got a lot of easy shots as a result of that. In the first half, we took some tough shots with guys in our face. We shot 11 three-pointers in the first half. That’s too many three-pointers for a team that’s got (6-8) guys like Pat Crevolin, Nick and Rueben Hall. Let’s go to our strength, which is inside, and make them stop that first and then those three point shots will be more open than they were in the first half.” Alberta out-rebounded the Clan 39-26. Alberta hit 6-18 from the arc, while Simon Fraser was 1-8. Brent Charleton had 17 for the Clan. Jordan Mason added 12. Crevolin said he got fired up when the Clan’s Swedish import Patrick Lofven hit him in the chest with a forearm. “Getting physical just helps us get into the game. I have him a little shove and he got me back pretty good. I just walked away and we got a technical out of it. …They were hanging with us and hitting some pretty tough shots, but we went on that run and never looked back. We kept that up and they couldn’t come back.” Clan coach Scott Clark said his team couldn’t overcome its defensive miscues. “We had some errors and you can’t make errors. The big things was when we made errors, they made plays. We did a bad job of containing penetration and they capitalized on that.” …………………………………………………… In game two, Alberta defeated Simon Fraser 81-66 after taking a 36-26 lead at the half. Nick Maglisceau led Alberta with 21 points. Stephen Parker added 18. Bears coach Don Horwood noted that “we kept them in the 60s both nights, which is very good. They’re a pretty high-scoring team. My disappointment was we should have put that game away very early. We missed a lot of wide-open threes that our guys are capable of hitting which could have given us a 15- or 16-point lead at halftime. Even down the stretch there, we had a lot of wide-open shots we didn’t make that we can’t afford to miss.” Jordan Mason led Simon Fraser with 27 points, including 9-16 from the floor. Peter Morgan added 10 points and 6 boards. “Their size hurt us a lot, especially on the glass. They got a lot of second chance points,” said Mason. “They’re tall but they’ve also got a lot of beef and we’ve got a lot of young guys inside and not much beef.”
In the finals, Victoria defeated Alberta 58-60; 67-60; 78-77 (2g-1).
In game one, Alberta prevailed 60-58 as Nick Maglisceau scored 16 and nabbed 8 boards. Alberta led 35-32 at the half. Alister Wilmott paced the Vikings with 20.
In game two, Victoria defeated Alberta 67-60 as Allister Wilmott scored 27. Wilmott put the Vikings ahead 58-57 with an underhand scoop at the two-minute mark, followed by a three-pointer. He sank another trey with 12 seconds remaining, was knocked flat on the floor, and got up to swish the free throw. “He’s a gamer,” Vikes coach Guy Vetrie said. “He loves the ball at the end, and he nailed it.” The Vikes were down 35-32 at the half, plagued by the same low shooting percentages that characterized their Game 1 loss. In the second half, however, the ball started to drop and the game began to flow. Chris Trumpy and Jason Crawford each added 12 for Victoria. For Alberta, Nick Maglisceau had 20 points, and Stephen Parker added 10. “We shot very well down the stretch,” Vetrie said.
In game three, Victoria took the series by nipping Alberta 78-77 as Chris Trumpy hit the winner at the buzzer. Trumpy scored 14 points and had five assists. Victoria was 17-20 from the line, while Alberta was 16-26. “A lot of people counted us out,” said Vic guard Keith Bustard. “We knew with this group of guys, we could get it done. Not one is out for glory. Everyone just plays for one common goal and that’s to win games.” Alberta coach Don Horwood said “we knew coming in here it was going to be tough. They made the big shots, the big plays down the stretch.” Rookie Chris Trumpy hit a pull up jumper with 26 seconds to play to give the Vikes a 78-74 lead. He’d missed a jump shot that would have forced overtime in game two and spent an hour practicing in the gym after the loss. “I couldn’t let the team down two nights in a row,” said Trumpy who hit a pair of free throws with a minute to play. Keith Bustard added 20 boards and 7 boards for the Vikes, while Jason Crawford had 9 points and 5 boards. Stephen Parker had 19 for Alberta. Nick Maglisceau added 18, including 8-11 from the line. Free throw shooting was the difference, said Horwood. “Our free throws have been our Achilles heel all year long.” Victoria had led 49-42 at the half and received a big lift off the bench from Jamie Blake and Nathan Ashmead when Ali Wilmott and Sandy Bisaro got in foul trouble. The Vikes led 63-53 midway through the half but Alberta rallied back to force a number of turnovers and reduce the margin to one with three minutes to play. But the Vikes found a way to win, as they have all season, said Victoria coach Guy Vetrie. “It was a little bit of luck, a little bit of fate, and hell of a lot of hard work.”
After the season, Dave Crook leaves Lethbridge to become head coach of his alma mater Winnipeg in the new interlocked Canada West-GPAC conference. As assistant at Winnipeg for four years, Crook moved to become the head coach at Mount Allison and then assumed the reins at Lethbridge, where he coached for the past 12 years and was chosen the CIAU coach of the year in 2000.
Canada West absorbs GPAC. The league announces it will run three divisions. In the Pacific division, the teams are Victoria, Simon Fraser, UBC and Trinity Western. In the Central division, the teams are Alberta, Calgary, Lethbridge and Saskatchewan. In the Plains division, the teams are Regina, Brandon, Winnipeg and Manitoba.
The co-bronze medalist Lethbridge Pronghorns: Alan Spoonhunter; Chris Wilde; Nick Baldwin; Jason Harrison; Ryan Reed; Michael Meyers; Scott Dedels; Aaron Edlund; Robert Slavich; James Spiess; Scott Mackinnon; Gerald Marcoux; Steve Crump; coach Dave Crook
The co-bronze medalist Simon Fraser Clan: Jordan Mason; Peter Morgan; Luke McKerrow; Jeremy Neufeld; Patrick Lofven; Jeff Antwi; Brent Charleton; Aaron Christenson; Nic Smith; Scott Wright; Emmy Unaegbu; Kevin Bryan; John Boateng; coach Scott Clark
The runner-up Alberta Golden Bears: Pat Crevolin; Clayton Pottinger; Nick Maglisceau; Stephen Parker; Chris Horwood; Reuben Hall; Ryan Baldry; Max Darrah; Mike Melnychuk; Scott Plesuk; Chris Trydal; Paul Marr; Alex Michalas; Kevin Petterson; coach Don Horwood; assistant Scott Martell; assistant Murray Scrambler; assistant Cliff Rowein; assistant George Hoyt; assistant Tim Maloney; therapist Matthew Pulickal; therapist Sean Sloan; SID Bob Stauffer
The champion Victoria Vikings: Alister Willmot; Chris Trumpy; Keith Bustard; Sandy Bisaro; Etienne Orr-Ewing; Jason Crawford; Greg Bateson; Reagan Daly; Nathan Ashmead; Kerry Westmore; Eric Rushton; Tyler Bates; James Blake; coach Guy Vetrie; assistant Dave Connor; manager Linda Komoto; administrative assistant Simon Ibell; trainer Krista Mullaly; SID Brent Doble