REGULAR SEASON

PIONEER       EXPLORER      
  Calgary 17-3 30-7 Dan Vanhooren Thompson Rivers 16-4 20-8 Scott Clark
  British Columbia 16-4 24-7 Kevin Hanson Fraser Valley 12-8 16-13 Adam Friesen
  Manitoba 15-5 21-12 Kirby Schepp MacEwan 10-10 13-18 Eric Magdanz
  Lethbridge 12-8 17-12 Mike Hansen Mount Royal 10-10 12-14 Marc Dobell
  Regina 11-9 15-17 Steve Burrows UBC-Okanagan  8-12 10-14 Peter Guarasci
  Alberta 10-10 14-18 Barnaby Craddock Northern BC  4-16  5-20 Todd Jordan
  Winnipeg 10-10 15-16 Mike Raimbault        
  Victoria  9-11 12-15 Craig Beaucamp        
  Saskatchewan  8-12 14-14 Barry Rawlyk        
  Brandon  1-19  2-24 Gil Cheung        
  Trinity Western  1-19  1-24 Aaron Muhic        
                 

        Playoff non-qualifiers:

        Brandon Bobcats: Mitch Marquis, D.J. Jordan, Camar Parkes, Ryan Hawley, Aidan Saunders, Denham Buchanan, Troy Grant, Earl Thompson Jr, Keneal James, Christopher Stanhope, Esmat Atem, Tyler Anderson, Benj Ngeleka, Christian Bera, John Paul, coach Gil Cheung, assistant Keith Van Walleghem, assistant Kevin Phillip, assistant Brett Nohr, student trainer Popi Vasilarakis

        UBC-Okanagan Heat: Brian Ademba, Randall Mosca, Spencer Thomas, Paulius Makulavicius, Patrick Dujmovic, Austin Penrose, Aldrich Berrios, Cameron Servatius, Cameron Friesen, Buzz Truss, Mitchell Goodwin, David Manschreck, Dean Johnston, Ryan Morck, coach Pete Guarasci, assistant Landry Ndayitwayeko, assistant Dino Gini, student trainer Joel Burma, athletic therapist Jeff Thorburn, athletic director Rob Johnson

        Mount Royal Cougars: Ty Cuperus, Ray Goff, Shay Foggo, Jalen Gardener, Wiande Kher, Matthew Gray, Neil Phillip, Derek Wolf, Tyis Yellow Horn, James Lefebvre, Noah Lewis, Glen Yang, Tethloach Thokbuom, Brett Layton, Ryan Cunningham, coach Marc Dobell, assistant Ty McVicar, assistant Richard Foggo, strength & conditioning Hidesh Bhardwaj, student therapist Brandon Ma

        Northern British Columbia Timberwolves: Anthony Hokanson, Colin Plumb, Marcus Mackay, Elliot Rowe, Billy Cheng, Rhys Elliot, Saje Gosal, Neal Randhawa, Vaggelis Louikas, Austin Chandler, Gagan Sahota, Haydn Molcak, Nolan Hanson, Sam Zhang, James Agyeman, coach Todd Jordan, assistant Jeff Chu, assistant Dale Dergosoff, assistant Kaz Ikuta, assistant Nav Parmar, assistant Dennis Stark

Saskatchewan Huskies: Alex Unruh, Chan De Ciman, Evan Ostertag, Shawn Lathan, Jauquin Bennett-Boire, Jonathan Karwacki, Davis Humbert, Jonathan Halvorson, Reid Thuringer, Mack Burns, Joseph Barker, Devin Wittow, Matthew Forbes, Shane Osayande, Trevor Severinski, coach Barry Rawlyk, assistant Chad Jacobson, assistant Dan Dwar, strength & conditioning Jordan Harbidge, student trainer Megan Keen, student trainer Rachel Mamer

        Trinity Western Spartans: Josiah Allison, Lucas Mannes, Sebastian Eliasen, Kelvin Smith, Matthew Blackaby, Vartan Tanielian, Eric Rogers, Peter Spangehl, Dean Richey, Fraser Curry, Matt Hayashi, Jesse Jeffers, Patrick Vandervelden, Kyle Rose, Phil Weston, Tyus Allen, Nathan Allison, Pogos Trunyan, coach Aaron Muhic, assistant Jason Keegstra, assistant Matt Guynup, therapist Natalie Ghobrial, therapist Philippe Saucier, strength & conditioning Andrew Heming, nutritionist Adrienne Friesen, student therapist Tim Lo, student therapist Rachel Weibe, SID Scott Stewart, assistant SID Mark Janzen

        Victoria Vikes: Grant Sitton, Taylor Montgomery-Stinson, Graeme Hyde-Lay, Derrick Twiggs, Reiner Theil, Kai Greene, Mack Roth, Tyus Barfoot, Joshua Charles, Brandon Dunlop, Jordan Charles, Justin Kinnear, Billy Yaworsky, Hassan Abudullahi, Hayden Lejeune, Jason Scully, Andrew Morris, coach Craig Beaucamp, assistant Craig Behan, assistant Phil Ohl, assistant Josh Mullen, assistant Gary Peden, trainer-manager Sven Bornemann

        In the opening round, the 9th-seeded Alberta Golden Bears (6th, Pioneer) defeated the 8th-seeded MacEwan Griffins (3rd, Explorer) 67-58; 62-77; 55-54 (2g-1). …………………………………………………… In game one, Alberta clipped MacEwan 67-58. The Griffins rode a 9-0 run to a 20-13 lead after one quarter. The Golden Bears defence generated a 7-0 run as they rallied to knot the score. The lead changed hands seven times in the quarter before MacEwan went on a 6-0 run to take a 36-28 lead into the lockers. “Our ball movement in the first half was very good and led to great opportunities for us offensively and allowed us to set up our defense,” said Griffins coach Eric Magdanz. The Golden Bear defence bore down as Alberta took a 49-48 lead after three quarters. They then held the Griffins scoreless for the first four and a half minutes while building a 10-point lead. “We battled hard throughout the game, we just came up a bit short tonight.  With a small few corrections we look forward to the game tonight,” said Magdanz. Golden Bears coach Barnaby Craddock said rookie Colby Jackson was exceptional: “He’s an unbelievable rookie in this league. He leads the conference in assists as a rookie, and we’ve missed him a lot this year, due to injuries, but you saw tonight what he’s capable of when he’s healthy. That was a big game performance, he’s a winner. … I thought MacEwan played well today. They came out ready to play, they made shots, and credit to them for outplaying us for a good chunk of the game. We were fortunate to come out on the winning end today, and hopefully we can recoup and play better tomorrow because we’ll need to. We played a little better in the third quarter and I’m happy our defence improved and got tighter as the game went on. We’ll make some adjustments, but I’m sure they will too, so we’ll need to be better tomorrow.” Colby Jackson paced the Golden Bears with 21 on 6-14 from the floor, 4-8 from the arc, 5-6 from the line, 4 boards and 3 assists. Mamadou Gueye added 14 on 3-15 from the floor, 1-4 from the arc, 7-10 from the line, 5 boards, 2 assists and 3 steals. Lyndon Annetts added 9 on 3-8 from the floor, 3-7 from the arc, 6 boards and 2 assists. Brody Clarke added 8 on 3-11 from the floor, 0-1 from the arc, 2-2 from the line, 7 boards and 3 assists. Dwan Williams added 8 on 3-5 from the floor, 1-2 from the arc, 1-2 from the line, 8 boards and 2 assists. Brett Roughead added 4 on 2-5 from the floor, 5 boards and 3 blocks. Ivan Ikomey added 2, along with 2 boards, and Ethan Dixon 1, while Andriy Halushko, Sheldon Pittman and Rav Dhaliwal were scoreless. Halushko nabbed 3 boards. The Golden Bears hit 21-63 (.333) from the floor, 9-25 (.360) from the arc and 16-22 (.727) from the line, while garnering 51 boards, including 17 on the offensive glass, 13 assists, 5 steals, 3 blocks, 7 turnovers and 17 fouls. Thadius Galvez led the Griffins with 13 on 5-16 from the floor, 2-8 from the arc, 1-2 from the line, 3 boards and 5 assists. Keith Gerdes added 12 on 5-13 from the floor, 2-7 from the arc, 0-1 from the line, 4 boards and 2 assists. Ryan Coleman notched 9 on 3-13 from the floor, 1-3 from the arc, 2-2 from the line and 7 boards. Chris Mooney scored 7 on 3-15 from the floor, 0-5 from the arc, 1-1 from the line and 19 boards. Denzel James added 7 on 3-10 from the floor, 1-3 from the arc and 4 boards. Ryan May notched 4 on 2-2 from the floor and 3 boards. Thomas Jereniuk added 3 on 1-7 from the floor, 1-5 from the arc, 2 boards and 3 assists. Harrison Lane added 3 on 1-4 from the floor, 0-3 from the arc, 1-2 from the line and 2 boards, while Tarik Scott was scoreless. The Griffins hit 23-80 (.287) from the floor, 7-34 (.206) from the arc and 5-8 (.625) from the line, while garnering 57 boards, including 25 on the offensive glass, 15 assists, 2 steals, 2 blocks, 10 turnovers and 19 fouls. …………………………………………………… In game two, MacEwan evened the series by dusting Alberta 77-62. The Griffins went on an 11-0 run in the first quarter while building a 20-9 lead. They extended the margin to 44-27 at the half by shutting down the Golden Bears on defence and dominating the boards, often leading to runout layups. The Griffins led 65-45 after three quarters. Although the Bears opened the final frame with a 10-2 run, they never seriously threatened. Griffins coach Eric Magdanz said he was “proud of the way we came back with defensive commitment tonight, we showed toughness and confidence in shooting the ball in the half.” Denzel James was chosen player of the game for the Griffins. “We stayed committed throughout the game, Alberta made a couple of runs, but we stayed focus and in control,” said Magdanz.  Denzel James paced the Griffins with 24 on 8-17 from the floor, 4-6 from the arc, 4-6 from the line, 8 boards, 3 assists and 2 steals. Thadius Galvez added 17 on 6-11 from the floor, 4-7 from the arc, 1-1 from the line, 4 boards and 5 assists. Keith Gerdes added 16 on 5-12 from the floor, 4-7 from the arc, 2-2 from the line, 6 boards and 3 assists. Ryan Coleman added 8 on 3-5 from the floor, 0-1 from the arc, 2-3 from the line and 4 boards. Chris Mooney added 5 on 2-8 from the floor, 1-5 from the arc, 7 boards and 3assists. Ryan May added 4 on 2-4 from the floor, 0-2 from the arc, 0-1 from the line and 3 boards. Thomas Jereniuk added 3 on 1-4 from the floor, 0-2 from the arc, 1-1 from the line and 2 assists, while Tarik Scott, David Grange, Deonte Doslov-Doctor, Atlas St. Paul-Butler and Harrison Lane were scoreless. Lane nabbed 2 boards and dished 2 assists. The Griffins hit 27-64 (.422) from the floor, 13-32 (.406) from the arc and 10-14 (.714) from the line, while garnering 39 boards, including 8 on the offensive glass, 19 assists, 5 steals, 2 blocks, 13 turnovers and 18 fouls. Mamadou Gueye paced the Golden Bears with 14 on 3-13 from the floor, 0-3 from the arc, 8-11 from the line, 6 boards, 2 assists and 2 blocks. Sheldon Pittman added 13 on 4-8 from the floor, 3-7 from the arc, 2-2 from the line, 4 boards and 2 assists. Brett Roughead added 8 on 4-5 from the floor and 6 boards. Brody Clarke notched 6 on 2-5 from the floor, 2-4 from the line and 2 assists. Colby Jackson added 5 on 2-7 from the floor, 0-4 from the arc, 1-1 from the line, 6 boards and 5 assists. Andriy Halushko added 5 on 2-5 from the floor, 1-4 from the arc and 2 boards. Lyndon Annetts added 5 on 2-7 from the floor, 1-2 from the arc, 4 boards and 2 steals. Ethan Dixon added 4 on 2-4 from the floor, 0-2 from the line and 3 boards. Ivan Ikomey added 2, while Dwan Williams, Rav Dhaliwal and Joel Lutz were scoreless. Williams nabbed 6 boards and dished 2 assists. Dhaliwal nabbed 4 boards. The Golden Bears hit 22-64 (.344) from the floor, 5-28 (.179) from the arc and 13-20 (.650) from the line, while garnering 51 boards, including 18 on the offensive glass, 16 assists, 5 steals, 4 blocks, 14 turnovers and 13 fouls. …………………………………………………… In game three, Alberta took the series by nipping MacEwan 55-54 on a putback by freshman Dwan Williams with 1.6 seconds remaining on the clock. The lead changed 13 times in the game, with the largest lead being just eight points when MacEwan lead 14-6 midway through the first quarter. The Griffins led 16-10 after one quarter. But the Golden Bears rallied behind Mamadou Gueye to take a 32-28 lead at the half. Both teams stiffened their defence in the third quarter, after which Alberta led 40-39. In the raucous fourth quarter, the teams were alternately exceptionally and sloppy. Gueye put the Bears up 42-39, but Keith Gerdes knotted the score with a trey. MacEwan then went ahead by four points thanks to two free-throws and a jumper by Denzel James. Williams managed to draw Alberta back to within two, but the Griffins moved ahead by 52-44. But Gueye, Brody Clarke and Lyndon Annetts connected on buckets and free-throw attempts to work Alberta back into the game, now trailing 52-50, and Gueye put them back in front, 53-52, with another two shots from the stripe. James hit a pair of free-throws of his own to put MacEwan ahead 54-53. Following an Alberta time out, the Bears inbounded from MacEwan’s half, with Gueye getting the ball, driving to the elbow and attempting a fade away jumper for the win. The shot fell short, but Williams was in perfect position to collect the rebound, and he outwaited the block to score the putback. He was also fouled on the play, but intentionally missed the free-throw attempt, but, he also missed the rim which gave MacEwan ball possession in Alberta’s court with 1.6 seconds on the clock. Gerdes took the inbound for the Griffins, but ran out of bounds, turning the ball back over to the Bears who were able to get the ball into play and run out the clock. Griffins coach Eric Magdanz said “I am very proud of the compete in our team, fire in their bellies, and our team spirit, we played like a family, we are a tight knit group and it showed on the court. On behalf of the team I truly want to thank the fans and our athletics department for coming to support us on all three nights it was very appreciated. I think Ryan (May) ended his MacEwan University/CIS career on a winning note.  He leaves us such a big legacy for our program and will become one of our great ambassadors for future Griffins to model their athletic and academic careers by.” Mamadou Gueye paced the Golden Bears with 29 on 10-22 from the floor, 0-2 from the arc, 9-11 from the line and 13 boards. Dwan Williams added 6 on 3-4 from the floor, 0-1 from the arc and 5 boards. Brody Clarke notched 5 on 2-10 from the floor, 0-1 from the arc, 1-2 from the line and 4 boards. Lyndon Annetts added 4 on 1-7 from the floor, 0-4 from the arc, 2-2 from the line, 4 boards, 3 assists and 2 steals. Colby Jackson added 4 on 2-7 from the floor, 0-2 from the arc, 6 boards, 5 assists and 4 steals. Andriy Halushko added 3 on 1-3 from the floor, 1-3 from the arc and 5 boards. Rav Dhaliwal added 2 and Brett Roughead 2, along with 6 boards, while Ethan Dixon and Sheldon Pittman were scoreless. The Golden Bears hit 21-57 (.368) from the floor, 1-12 (.083) from the arc and 12-18 (.667) from the line, while garnering 49 boards, including 15 on the offensive glass, 10 assists, 9 steals, 2 blocks, 20 turnovers and 16 fouls. Keith Gerdes led the Griffins with 18 on 7-15 from the floor, 3-9 from the arc, 1-1 from the line, 2 boards and 2 steals. Chris Mooney added 10 on 4-8 from the floor, 0-1 from the arc, 2-3 from the line, 7 boards, 3 assists and 2 steals. Denzel James added 10 on 2-10 from the floor, 1-3 from the arc, 5-6 from the line, 8 boards, 3 assists and 3 steals. Thadius Galvez added 7 on 3-12 from the floor, 1-5 from the arc, 0-1 from the line, 4 boards, 3 assists and 2 steals. Ryan May notched 5 on 2-8 from the floor, 1-2 from the arc, 6 boards and 2 assists. Thomas Jereniuk added 2 and Ryan Coleman 2, while Harrison Lane was scoreless. The Griffins hit 20-61 (.328) from the floor, 6-21 (.286) from the arc and 8-11 (.727) from the line, while garnering 35 boards, including 10 on the offensive glass, 12 assists, 10 steals, 15 turnovers and 19 fouls. The Griffins (coach Eric Magdanz, assistant Jonathan Verhesen, assistant Jesse McLean, graduate assistant Adam Boyd, graduate assistant Lee Danderfer, graduate assistant Navin Ramharak, manager Joe McLeod, assistant manager Scottie Mergaert, therapist Jennifer Dunn, student trainer Eryn Forsyth) also included Tarik Scott, David Grange, Deonte Dosov-Doctor, Tony Wolter, Atlas St. Paul-Butler, Cole Aikens, Michael Burnham and Malik Mate.

        In the other opening round series, the 7th-seeded Regina Cougars (5th, Pioneer) defeated the 10th-seeded Winnipeg Wesmen (7th, Pioneer) 63-80; 67-64; 75-69 (2g-1). …………………………………………………… In game one, Winnipeg edged Regina 80-73 after rallying from a 17-point third quarter deficit. The Cougars opened with a 19-6 run but the Wesmen rallied with an 8-0 run to draw within 26-24 after one quarter. Regina led 47-37 at the half after closing the frame with an 11-3 run. The Cougars built their lead to 54-37 but Winnipeg answered with a 14-4 run. Regina led 58-51 after three quarters. Winnipeg used a 10-0 run early in the fourth quarter that included three consecutive Jelane Pryce buckets to take its first lead since midway through the second. A corner three by Regina’s Jonathan Tull tied the game at 69-69 with three minutes to go, but it was all Wesmen from there. The Cougars didn’t score again until less than 20 seconds remained, and by then Winnipeg had scored eight straight to take a stranglehold on the contest. Ryan Oirbans led the Wesmen with 21 on 8-18 from the floor, 5-7 from the line, 15 boards, 4 assists and 2 blocks. Jelane Pryce added 15 on 7-15 from the floor, 1-3 from the arc, 0-4 from the line, 6 boards, 2 assists and 3 steals. Marcello Kambola added 12 on 3-7 from the floor, 0-2 from the arc, 6-8 from the line and 2 boards. Denzel Lynch-Blair added 11 on 3-7 from the floor, 0-1 from the arc, 5-8 from the line and 7 boards. William Sesay added 10 on 4-8 from the floor, 0-1 from the arc, 2-4 from the line and 10 boards. Jamar Farley added 9 on 3-8 from the floor, 2-3 from the arc, 1-4 from the line, 4 boards and 3 steals. Denzel Soliven added 2, while Nathaniel Johnson and Kieran McGrath were scoreless. The Wesmen hit 28-63 (.444) from the floor, 3-10 from the arc and 21-37 (.568) from the line, while garnering 45 boards, including 16 on the offensive glass, 11 assists, 8 steals, 2 blocks, 12 turnovers and 9 fouls. Jonathan Tull led the Cougars with 22 on 10-17 from the floor, 2-6 from the arc, 0-2 from the line and 5 boards. Alex Igual added 14 on 6-15 from the floor, 2-7 from the arc, 0-1 from the line, 9 boards, 3 assists and 3 steals. Will Tallman added 10 on 4-9 from the floor, 2-4 from the arc and 10 boards. Brandon Tull added 7 on 2-10 from the floor, 0-4 from the arc, 3-3 from the line, 4 boards and 2 steals. Travis Sylvestre added 7 on 3-11 from the floor, 0-1 from the arc, 1-4 from the line, 9 boards and 2 assists. Aaron McGowan added 7 on 3-6 from the floor, 0-2 from the arc, 1-2 from the line and 2 assists. Brian Ofori added 4 on 2-8 from the floor, 4 boards and 2 assists. Mike Malecha added 2 on 1-5 from the floor and 0-3 from the arc, while Samuel Hillis was scoreless. Regina hit 31-82 (.378) from the floor, 6-28 (.214) from the arc and 5-12 (.417) from the line, while garnering 50 boards, including 23 on the offensive glass, 12 assists, 6 steals, 2 blocks, 15 turnovers and 23 fouls. …………………………………………………… In game two, Regina evened the series by edging Winnipeg 67-64. The Wesmen led 13-12, 33-32 and 51-44 at the quarters. Winnipeg led 49-34 after opening the second half with a 15-2 run. But the Cougars scored the next 10 points to rally within five, and another 10-0 run midway through the fourth quarter to take the lead. Winnipeg got a three-point play from Denzel Lynch-Blair and a bucket from Ryan Oirbans to get back to within one point at 64-63 with 46 seconds left, but Regina’s Will Tallman drilled a corner trey to make it a two-possession game. Winnipeg got a free throw on the ensuing possession and had an opportunity to tie the game at the buzzer after grabbing an offensive rebound following a missed second freebie, but Jelane Pryce’s attempt from three rimmed out to seal the win for the Cougars. “I’ve said all year that I love the character of this team and they showed that character tonight,” said Cougars coach Steve Burrows. “They easily could have given in to the situation, but we rose to the challenge, kept fighting, and gave ourselves a chance.” Will Tallman paced the Cougars with 19 on 7-12 from the floor, 3-6 from the arc, 2-2 from the line, 9 boards, 2 assists and 2 blocks. Jonathan Tull added 18 on 6-14 from the floor, 0-3 from the arc, 6-12 from the line, 8 boards, 2 assists and 2 steals. Alex Igual scored 15 on 5-15 from the floor, 3-8 from the arc, 2-4 from the line, 7 boards, 4 assists and 3 steals. Aaron McGowan added 8 on 3-8 from the floor, 1-5 from the arc, 1-2 from the line, 3 boards and 2 assists. Brian Ofori added 5 on 2-8 from the floor, 1-4 from the line, 7 boards, 2 assists, 2 steals and 4 blocks. Travis Sylvestre added 2 on 1-2 from the floor and 5 boards, while Brandon Tull, Samuel Hillis and Mike Malecha were scoreless. The Cougars hit 24-67 (.358) from the floor, 7-27 (.259) from the line and 12-24 from the floor, while garnering 42 boards, including 13 on the offensive glass, 13 assists, 8 steals, 6 blocks, 5 turnovers and 12 fouls. Ryan Oirbans led the Wesmen with 18 on 9-18 from the floor, 10 boards and 5 assists. William Sesay added 12 on 5-10 from the floor, 1-2 from the arc, 1-1 from the line, 6 boards, 2 assists and 3 steals. Jelane Pryce added 8 on 3-13 from the floor, 1-5 from the arc, 1-4 from the line, 7 boards and 3 blocks. Denzel Lynch-Blair added 8 on 3-12 from the floor, 0-2 from the arc, 2-3 from the line and 7 boards. Nathaniel Johnson added 8 on 3-5 from the floor, 2-4 from the arc, 0-1 from the line and 2 boards. Marcello Kambola added 7 on 3-9 from the floor, 1-7 from the arc and 10 boards. Jamar Farley added 3 on 0-6 from the floor, 0-3 from the arc, 3-4 from the line, 8 boards and 4 assists, while Denzel Soliven and Kieran McGrath were scoreless. The Wesmen hit 26-74 (.351) from the floor, 5-23 (.217) from the arc and 7-13 (.538) from the line, while garnering 60 boards, including 24 on the offensive glass, 12 assists, 4 steals, 4 blocks, 15 turnovers and 18 fouls. …………………………………………………… In game three, Regina took the series by edging Winnipeg 75-69. The Wesmen led 18-15 after one quarter. The Cougars led 38-35 at the half and 67-65 after three quarters. But they opened the fourth with a 9-0 run, while holding Winnipeg scoreless until Ryan Orban hit a bucket midway through the frame. Winnipeg countered with a 6-0 run and drew within four on a Jamar Farley trey with 29 seconds on the clock. The Cougars missed several free throws in the game’s final minute, but were able to seal the victory with a key offensive rebound following a missed free throws and a critical Winnipeg turnover with 20 seconds on the clock. “It was typical playoff basketball and one of those series that obviously could have gone either way, and credit to both teams that they fought as hard as they did all weekend,” said Cougars coach Steve Burrows. “We struggled again in the first half on the defensive glass tonight, but were much better in the second half and we got bits and pieces from everyone that played tonight. It was a true team win.” Alex Igual led the Cougars with 17 on 6-12 from the floor, 4-7 from the arc, 6 boards, 3 assists and 5 steals. Jonathan Tull added 15 on 4-13 from the floor, 1-6 from the arc, 6-13 from the line, 6 boards, 3 assists and 2 steals. Brandon Tull added 12 on 5-10 from the floor, 0-3 from the arc, 2-2 from the line, 4 boards, 5 assists and 4 steals. Travis Sylvestre added 9 on 4-13 from the floor, 1-2 from the line, 10 boards and 2 assists. Will Tallman added 9 on 4-7 from the floor, 1-4 from the arc and 6 boards. Brian Ofori added 8 on 2-3 from the floor, 4-6 from the line, 3 boards, 2 assists and 2 steals. Aaron McGowan added 3 on 1-4 from the arc. Mike Malecha added 2, along with 2 boards, while Samuel Hillis was scoreless. The Cougars hit 27-64 (.422) from the floor, 7-24 (.292) from the arc and 14-25 (.560) from the line, while garnering 44 boards, including 12 on the offensive glass, 16 assists, 15 steals, 3 blocks, 17 turnovers and 15 fouls. Jelane Pryce led the Wesmen with 19 on 8-19 from the floor, 2-7 from the arc, 1-5 from the line, 5 boards and 2 blocks. Jamar Farley added 17 on 5-15 from the floor, 5-11 from the arc, 2-2 from the line, 3 boards, 3 assists and 2 steals. Ryan Oirbans added 17 on 8-19 from the floor, 1-4 from the arc, 10 boards and 3 blocks. Denzel Lynch-Blair added 8 on 2-6 from the floor, 0-1 from the arc, 4-4 from the line, 6 boards and 4 assists. William Sesay added 5 on 1-9 from the floor, 0-3 from the arc, 3-4 from the line, 7 boards, 5 assists and 4 steals. Marcello Kambola added 3 on 1-8 from the floor, 1-4 from the arc and 6 boards, while Jevon Marshall, Denzel Soliven and Nathaniel Johnson were scoreless. The Wesmen hit 25-76 (.329) from the floor, 8-26 (.308) from the arc and 11-19 (.579) from the line, while garnering 48 boards, including 20 on the offensive glass, 14 assists, 8 steals, 5 blocks, 18 turnovers and 21 fouls. The Wesmen (coach Mike Raimbault, assistant Marc Collier, assistant John Giesbrecht, assistant Nick Lother, assistant Tyler Kohut) also included Franceso Tocci, Kahlil Lakay, Kuet, Connor Ward and Kieran McGrath.

        In the quarterfinals, the top-seeded Calgary Dinos (1st, Pioneer) defeated the 9th-seeded Alberta Golden Bears 89-76; 87-77 (2g-0). …………………………………………………… In game one, Calgary clocked Alberta 89-76 after leading 23-11, 42-26 and 63-54 at the quarters. The Dinos broke to an 11-0 start and were never seriously threatened, although Alberta made a brief run at the start of the second half as Mamadou Gueye hit a jumper, Colby Jackson a trey and Gueye a trey as the Golden Bears ripped off an 8-0 run. David Kapinga countered with a trey for Calgary but Jackson hit another trey and after two Gueye free throws, Alberta had drawn within 45-39. Kapinga responded with five straight points and after a Gueye free throw, Thomas Cooper went on his own 5-0 run. He capped it off with a dunk that rebuilt the lead to 55-42 with four minutes to play. Alberta drained a trio from beyond arc to draw within nine heading into the final frame. Calgary got off to a hot start, but Alberta continued to chip away and a Gueye layup again made it just a six-point game at 75-69 at the 4:32 mark before the Dinos iced it at the line. “It was all about getting stops,” said Dino guard David Kapinga. “Coach always talks defense and that defense wins championships, so we had to lock it up. … The key to wins is always defense. We have to get the boards and transition on them and that’s why we got the W today.” Thomas Cooper paced the Dinos with 27 on 8-21 from the floor, 2-8 from the arc, 9-12 from the line, 9 boards, 5 assists and 2 steals. David Kapinga added 16 on 4-7 from the floor, 1-2 from the arc, 7-7 from the line, 3 boards and 3 steals. Jasdeep Gill added 14 on 4-6 from the floor, 4-6 from the arc and 2-2 from the line. Josh Owen-Thomas added 12 on 4-13 from the floor, 2-9 from the arc, 2-2 from the line, 3 boards, 3 assists and 3 steals. Matt Letkeman added 8 on 3-3 from the floor, 2-6 from the line and 3 boards. Lars Schlueter added 6 on 2-8 from the floor and 2-7 from the arc. Torrez McKoy added 2 on 0-2 from the floor, 0-1 from the arc, 2-2 from the line and 2 assists. Dallas Karch added 2 and Jhony Verrone 2, along with 3 boards, while Connor Foreman and Mitch Ligertwood was scoreless. Foreman nabbed 7 boards. The Dinos hit 27-68 (.397) from the floor, 11-36 (.306) from the arc and 24-31 (.774)  from the line, while garnering 38 boards, including 16 on the offensive glass, 14 assists, 11 steals, 1 block, 11 turnovers and 15 fouls. Mamadou Gueye paced the Golden Bears with 26 on 9-16 from the floor, 2-3 from the arc, 6-10 from the line and 11 boards. Colby Jackson added 21 on 7-12 from the floor, 6-9 from the arc, 1-2 from the line and 3 boards. Lyndon Annetts added 12 on 4-8 from the floor, 3-7 from the arc, 1-1 from the line and 2 boards. Brody Clarke added 6 on 2-7 from the floor, 0-1 from the arc, 2-2 from the line, 10 boards and 2 assists. Dwan Williams added 6 on 3-5 from the floor, 0-1 from the arc, 3 boards and 2 assists. Rav Dhaliwal added 3 on 1-4 from the floor, 1-2 from the arc and 2 boards. Brett Roughead added 2 on 2-2 from the line, while Sheldon Pittman, Ethan Dixon, Andriy Halushko and Ivan Ikomey were scoreless. The Golden Bears hit 26-56 (.464) from the floor, 12-25 (.480) from the arc and 12-17 (.706) from the line, while garnering 37 boards, including 10 on the offensive glass, 9 assists, 3 steals, 3 blocks, 20 turnovers and 21 fouls. …………………………………………………… In game two, Calgary completed the series sweep after really from a 15-point deficit to defeat Alberta 87-77. The Golden Bears led 17-16 after one quarter and 44-31 at the half. Dinos point guard David Kapinga said coach Dan Vanhooren delivered an inspirational chat at the half. “He chewed us out. He just reminded us that we beat this team a bunch of times and we could do it one more night, so we just had to pick it up.” In the second half, David Kapinga scored four straight points after two steals to start the frame. A few possessions later, Kapinga found Matt Letkeman for a dunk to cut the lead to 46-39. Calgary scored four more three throws and then a Kapinga layup made it just a one-point game at 46-45 at the 6:22 mark. Thomas Cooper scored a layup on the next Dinos possession to give Calgary its first lead since early on in the first quarter. But Alberta continued to fight back as the two teams traded baskets and a Lyndon Annetts layup gave the visitors a 57-56 lead with 1:25 remaining. Jasdeep Gill hit a layup and four free throws later, the Dinos led 62-57 going into the fourth. The Golden Bears would not go away in the fourth, as a Rav Dhaliwal three four minutes in tied the game at 69. It was tied again at 71, but that’s when Alberta’s offense went cold and Calgary’s got hot at the perfect time. The Dinos went on an 11-0 run and Alberta’s drought wouldn’t end until the 1:42 mark with a Dwan Williams three, but Lars Schlueter answered with a trey and Calgary iced it at the line. “Me and Thomas understand it’s all about the team, so when he has an off-night and they’re doubling him, I just had to be aggressive and step it up to help him out,” Kapinga said. Thomas Cooper paced the Dinos with 24 on 6-22 from the floor, 1-5 from the arc, 11-12 from the line, 6 boards and 4 assists. David Kapinga added 15 on 5-8 from the floor, 5-6 from the line, 4 boards, 5 assists and 3 steals. Josh Owen-Thomas added 12 on 3-6 from the floor, 3-5 from the arc, 3-4 from the line, 4 boards and 3 steals. Lars Schlueter added 12 on 4-8 from the floor, 4-8 from the arc, 0-2 from the line and 5 boards. Matt Letkeman added 12 on 5-5 from the floor, 2-5 from the line, 2 boards and 2 steals. Jasdeep Gill added 5 on 2-3 from the floor and 1-1 from the arc. Mitch Ligertwood added 5 on 0-1 from the floor, 5-6 from the line and 3 boards. Torrez McKoy added 2 on 1-2 from the floor, 0-1 from the arc and 2 boards, while Corey Hauck, Dallas Karch, Jhony Verrone and Connor Foreman were scoreless. Karch nabbed 2 boards. The Dinos hit 26-57 (.456) from the floor, 9-20 (.450) from the arc and 26-35 (.743) from the line, while garnering 36 boards, including 11 on the offensive glass, 13 assists, 11 steals, 2 blocks, 14 turnovers and 20 fouls. Mamadou Gueye led the Golden Bears with 20 on 5-14 from the floor, 1-3 from the arc, 9-10 from the line, 10 boards, 3 steals and 2 blocks. Brody Clarke added 20 on 6-11 from the floor, 8-11 from the line, 8 boards and 3 steals. Andriy Halushko added 8 on 3-7 from the floor and 2-5 from the arc. Colby Jackson added 7 on 3-8 from the floor, 1-5 from the arc, 2 boards and 8 assists. Rav Dhaliwal added 7 on 2-2 from the floor, 1-1 from the arc and 2-2 from the line. Dwan Williams added 6 on 2-4 from the floor and 2-3 from the arc. Lyndon Annetts added 4 on 2-7 from the floor, 0-4 from the arc and 4 boards. Ivan Ikomey added 3 on 1-3 from the floor, 1-2 from the arc and 2 assists. Brett Roughead added 2 on 1-1 from the floor and 4 boards. The Golden Bears hit 25-57 (.439) from the floor, 8-23 (.348) from the arc and 19-23 (.826) from the line, while garnering 34 boards, including 9 on the offensive glass, 11 assists, 7 steals, 4 blocks, 19 turnovers and 24 fouls. The Golden Bears (coach Barnaby Craddock, assistant Kent Johnson, assistant Nick Maglisceau, assistant James Jones, fitness coach Michael Cook, therapist Brennan Mahon, therapist Joseph Lee, therapist T.J. Mussbacher, therapist Alex Yaworski, therapist Stacey Sick) also included Ethan Dixon, Jonah Weyessa, Sheldon Pittman, Cole Knudsen, Joel Lutz and Sebastien Denault.

        The 4th-seeded Manitoba Bisons (3rd, Pioneer) defeated the 5th-seeded Fraser Valley Cascades (2nd, Explorer) 78-59; 77-72 (2g-0). …………………………………………………… In game one, Manitoba dusted Fraser Valley 78-59 after leading 20-10, 36-25 and 62-46 at the quarters. Bisons coach Kirby Schepp called the Cascades a “really tough veteran team. They really try to control the tempo of the game. I think that’s really the battle for us. We’re trying to get the game faster. They’re trying to slow the game down. It’s a battle of tempo, but the tempo was in our favour tonight, and that was probably the biggest difference of the game.”  The Bisons opened with a 7-0 run and held the Cascades scoreless for the first three minutes. The Cascades slowed the tempo in the second quarter but were unable to make inroads on the deficit. Both teams ran into trouble with fouls in the third, including a disputed technical against Justus Alleyn early in the quarter. The teams combined for 14 fouls, including nine from Cascades players. The Bisons took advantage of the gritty stop-start action and scored 10 points on free throws, six of which came from Wyatt Anders in the last three minutes of the quarter. AJ Basi closed the third with a buzzer beating trey to give the Bisons a 62-46 lead. The Cascades never threatened. Schepp said his troops still needed to improve. “We’ve got to make a few adjustments. We’ve got to be more consistent offensively, work to get better shots, especially perimeter shots, and continue to defend.” Cascades coach Adam Friesen said “we got off to a bad start. They played with more energy than us tonight, which was disappointing. You’re not going to win many games like that. We’ve just got to compete harder. They got too many easy buckets inside, so we’re going to have to battle in the paint better tomorrow.” Wyatt Anders paced the Bisons with 17 on 5-8 from the floor, 7-8 from the line, 8 boards and 2 assists. Keith Omoerah added 14 on 6-8 from the floor, 0-1 from the arc, 2-3 from the line, 9 boards, 2 assists and 2 steals. Justus Alleyn added 12 on 5-11 from the floor, 0-2 from the arc, 2-2 from the line and 4 boards. Jonathan Alexander added 12 on 5-9 from the floor, 0-1 from the arc, 2-3 from the line, 9 boards and 2 blocks. A.J. Basi added 11 on 4-14 from the floor, 2-8 from the arc, 1-2 from the line, 6 boards and 2 steals. Ilarion Bonhomme added 5 on 2-5 from the floor, 0-2 from the arc, 1-2 from the line and 2 boards. Brett Jewell added 2 on 0-4 from the floor, 2-4 from the line and 4 boards. Joseph Medrano added 2, Keenan Benarroch 2 and Malik Irwin 2, along with 2 boards, while Amir Ali and Osahon Eghosa were scoreless. Eghosa nabbed 3 boards. The Bisons hit 29-70 (.414) from the floor, 2-17 (.118) from the arc and 18-26 (.692) from the line, while garnering 45 boards, including 15 on the offensive glass, 13 assists, 10 steals, 3 blocks, 14 turnovers and 11 fouls. Kevon Parchment paced the Cascades with 17 on 5-21 from the floor, 1-8 from the arc, 6-8 from the line, 9 boards and 5 assists. Matt Cooley added 12 on 6-9 from the floor and 7 boards. Brandon Burke notched 7 on 3-7 from the floor, 0-2 from the arc and 1-2 from the line. Navjot Bains added 6 on 2-10 from the floor, 2-3 from the line and 9 boards. Vijay Dhillon added 6 on 3-8 from the floor, 0-4 from the arc, 3 boards and 3 assists. Manny Dulay added 5 on 1-3 from the floor, 1-3 from the arc, 2-3 from the line, 3 boards and 2 assists. Nate Brown scored 4 on 2-4 from the floor and 4 boards. Marcus Morgan added 2, while Mahad Mohomed was scoreless. The Cascades hit 23-66 (.348) from the floor, 2-19 (.105) from the arc and 11-16 (.688) from the line, while garnering 43 boards, including 17 on the offensive glass, 13 assists, 4 steals, 2 blocks, 17 turnovers and 20 fouls. …………………………………………………… In game two, Manitoba took the series with a 77-72 overtime win over Fraser Valley. The up-tempo affair allowed the Bisons to rack up multiple dunks and keep the Cascades on their heels for much of the game. A late rally by Fraser Valley against a cautious Manitoba team brought the game to overtime, but  led by Justus Alleyn, the Bisons held on for the win. “Late in the game we got some really key defensive stops,” said Bisons coach Kirby Schepp. “They couldn’t get great looks because our guys really played solid D down the stretch.” The Cascades led 23-18 after one quarter on a pair of treys from Vijay Dhillon. The Bisons elevated their intensity in the second quarter, opening with Justus Alleyn making a line drive for a big dunk. Manitoba’s Ilarion Bonhomme scored a wide-open trey, followed by a jump shot by forward Wyatt Anders to tie the game at 34. Brett Jewell notched a slam to give a 38-34 lead at the half. Guard Amarjit Basi kicked off the second half with a three-point shot to give Manitoba a 7-point lead. While Fraser Valley guard Kevon Parchment netted a three and multiple jump shots, the Bisons maintained the margin and led 57-48 after three quarters. Nate Brown caught fire for the Cascades in the fourth quarter, scoring eight straight, and rallying them to knot the score at 64 after regulation with a 12-0 run, capped by a travel call against the Bisons and a Kevon Parchment bucket with five seconds remaining on the clock. “We were playing not to lose,” Bisons coach Kirby Schepp said. “The guys just didn’t want to make a mistake, instead of attacking aggressively as we did earlier in the game.” Both teams struggled to put points on the board in overtime, going nearly two minutes without scoring. Alleyn sank two free-throws to break the tie with three minutes left, followed by a trey from Keith Omoerah. Fraser Valley kept it close with Brown draining free throws and Parchment scoring a clutch jump shot, making it 73-72 for Manitoba with 34 seconds left. A trey by Bonhomme from the left wing with 12 seconds to play iced the win. “I’m really happy with the guys today – we bounced back with an incredible effort,” said Cascades coach Adam Friesen. “We played tougher, we played more competitively, and sometimes you lose close ones. … Kevon went out like he came in – working as hard as he could on every possession and making big plays in every facet of the game when we needed him.” Justus Alleyn led the Bisons with 23 on 6-14 from the floor, 2-4 from the arc, 9-10 from the line, 2 boards and 3 assists. A.J. Basi added 16 on 5-15 from the floor, 2-5 from the arc, 4-5 from the line, 3 boards and 3 steals. Brett Jewell added 12 on 6-9 from the floor, 8 boards and 2 steals. Keith Omoerah added 8 on 3-10 from the floor, 1-5 from the arc, 1-3 from the line, 12 boards, 6 assists and 2 steals. Ilarion Bonhomme added 7 on 2-8 from the floor, 2-4 from the arc, 1-2 from the line, 3 boards and 2 assists. Wyatt Anders added 6 on 2-5 from the floor, 2-4 from the line, 13 boards and 2 assists. Malik Irwin added 3 on 1-2 from the arc and 2 boards. Jonathan Alexander added 2 on 1-4 from the floor and 2 boards, while Amir Ali was scoreless. The Bisons hit 26-67 (.388) from the floor, 8-20 (.400) from the arc and 17-24 (.708) from the line, while garnering 51 boards, including 11 on the offensive glass, 15 assists, 10 steals, 3 blocks, 25 turnovers and 19 fouls. Kevon Parchment paced the Cascades with 21 on 8-18 from the floor, 1-4 from the arc, 4-5 from the line, 9 boards, 2 assists and 5 steals. Nate Brown added 19 on 6-16 from the floor, 0-1 from the arc, 7-10 from the line and 10 boards. Manjodh Dulay added 10 on 4-11 from the floor, 2-5 from the arc, 3 boards, 3 assists and 4steals. Navjot Bains added 8 on 2-5 from the floor, 4-4 from the line, 8 boards, 2 assists and 2 steals. Vijay Dhillon added 8 on 3-17 from the floor, 2-9 from the arc, 3 boards and 2 assists. Matt Cooley added 4 on 2-4 from the floor. Brandon Burke scored 2 on 0-2 from the floor and 2-2 from the line. The Cascades hit 25-73 (.342) from the floor, 5-19 (.263) from the arc and 17-21 (.810) from the line, while garnering 43 boards, including 10 on the offensive glass, 9 assists, 13 steals, 2 blocks, 19 turnovers and 22 fouls. The Cascades (coach Adam Friesen, assistant Kyle Graves, assistant Andrew Smee) also included Mark Johnson, Mahad Mohomed, Marcus Morgan, Antionio Jhuty, Sasha Otanga, Anand Nahal, Jasdeep Gill, Michael Seidu and Brayden Speaks-Chinda.

        The 2nd-seeded Thompson Rivers Wolfpack (1st, Explorer) defeated the 7th-seeded Regina Cougars 94-102; 90-85; 86-73 (2g-1). …………………………………………………… In game one, Regina clipped host Thompson Rivers 102-94. The Wolfpack led 26-21 after one quarter. The Cougars led 42-41 at the half. The Wolfpack led 64-61 after three quarters. “When you give up 60 points in the second half you know you aren’t going to come away with a victory,” said WolfPack coach Scott Clark.  “I have to give Regina credit, they did shoot the ball.  We need to do a better job of making sure they don’t get quality shots away. Wolfpack guard Reese Pribilsky said “they are an emotional team. When they get out and run. When they get momentum they start to pop some shots and play well. We need to limit their runs.  Basketball is a game of runs.  We need to limit theirs.  They had 11 and 8 point runs tonight. We need to cut that down to six or five points. … We let their shooters where they wanted to be on the floor. We can’t do that.” Cougars coach Steve Burrows said “we handled their zone a little bit and shot the ball well which we haven’t really done all season. We shot the ball effectively from the perimeter. When you do that you give your team a chance to win no matter what is going on.  And we rebounded the ball pretty well.  They have good size and athleticism. … For us to be successful, we need to get it from everybody. Obviously Jon had the high numbers.  We got contributions from everyone. Our guard play was where we got the majority of the bullets from.” Burrows added that Volodymyr Iegorov, Luke Morris and Josh Wolfram (are fine players. You have to pay a lot of attention to Iegorov and Wolfram. Other guys stepped up too. Morris got ‘er going a little bit. That’s what makes them so good. They have a lot of guys who can score. They are efficient on offense.  This wasn’t a defensive gem by any means but we will take it. We’ll come back tomorrow and see what happens.” Pribilsky said “we need to get back and stop their transition a lot better and identify shooters a lot quicker.  We turned the ball over too many times tonight. If we do that, we give them a chance to run and have momentum. If we take care of the ball and find their shooters and limit their transition we will be in better shape.” Burrows said the difference between teams in the Canada West divisions wasn’t enormous. “I don’t think there is a great deal of difference. Honestly, I think that is blown out of proportion sometimes.  There is good teams here and there.  It was not like we came here and didn’t think we would come here and it would be a real, tough struggle. We knew they are a good team and well coached. And that’s the way it was.” Regina held a one-possession lead for the majority of the fourth quarter until breaking out with treys on back-to-back possessions by Jonathan Tull and Brandon Tull. That gave the Cougars a nine-point lead with 57 seconds to go, and they sealed the win by hitting 11 consecutive free throws in the game’s final minute. “I would have thought we’d have to play much better defence than we did tonight, but we happened to make a lot of shots out there,” said Burrows. “I thought we rebounded the ball well all game, and we had contributions from a lot of guys again and that’s badly needed at this time of year.” Jonathan Tull paced the Cougars with 29 on 7-18 from the floor, 4-9 from the arc, 11-13 from the line, 6 boards and 3 assists. Alex Igual added 24 on 7-13 from the floor, 7-12 from the arc, 3-4 from the line and 9 boards. Brandon Tull added 16 on 6-10 from the floor, 4-8 from the arc, 4 boards, 3 assists and 4 steals. Brian Ofori added 15 on 7-11 from the floor, 1-2 from the line, 4 boards and 3 assists. Aaron McGowan added 8 on 1-5 from the floor, 1-2 from the arc, 5-6 from the line, 5 boards, 4 assists and 2 steals. Mike Malecha added 8 on 3-5 from the floor and 2-4 from the arc. Travis Sylvestre added 2 on 1-6 from the floor, 5 boards and 2 assists, while Will Tallman and Stephen Shields were scoreless. Tallman nabbed 3 boards and dished 4 assists. Shields nabbed 2 boards. The Cougars hit 32-71 (.451) from the floor, 18-36 from the arc and 20-25 from the line, while garnering 45 boards, including 12 on the offensive glass, 21 assists, 9 steals, 2 blocks, 20 turnovers and 17 fouls. Reese Pribilsky paced the Wolfpack with 25 on 8-20 from the floor, 5-13 from the arc, 4-4 from the line, 4 boards, 10 assists and 2 steals. Volodymyr Iegorov added 19 on 6-11 from the floor, 3-6 from the arc, 4-5 from the line, 2 boards and 2 steals. Luke Morris added 18 on 8-16 from the floor, 2-8 from the arc, 5 boards and 3 assists. Josh Wolfram added 13 on 5-15 from the floor, 1-4 from the arc, 2-2 from the line, 13 boards, 2 steals and 3 blocks. Albert Medrano added 9 on 3-6 from the floor and 3-5 from the arc. Jeff Tubbs added 6 on 2-4 from the floor, 0-2 from the arc and 2-2 from the line. Gerald Gore added 2 and Evan Helgason 2, while Mike Rouault was scoreless. The Wolfpack hit 33-75 (.440) from the floor, 14-38 (.368) from the arc and 14-15 (.933) from the line, while garnering 37 boards, including 9 on the offensive glass, 16 assists, 9 steals, 4 blocks, 17 turnovers and 24 fouls. …………………………………………………… In game two, Thompson Rivers evened the series with a 90-85 win. “I thought we were just a little bit better than last night,” said Wolfpack coach Scott Clark. “If we were a little bit better yesterday and stayed the course maybe….but we did that today down the stretch and it worked out for us.” Defensively, “if you look at things it was a high tempo game. In the second half their field goal percentages were 39 and 35 and I can live with that. I thought we had a lapse in the second quarter but we bounced back well.” Cougars coach Steve Burrows said “it was a playoff type game as it went back and forth. “This was the way I thought this series would be.” The Wolfpack took a 26-11 lead after one quarter but Regina ripped off a 17-2 run and trimmed the margin to 42-41 at the half. “We battled back and hung in,” Burrows said. “We showed some character. … It’s playoff basketball on the road. You have to try and give your guys a chance. It will never be easy. We were on the other side of it last night. It comes down to one shot here and one shot there. Tonight, they made it.” Spartans guard Reese Pribilsky said “it could have been a coin flip as to who would have won tonight. We knocked down some late shots and got some stops to hold on. We were focused going into this one as we should be always. We do think about it being the last game but we try to push it out of our minds as much as possible and don’t worry about the result. More about the process of going out there and doing our job each possession. If you do those things, it should be a good result.” The Wolfpack led 62-58 after three quarters. The two teams were never separated by more than five points in the fourth quarter. The Cougars took their first lead of the game on an Aaron McGowan trey midway through the period, and regained the lead on another McGowan basket with 2:40 left that put the U of R up 78-77.  It would be the final lead of the game for the Cougars, as Thompson Rivers scored the next five points – two on a pair of Jeff Tubbs free throws and three more on a trey by Luke Morris with 58.8 seconds on the clock. In the final minute it was six consecutive points by Volodymyr Iegorov that sealed the win, the first four on free throws, and the final two on a breakaway dunk that made it a two-possession game with under 10 seconds to go. Volodymyr Iegorov was chosen player of the game for the Wolfpack. “The guy scores 32 points on 15 shots,” Clark quipped about Iegorov. “The coach must be pretty stupid only to give him 15 shots.” Burrows said fatigue may have been a factor. “I would be lying if I wasn’t thinking about it. I hope not. We got a bunch of guys with good character and good heart. We are going to give it all we got and see what we can do.” Volodymyr Iegorov paced the Wolfpack with 32 on 11-15 from the floor, 2-2 from the arc, 8-10 from the line, 3 boards and 2 assists. Josh Wolfram added 18 on 5-13 from the floor, 1-4 from the arc, 7-9 from the line, 14 boards, 7 assists and 2 blocks. Reese Pribilsky added 16 on 5-17 from the floor, 1-6 from the arc, 5-7 from the line, 5 boards, 9 assists and 4 steals. Luke Morris added 14 on 5-11 from the floor, 3-5 from the arc, 1-2 from the line and 5 boards. Gerard Gore added 8 on 4-7 from the floor, 2 boards and 2 steals. Jeff Tubbs added 2, along with 4 boards, while Mike Roualt and Albert Medrano were scoreless. Roualt nabbed 3 boards. The Wolfpack hit 30-65 (.462) from the floor, 7-18 (.389) from the arc and 23-32 (.719) from the line, while garnering 41 boards, including 11 on the offensive glass, 20 assists, 9 steals, 4 blocks, 15 turnovers and 23 fouls. Aaron McGowan paced the Cougars with 28 on 9-17 from the floor, 4-8 from the arc, 6-7 from the line, 6 boards and 4 assists. Brandon Tull added 14 on 5-11 from the floor, 4-9 from the arc, 2 boards and 3 assists. Will Tallman added 12 on 4-8 from the floor, 2-4 from the arc, 2-3 from the line, 3 boards and 3 assists. Alex Igual added 11 on 4-11 from the floor, 3-8 from the arc, 0-2 from the line, 6 boards, 2 assists and 3 steals. Jonathan Tull added 7 on 2-8 from the floor, 1-3 from the arc, 2-2 from the line and 5 boards. Travis Sylvestre added 7 on 3-9 from the floor, 0-1 from the arc, 1-2 from the line, 9 boards and 4 assists. Brian Ofori added 4 on 1-5 from the floor and 5 boards. Stephen Shields scored 2 on 1-2 from the floor and 4 boards, while Samuel Hillis and Mike Malecha were scoreless. The Cougars hit 29-72 (.403) from the floor, 14-34 (.412) from the arc and 13-18 (.722) from the line, while garnering 44 boards, including 16 on the offensive glass, 18 assists, 5 steals, 3 blocks, 19 turnovers and 27 fouls. …………………………………………………… In game three, Thompson Rivers took the series by clipping Regina 86-73. The Wolfpack opened with a 6-0 run and then Reese Pribilsky, who was chosen player of the game, drained three straight buckets to give them a 24-14 lead after one quarter. Regina rallied back within four but the Pack rebuilt the lead to 45-33 at the half. The Cougars trimmed a 14-point margin down to one in the third quarter but the Wolfpack again rebuilt a double-digit margin, 54-44, by the end of the quarter. With 50.2 seconds to play, Cougars guard Alex Igual was charged with a flagrant foul. This followed him ‘staring down’ officials for most of the third and fourth quarter. That was followed up by a technical being charged to Regina coach Steve Burrows. The result was Pribilsky went to the line for seven straight foul shots and put the game out of reach. “This was playoff basketball all the way,” said WolfPack coach Scott Clark. “You have to know that they were going to make a run in the third and fourth quarter. They weren’t going to roll over. They are competitors and hats off to them. They didn’t roll over.” The WolfPack got into foul trouble in the third quarter when both their starting guards—Pribilsky and rookie Jeff Tubbs had four fouls. “That was a big concern, “Clark stated. “You can’t guard them from the stripe. It stops the clock. We weren’t playing intelligent at that point. But we managed to keep our heads about us and did what we had to do down the stretch.” Josh Wolfram said “this is an incredible feeling. When you look at where we were three years ago. This is a dream come true—to win a playoff series on our home court and head to the CanWest final four. I can’t even describe the feeling. … Our coaches did a great job of keeping us calm. We just went on to the next play and looked at it that the rest of the game like that. It paid off. … One through 12, every single guy believed that we could come back and win two straight. It showed on the court.” Cougars coach Steve Burrows said “I was proud of the way our team played in this series. At no point this season and especially this weekend would I question my guys effort. They showed great character. This was their sixth game in nine days. They battled hard. They have nothing to be ashamed of. … This one came down to the fourth quarter again with a couple of plays here and there. Thursday, we got those shots, Friday they did. Tonight, they made a couple of plays down the stretch. They are a great team and full credit to them.” Clark says appearing in the final four is big for his players. “You set a goal at the beginning of the year and when you achieve that there is some satisfaction. The biggest thing about this group is that they like going to practice, they like playing on the road and being with each other. As long as that can last they are pretty excited about it and easy to coach.” Reese Pribilsky led the Wolfpack with 27 on 8-16 from the floor, 4-7 from the arc, 7-8 from the line, 3 boards and 5 assists. Volodymyr Iegorov added 21 on 9-18 from the floor, 2-7 from the arc, 1-2 from the line, 14 boards and 2 assists. Gerard Gore added 15 on 6-16 from the floor, 3-3 from the line, and 7 boards. Josh Wolfram added 15 on 4-12 from the floor, 0-3 from the arc, 7-8 from the line, 15 boards and 3 assists. Albert Medrano scored 5 on 2-5 from the floor and 1-3 from the arc. Luke Morris added 2 on 1-5 from the floor, 0-1 from the arc, 3 boards and 2 assists. Jeff Tubbs added 1 on 1-2 from the line, 2 assists and 2 steals, while Mike Roualt was scoreless. The Wolfpack hit 30-72 (.417) from the floor, 7-21 from the arc and 19-23 (.826) from the line, while garnering 52 boards, including 13 on the offensive glass, 16 assists, 5 steals, 6 blocks, 14 turnovers and 23 fouls. Jonathan Tull paced Regina with 17 on 4-13 from the floor, 0-6 from the arc, 9-12 from the line and 7 boards. Brandon Tull added 14 on 5-11 from the floor, 4-8 from the arc, 7 boards, 2 assists and 2 steals. Aaron McGowan added 12 on 3-12 from the floor, 2-6 from the arc, 4-4 from the line, 5 boards and 2 assists. Brian Ofori added 9 on 3-9 from the floor, 3-4 from the line, 12 boards, 2 assists and 2 blocks. Alex Igual added 8 on 2-16 from the floor, 1-9 from the arc, 3-4 from the line, 6 boards, 3 assists and 2 steals. Will Tallman added 7 on 2-12 from the floor, 0-6 from the arc, 3-4 from the line and 7 boards. Travis Sylvestre added 6 on 3-4 from the floor and 2 boards, while Mike Malecha was scoreless. The Cougars hit 22-78 (.282) from the floor, 7-35 (.200) from the arc and 22-28 (.786) from the line, while garnering 51 boards, including 20 on the offensive glass, 10 assists, 6 steals, 3 blocks, 13 turnovers and 23 fouls. The Cougars (coach Steve Burrows, assistant Wade Hackl, assistant Joel Hunter, assistant Jordan McFarlen) also included Samuel Hillis, Gurkirat Kular, Brandon Buttazoni, Rawane Ndiaye, Zach Mihalicz, Stephen Shields, Matthew Augustine, Kolton Bellamy, Joshua Exner, Kieran Hebert and Jeremy Zver.

        In the last quarterfinal, the 3rd-seeded University of British Columbia Thunderbirds (2nd, Pioneer) defeated the 6th-seeded Lethbridge Pronghorns (4th, Pioneer) 82-57; 85-57 (2g-0). …………………………………………………… In game one, U.B.C. thrashed Lethbridge 81-57 after leading 28-13, 46-31 and 65-45 at the quarters. Jordan Jensen-Whyte dominated the floor. “Jordan has been just so solid for us – he’s the glue, he’s the guy,” said UBC coach Kevin Hanson. “He’s coming out and playing like a professional every night. His attitude on the court is awesome, and defensively, he gets the toughest assignments. Offensively, I thought he was terrific when he was attacking the rim. Right now, he’s playing with a lot of confidence. … They have three fifth-year seniors [Jared Baker], who don’t want their seasons to end, and they played real hard defensively. I thought they got up on us more than we would have liked, and we need to execute better.” The Thunderbirds opened with a 13-2 run included 10 points from Philip Jalalpoor. Jensen-Whyte kept attacking off the dribble as U.B.C. took command in the second quarter, while the Birds defence thorough disrupted the Pronghorns. “Defensively, that was our focus all week in practice, and I’m pretty happy with the way our defensive system showed tonight – it’s definitely improving. We just have to make sure can put it together for two games in a row,” said Hanson. Jordan Jensen-Whyte paced the Thunderbirds with 25 on 8-12 from the floor, 1-3 from the arc, 8-9 from the line, 3 boards and 2 steals. Philip Jalapour added 12 on 5-9 from the floor, 2-3 from the arc, 6 boards and 2 steals. Will Ondrik added 11 on 5-9 from the floor, 1-3 from the arc and 4 boards. David Wagner scored 7 on 0-3 from the floor, 7-10 from the line and 4 boards. Conor Morgan scored 7 on 2-8 from the floor, 0-4 from the arc, 3-4 from the line and 2 boards. Taylor Browne added 6 on 2-3 from the floor, 2-2 from the arc and 2 boards. Patrick Simon added 6 on 1-4 from the floor, 0-1 from the arc, 4-6 from the line and 4 boards. A.J. Holloway notched 3 on 1-6 from the floor, 0-5 from the arc, 1-2 from the line, 3boards, 5 assists and 2 steals. Elijah Campbell-Axson added 2, along with 2 boards, and Luka Zaharijevic 2, along with 4 boards, while Dominic Gilbert was scoreless. Gilbert dished 2 assists. The Thunderbirds hit 25-59 (.424) from the floor, 6-23 (.261) from the arc and 25-33 (.758) from the line, while garnering 37 boards, including 7 on the offensive glass, 9 assists, 10 steals, 16 turnovers and 21 fouls. Rob Olsen led the Pronghorns with 14 on 4-11 from the floor, 1-3 from the arc, 5-6 from the line and 2 boards. Brandon Brine added 13 on 4-11 from the floor, 0-3 from the arc, 5-8 from the line and 7 boards. Joshua Sparkes added 9 on 4-9 from the floor, 1-4 from the arc and 4 boards. Zac Overwater added 8 on 3-6 from the floor, 0-1 from the arc, 3-4 from the line and 5 boards. Michael Pierzchala added 5 on 1-3 from the floor, 0-2 from the arc, 3-3 from the line and 7 boards. Jared Baker added 3 on 1-6 from the floor, 1-3 from the arc and 4 boards. William Hickey added 3 on 1-4 from the floor, 1-2 from the arc, 2 boards and 3 steals. Jason Nysten added 2, while Brian Prenoslo was scoreless, and nabbed 2 boards. The Pronghorns hit 19-53 (.358) from the floor, 4-20 (.200) from the arc and 15-23 (.652) from the line, while garnering 39 boards, including 7 on the offensive glass, 4 assists, 4 steals, 26 turnovers and 31 fouls. …………………………………………………… In game two, U.B.C. completed the series sweep by stomping Lethbridge 85-57 with a dominant defensive performance. “I thought, in the first three quarters, they really stepped it up,” said UBC coach Kevin Hanson. “The last two games, really, holding a very good offensive team to 57 points two nights in a row is a great result, even if we did let it slide a bit in the fourth quarter tonight.” The T-Birds broke to a 14-5 lead on the efforts of guards Jordan Jensen-Whyte and Philip Jalapoor. They shut down the Pronghorns perimeter and build a 32-9 lead after one quarter. They extended the margin to 41-19 at the half and opened the third quarter with a 19-3 run. Although Hanson soon began exploring the depths of his bench, the Birds expanded the lead to 73-33 after three quarters and romped. Philip Jalapoor paced the Thunderbirds with 13 on 5-6 from the floor, 2-3 from the arc, 1-1 from the line and 4 boards. Taylor Browne added 12 on 3-8 from the floor, 2-7 from the arc, 4-4 from the line and 8 boards. David Wagner added 11 on 4-6 from the floor, 1-2 from the arc, 2-2 from the line, 4 boards, 2 assists and 2 steals. Conor Morgan added 11 on 3-5 from the floor, 1-2 from the arc, 4-4 from the line, 2 boards, 2 assists and 4 steals. Will Ondrik notched 10 on 5-8 from the floor, 0-3 from the arc, 6 boards and 2 assists. Patrick Simon added 8 on 3-6 from the floor, 2-2 from the arc and 3 boards. Jordan Jensen-Whyte added 6 on 2-4 from the floor, 2-3 from the line, 5 boards and 2 assists. Elijah Campbell-Axson added 6 on 2-5 from the floor and 2-3 from the arc. Dominic Gilbert added 3 on 1-2 from the arc and 2 assists. Luka Zaharijevic added 3 on 1-1 from the floor, 1-1 from the line and 5 boards. A.J. Holloway scored 2 on 1-5 from the floor, 0-3 from the arc and 0-1 from the line, 2 boards, 8 assists and 2 steals, while Roger Milne was scoreless. The Thunderbirds hit 30-56 (.536) from the floor, 11-27 (.407) from the arc and 14-16 (.875) from the line, while garnering 41 boards, including 5 on the offensive glass, 19 assists, 12 steals, 3 blocks, 23 turnovers and 25 fouls. Michael Pierzchala paced the Pronghorns with 15 on 5-10 from the floor, 2-5 from the arc, 3-3 from the line, 5 boards and 4 steals. Jared Baker added 7 on 2-9 from the floor, 1-5 from the arc, 2-2 from the line, 7 boards and 2 assists. Zac Overwater added 7 on 2-3 from the floor and 3-8 from the arc. Brandon Brine added 5 on 2-7 from the floor, 1-3 from the arc and 2 boards. Rob Olsen scored 5 on 2-8 from the floor, 1-4 from the arc, 0-1 from the line and 2 steals. William Hickey added 5 on 1-4 from the floor, 0-1 from the arc, 3-5 from the line and 2 assists. Lynden Nummi added 4 on 1-3 from the floor, 1-2 from the arc, 1-2 from the line, 2 boards and 2 steals. Joshua Sparkes added 3 on 1-5 from the floor, 1-3 from the arc, 5 boards and 3 assists. Brian Prenoslo added 2 on 0-3 from the floor, 0-2 from the arc, 2-2 from the line and 2 boards. Jason Nysten added 2 on 1-2 from the floor and 3 boards. Carl Hoffman added 2 on 2-4 from the floor, while Christopher Maughan was scoreless. The Pronghorns (coach Mike Hansen, assistant Alex Fletcher, assistant Rick Pawlak) also included Dejon Burdeaux and Spencer Lambert. 

        In the Final Four semis, the top-seeded Calgary Dinos whipped the 4th-seeded Manitoba Bisons 100-74 after leading 25-20, 51-42 and 71-56 at the quarters. “Everybody is happy right now, but we can’t celebrate for too long,” guard Thomas Cooper said. “Tomorrow, we just have to come out and be ready to go again.” The Bisons broke to a 6-0 lead and extended the margin to 14-4 before the Dinos awoke from their slumber. “I don’t even remember what happened, but we were able to turn it around,” Cooper said. “Jhony came in and shot some big threes for us, after that we just took off.” Jhony Verrone drilled a trey to give Calgary its first lead at 21-20 with a 1:30 left in the quarter. The Dinos quickly added four more in the quarter as they took command. The Dinos pushed the lead to 10 points on a David Kapinga layup but the Bisons cut the margin to 35-31 on a Keith Omoerah bucket. Kapinga countered with seven straight points to push the lead to 41-32 and Calgary led 51-42 at the half. Calgary got off to a slow start in the third quarter as Manitoba closed to within 53-50 at the 6:23 mark. But the Dinos quickly got back on track and led 71-56 after three quarters and then coasted to the easy win. Thomas Cooper paced the Dinos with 27 on 10-22 from the floor, 2-3 from the arc, 5-8 from the line, 8 boards and 2 steals. David Kapinga added 23 on 8-15 from the floor, 1-2 from the arc, 6-6 from the line, 5 boards and 5 assists. Jasdeep Gill added 11 on 3-8 from the floor, 0-3 from the arc, 5-7 from the line, 5 boards and 2 assists. Jhony Verrone notched 11 on 4-7 from the floor, 3-4 from the arc, 0-1 from the line and 4 boards. Torrez McKoy scored 9 on 3-4 from the floor, 1-2 from the arc, 2-4 from the line, 2 boards, 3 steals and 2 blocks. Mitch Ligertwood added 5 on 2-3 from the floor, 1-2 from the line and 5 boards. Lars Schlueter added 3 on 1-5 from the floor, 1-4 from the arc and 3 boards. Matt Letkeman added 3 on 1-3 from the floor and 1-2 from the line. Josh Owen-Thomas added 2, Dallas Karch 2, Matt Ellis 2 and Connor Foreman 2, along with 2 boards. The Dinos hit 36-72 from the floor, 8-18 (.444) from the arc and 20-30 from the line, while garnering 44 boards, including 9 on the offensive glass, 12 assists, 7 steals, 3 blocks, 15 turnovers and 25 fouls. A.J. Basi paced the Bisons with 17 on 6-17 from the floor, 2-7 from the arc, 3-3 from the line and 5 boards. Brett Jewell added 12 on 5-10 from the floor, 2-4 from the line and 4 boards. Justus Alleyn added 1 1on 4-8 from the floor, 1-4 from the arc, 2-4 from the line and 2 boards. Keith Omoerah added 8 on 3-8 from the floor, 0-1 from the arc, 2-4 from the line, 14 boards and 2 steals. Wyatt Anders added 8 on 0-2 from the floor, 8-12 from the line, 8 boards and 2 steals. Joseph Medrano added 5 on 2-2 from the floor and 1-1 from the arc. Ilarion Bonhomme notched 5 on 2-7 from the floor, 0-3 from the arc, 1-3 from the line and 2 boards. Malik Irwin added 4 on 1-3 from the floor, 1-2 from the arc, 1-2 from the line and 2 boards. Jonathan Alexander added 4 on 1-6 from the floor, 0-1 from the arc, 2-4 from the line and 5 boards, while Keenan Benarroch, Amir Ali and Osahon Eghosa were scoreless. The Bisons hit 24-65 (.369) from the floor, 5-20 (.250) from the arc and 21-36 (.583) from the line, while garnering 50 boards, including 15 on the offensive glass, 5 assists, 8 steals, 22 turnovers and 26 fouls.

        In the other semi, the 2nd-seeded Thompson Rivers Wolfpack nipped the 3rd-seeded University of British Columbia Thunderbirds 72-69. The Thunderbirds led 19-12 after one quarter but the WolfPack got timely shooting from Reese Pribilsky and Luke Morris as they rallied within 24-23. U.B.C. rebuilt its lead to 45-41 at the half but the Wolfpack kept chipping away and Pribilsky drained a shot with four seconds left in the quarter to go give the WolfPack their first lead at 54-52. The teams traced the lead through the fourth quarter Josh Wolfram took a pass from Pribilsky and drained a trey to give Thompson Rivers a 70-66 lead. U.B.C. coach Kevin Hanson said “they executed very well down the stretch. We didn’t execute as well as we needed to and in these one possession games that’s what it comes down to. They’re a good team. … I thought Jordan (Jensen-Whyte) had a good game. He played big minutes because he had to. The positive thing is we are still moving forward. There’s no problem with motivation for our guys. They are having some reflection right now. They know they need to play better tomorrow.” Wolfpack coach Scott Clark said “I thought the ball moved more freely in the second half and the guys didn’t have to try that hard getting a flow established. This was a total team effort. While we got the leadership we expect from our fifth year guys, those who played all made a contribution.” Josh Wolfram paced the Wolfpack with 23 on 9-15 from the floor, 1-2 from the arc, 4-7 from the line, 14 boards and 3 assists. Reese Pribilsky added 17 on 7-18 from the floor, 3-5 from the arc, 4 boards, 4 assists and 2 steals. Volodymyr Iegorov added 15 on 6-13 from the floor, 0-2 from the arc, 3-3 from the line, 6 boards and 3 steals. Luke Morris added 11 on 4-11 from the floor, 1-6 from the arc, 2-3 from the line, 5 boards, 2 steals and 2 blocks. Gerard Gore added 4 on 1-5 from the floor and 2-2 from the line. Jeff Tubbs added 2, while Albert Medrano and Justin Mason were scoreless. Medrano nabbed 2 boards and dished 2 assists. The Wolfpack hit 28-64 (.438) from the floor, 5-16 (.313) from the arc and 11-15 (.733) from the line, while garnering 38 boards, including 6 on the offensive glass, 12 assists, 8 steals, 2 blocks, 12 turnovers and 13 fouls. Jordan Jensen-Whyte paced the Thunderbirds with 19 on 9-18 from the floor, 0-2 from the arc, 1-1 from the line, 5 boards, 5 assists and 2 steals. David Wagner added 15 on 7-12 from the floor, 1-2 from the arc and 9 boards. Conor Morgan added 14 on 4-9 from the floor, 1-4 from the arc, 5-6 from the line and 6 boards. Will Ondrik added 7 on 3-9 from the floor, 1-3 from the arc and 5 boards. Philip Jalapoor added 6 on 2-12 from the floor, 2-9 from the arc, 4 boards and 2 assists. A.J. Holloway added 5 on 2-6 from the floor, 1-4 from the arc, 4 boards and 3 steals. Taylor Browne added 3 on 1-2 from the floor and 1-2 from the arc, while Patrick Simon and Luka Zaharijevic were scoreless. Simon nabbed 2 boards. The Thunderbirds hit 28-70 (.400) from the floor, 6-26 (.231) from the arc and 7-9 (.778) from the line, while garnering 42 boards, including 10 on the offensive glass, 10 assists, 6 steals, 13 turnovers and 17 fouls.

        In the bronze medal match, the 3rd-seeded University of British Columbia Thunderbirds stomped the 4th-seeded Manitoba Bisons 101-72. The Thunderbirds led 30-10, 54-39 and 84-50 at the quarters. “Knowing that we had that berth into the nationals, we wanted to end on a high,” said U.B.C. coach Kevin Hanson. “I’m really happy with how some of the guys stepped up. I think the starting crew played exceptionally well.” Conor Morgan, who drained seven treys before being forced to the sideline after taking a Manitoba fist to the chin in a battle for a rebound late in the third quarter, said “I made a couple and then decided to just shoot it. We got the ball inside and then we kicked it back out. It really opens up the outside for our shooters. Easier shots are open shots. … Our motivation tonight was to get better as a team come Thursday. We need to trust the process and try to come closer together as a family.” Conor Morgan paced the Thunderbirds with 28 on 10-14 from the floor, 7-8 from the arc, 1-1 from the line and 3 boards. Taylor Browne added 15 on 5-7 from the floor, 4-5 from the arc, 1-2 from the line, 3 boards and 2 steals. Patrick Simon added 12 on 4-10 from the floor, 1-5 from the arc, 3-4 from the line, 5 boards and 2 assists. A.J. Holloway notched 10 on 3-5 from the floor, 2-4 from the arc, 2-2 from the line, 5 boards and 3assists. David Wagner scored 7 on 2-6 from the floor, 3-4 from the line and 5 boards. Will Ondrik added 6 on 3-6 from the floor, 0-2 from the arc, 4 boards and 3 assists. Jordan Jensen-Whyte added 6 on 2-5 from the floor, 2-2 from the line, 5 boards, 3 assists and 2 steals. Philip Jalalpoor added 5 on 2-3 from the floor, 1-2 from the arc, 0-1 from the line, 5 boards and 2 assists. Elijah Campbell-Axson added 5 on 2-4 from the floor, 1-2 from the arc and 3 boards. Dominic Gilbert notched 5 on 1-3 from the floor, 0-1 from the arc, 3-3 from the line and 2 boards. Luka Zaharijevic added 2, while Roger Milne was scoreless. The Thunderbirds hit 35-70 from the floor, 16-29 (.552) from the arc and 15-19 (.789) from the line, while garnering 42 boards, including 9 on the offensive glass, 16 assists, 6 steals, 2 blocks, 16 turnovers and 28 fouls. Keith Omoerah paced the Bisons with 13 on 5-8 from the floor, 3-3 from the line, 8 boards and 5 assists. Amarjit Basi added 12 on 3-9 from the floor, 2-7 from the arc, 4-4 from the line and 2 steals. Joseph Medrano added 12 on 4-6 from the arc. Justus Alleyn notched 8 on 1-15 from the floor, 0-3 from the arc, 6-7 from the line and 2 boards. Jonathan Alexander added 6 on 2-4 from the floor, 2-3 from the line and 6 boards. Wyatt Anders added 5 on 1-5 from the floor, 3-4 from the line, 4 boards and 2 steals. Osahon Eghosa added 4 on 1-3 from the floor, 2-3 from the line and 6 boards. Malik Irwin added 4 on 2-3 from the floor, 0-1 from the arc, and 4 boards. Brett Jewell added 2, Keenan Benarroch 2, along with 2 boards, Ilarion Bonhomme 2 and Amir Ali 2, along with 2 boards. The Bisons hit 21-66 (.318) from the floor, 6-20 (.300) from the arc and 24-28 (.857) from the line, while garnering 41 boards, including 15 on the offensive glass, 13 assists, 7 steals, 1 block, 21 turnovers and 18 fouls. The Bisons (coach Kirby Schepp, assistant Don Fowler, assistant Grant Richter, assistant Mike Page, assistant Suk Singh, apprentice Nick Stewner, director operations Tyler Penner, manager personnel Hudson Isaac, therapist Byron Bahniuk, strength & conditioning Matt Barr, manager Narv Mulchand, analytics Luke Penner, assistant therapist Darrel Retumalta, assistant therapist Darin Soung, strength & conditioning Shawn Preston) also included Dharmjit Dhillon, Saajan Arora, Joseph Nitychoruk, Raj Sidhu and Keiran Zziwa.

        In the final, the top-seeded host Calgary Dinos dispatched the 2nd-seeded Thompson Rivers Wolfpack 91-84. “What more could it mean in front of all these people that have been supporting us all season?” asked Dinos coach Dan Vanhooren, who captured his third conference title in his 16 years at the helm of the Dinos program. “It’s been fantastic, and it’s such a galvanizing experience for all of our guys to do this at home on our home court. The guys have done a good job with preparation all year, and we were up until three in the morning looking at (TRU), trying to get ready, and our team did a great job. I think rebounding tonight was a big deal for us, and we battled pretty hard.” The WolfPack came out flying, hitting four treys in the first three minutes of the game to take a 12-2 lead. But the Dinos began to find their stride and a trey by Jasdeep Gill with less than two minutes to play in the first quarter gave the Dinos a 22-19 lead – an advantage they would not relinquish. They led 25-21 after one quarter. “Coach told us not to worry about the outcome, like always,” said conference MVP Thomas Cooper. “He just told us to go out and play the same game we’ve been playing all year – win in transition, play defence, rebound – and the outcome will worry about itself. That’s what happened tonight.” Calgary led 53-40 at the half but the Wolfpack chipped away, cutting the lead to four on four different occasions. But Calgary invariably had the answers and led 69-65 after three quarters. Fifth-year Dino senior Matt Letkeman said “I’m so thankful and blessed. I’m so proud of every single one of these guys – and Mitch Ligertwood played an amazing game. It’s an unbelievable feeling to win with these guys.” Fellow fifth-year senior Josh Owen-Thomas added that “this moment means everything. I’ve been here for five years now and the amount of practice we’ve been through and then to final get here in our final year on this court in the Jack Simpson Gym, it means everything. This is why we play for the University of Calgary and the Dinos.” Thomas Cooper led the Dinos with 24 on 7-20 from the floor, 1-6 from the arc, 9-9 from the line, 4 boards, 5 assists and 2 steals. Lars Schlueter added 14 on 5-9 from the floor, 4-7 from the arc and 6 boards. Mitch Ligertwood added 12 on 6-7 from the line and 6 boards. Jasdeep Gill scored 11 on 4-6 from the floor, 3-4 from the arc, 2 boards, 2 assists and 3 steals. Josh Owen-Thomas added 11 on 4-14 from the floor, 3-10 from the arc and 4 boards. David Kapinga scored 9 on 4-10 from the floor, 1-1 from the arc, 5 boards, 7 assists and 3 steals. Torrez McKoy scored 4 on 1-2 from the floor, 0-1 from the arc, 2-2 from the line and 2 boards. Matt Letkeman scored 3 on 1-1 from the floor and 1-2 from the line. Jhony Verrone notched 2 on 1-1 from the floor, 5 boards and 2 assists. Dallas Karch added 1 on 0-1 from the floor, 1-2 from the line and 2 boards, while Matt Ellis was scoreless. The Dinos hit 33-73 (.452) from the floor, 12-29 (.414) from the arc and 13-15 (.867) from the line, while garnering 39 boards, including 11 on the offensive glass, 21 assists, 10 steals, 3 blocks, 13 turnovers and 16 fouls. Gerard Gore led the Wolfpack with 22 on 9-16 from the floor, 4-5 from the line, 10 boards and 2 blocks. Volodymyr Iegorov added 17 on 6-15 from the floor, 3-5 from the arc, 2-2 from the line, 4 boards and 3 assists. Josh Wolfram added 15 on 5-11 from the floor, 2-3 from the arc, 3-3 from the line, 8 boards, 3 steals and 2 blocks. Reese Pribilsky notched 14 on 5-13 from the floor, 4-5 from the arc, 6 boards and 2 steals. Luke Morris scored 13 on 6-10 from the floor, 0-2 from the arc, 1-3 from the line and 4 boards. Albert Medrano added 3 on 1-2 from the floor, 1-1 from the arc and 2 boards, while Mike Roualt and Jeff Tubbs were scoreless. The Wolfpack hit 32-67 (.478) from the floor, 10-16 (.625) from the arc and 10-13 (.769) from the line, while garnering 37 boards, including 8 on the offensive glass, 7 assists, 6 steals, 5 blocks, 17 turnovers and 12 fouls.

        After the season, MacEwan University was formally granted full membership in Canada West, becoming the league’s 17th full member. A probationary member of Canada West since 2013, MacEwan was confirmed as a full member after securing more than the 75% membership approval required for Canada West acceptance. “MacEwan University is thrilled that our teams have been accepted into Canada West. This is a testament to all our student-athletes, coaches and staff who ensure our teams are able to compete at the highest level. This is a great day for Griffin athletics and MacEwan University,” said MacEwan University president David Atkinson. “The Griffins have proven to be a valuable part of the Canada West family on and off the field of play since joining the conference as a probationary member,” said Canada West president and University of Alberta athletic director Ian Reade.

The bronze medalist UBC Thunderbirds: Elijah Campbell-Axson; Will Ondrik; A.J. Holloway; Taylor Browne; Jordan Jensen-Whyte; Phil Jalalpoor; David Wagner; Conor Morgan; Dominic Gilbert; Patrick Simon; Roger Milne; Luka Zaharijevic; coach Kevin Hanson; assistant Spencer McKay; assistant Vern Knopp; assistant Dahman Boudraa; assistant Pasha Bains; trainer Kevin Wilson; trainer John Tan; manager Charles Dai

The silver medalist Thompson Rivers Wolfpack: Evan Cave; Michael Roualt; Jeff Tubbs; Reese Pribilsky; Justin Mason; Mauricio Medrano; Luke Morris; Kyler Eckess; Evan Helgason; Perry Terrell; Gerard Gore; Josh Wolfram; Volodymyr Iegorov; coach Scott Clark; assistant Kevin Pribilsky; assistant Paul Patterson; assistant Tallon Milne; assistant Ted Murray

The gold medalist Calgary Dinos: David Kapinga; Thomas Cooper; Torrez McKoy; Corey Hauck; Jasdeep Gill; Dallas Karch; Luke Praught; Johnny Verrone; Josh Owen-Thomas; Lars Schlueter; Matt Letkeman; Mitch Ligertwood; Matthew Ellis; Connor Foreman; Jordan Handel; Sunny Johal; Emmett Cook; coach Dan Vanhooren; assistant Sean Foote; assistant Blaine Miciak; assistant Andy Vorhies; operations manager Dean McCord; strength & conditioning Rich Hesketh