REGULAR SEASON
| EAST | WEST | ||||||||
| Laurentian | 10-2 | Peter Campbell | McMaster | 12-2 | 21-11 | Joe Raso | |||
| Ottawa | 9-3 | 26-12 | Jack Eisenmann | Guelph | 10-4 | 29-6 | Tim Darling | ||
| York | 7-5 | 12-18 | Bob Bain | Brock | 9-5 | 24-10 | Ken Murray | ||
| Toronto | 5-7 | Ken Olynyk | Western | 8-6 | Craig Boydell | ||||
| Ryerson | 4-8 | Terry Haggerty | Waterloo | 6-8 | 14-17 | Tom Kieswetter | |||
| Queen’s | 4-8 | Barry Smith | Lakehead | 6-8 | Lou Pero | ||||
| Carleton | 3-9 | 5-22 | Paul Armstrong | Windsor | 4-10 | 7-26 | Mike Havey | ||
| Wilfrid Laurier | 1-13 | Gary Jeffries | |||||||
Playoff non-qualifiers:
Carleton Ravens: Taffe Charles, Doug Elliot, Jason Barton, Jeff Cressman, Luca Diaconeseu, John Newport, Jamie Marquardt, Chris Webber, Curtis Houlden, Gary Kennedy, Jeff Robbins, Pat Sherlock, Sid Zigah, Dave Gardner, Shawn Campbell, coach Paul Armstrong
Queen’s Golden Gaels: Dave Smart, Chris De Vriendt, Sean Smith, Mike Ruscitti, Jud Rasmussen, Scott Davidson, Ian Brisbin, Kevin Eck, Wyeth Clarkson, Roger Wheeler, Les Harold, Mike Hale; Kevin Bellamy; Adam Fox; Eric Stewart; coach Barry Smith
Ryerson Rams: Lui Cinello, Sheldon Black, Phil Holjak, Ainsworth Slowly, Shane Thurston, Adrian Foster, Jason Burch, James Guy, Shawn Kaplan, Rowan Jones, Chris Szarka, Vaheed Sharafbayani, Brian Daly, Godfrey Hunte, Tracy Reece, coach Terry Haggerty, assistant Norman Clarke, assistant Richard Dean, manager Paul Beadle
In the East semis, 4th-seeded Toronto stunned top-seeded host Laurentian 81-74. The Blues, who weren’t able to handle Laurentian in two tries in the regular season, trailed 38-35 at the half. But they held a hot shooting hand, especially in the second half, hitting 21-39 from the floor, 10-17 from three-point range and 8-15 from the charity stripe. Veteran Scott Bleue led the Blues with 38. Rookie guard Eddy Meguerian chipped in another 17 while the big man, Jason Ciceri, had 10. The Blues held Norm Hann to 14. Brad Hann paced the Voyageurs with 19. “We had a game plan and the team executed pretty well,” Blues coach Ken Olynyk told the Varsity. “We started with a diamond and two defence. It got us off to a good start and we didn’t let them get away from us.” The Voyageurs (coached by Peter Campbell) also included Shawn Swords, Ryan Yeo, Brad Rollo, Walter Johnson, Chris Fischer, Mike Short, David Nicholls, Stuart Tait, Ken MacIntyre, Mark Cain, Marcel Langlois, Ian Pitblado, Jason Hurley and Tyler Moore.
In the other East semi, the 2nd-seeded Ottawa Gee-Gees defeated the 3rd-seeded York Lions 70-64. The Yeomen (coached by Bob Bain) included Mark Bellai, Lyndon Phillip, Vic Fantin, Wilton Hall, Jeff Raphael, Alex Brainis, Orin Litman, Marc Gardner, Jason Kimens, Howard Herdsman, Ben Sanders, Toge Heersink and Andrew Vallejo.
In the East final, the 2nd-seeded Ottawa Gee-Gees whipped the 4th-seeded Toronto Varsity Blues 87-67.
In the West quarterfinals, the 3rd-seeded Brock Badgers defeated 6th-seeded Lakehead 77-65 as Brian Bleich scored 25 and Allan MacDougall 20, Picton 8, Pullar 8, Wood 4, Huebert 3, Palmieri 3, Tatti 2, Dekker 2 and Lucyk 1. Brock hit 17-45 from the floor, 7-18 from the arc and 22-33 from the line, while garnering 31 boards, 19 assists, 15 turnovers and 11 fouls. Bleich told the St. Catharines Standard that “I’m happy we won but we could have played a lot better. I wasn’t afraid we were going to lose but it was closer than it should have been.” Badgers coach Ken Murray said “it was a win. It wasn’t a well-played game. Not pretty at all. But we did what we had to do and now we can start concentrating on the next step.” Craig Law paced the Nor’westers with 17. Brian Tees added 14, Peter Brown 11, Cam Becher 10, Brian Norland 7 and David Pineau 6. Lakehead hit 24-53 from the floor, 4-16 from the arc and 5-6 from the line, while garnering 29 boards, 19 assists, 11 turnovers and 22 fouls. The Nor’westers (coached by Lou Pero) also included Chris Grace, Paul Andrews, Cory Keeler, Noah Van Sickle, Murray Smith, Steve Riddle, Chuck Brown, Eric Schultz and Kareem Rodriguez.
The 2nd-seeded Guelph Gryphons thrashed the 7th-seeded Windsor Lancers 85-47 as Brent Barnhardt scored 21 and Chris O’Rourke 18. Pat Osborne led Windsor with 24. The Lancers (coached by Mike Havey) also included Ottavio Mannarino, Zoran Ristic, Patrick Osborne, Jamie Pepper, Geoff Astles, Todd Landon, Joe Davis-Nawagesic, Everton Shakespeare, Geoff Hewick, Kevin Gallivan, Kris Paulley, Mark Baggio, Steve Carey and Grant Romeo.
The top-seeded McMaster Marauders thrashed the 8th-seeded Wilfrid Laurier Golden Hawks 94-48 after leading by 18 at the half. Marc Sontrop paced the Marauders with 15. Jack Vander Pol added 15, Shawn Francis 10 and Sheldon Laidman 10. Marauders coach Joe Raso told the Hamilton Spectator that “this was a real team win. It’s very satisfying. …. We really stopped Laurier defensively … The last 20 seconds were played just like the first 20 seconds and that makes me feel proud. Our intensity didn’t drop.” Jeff Zownir said “that’s the kind of game you really enjoy. Everybody feels a part of it. The guys who didn’t play as much work just as hard every day as the others.” Sean Brennan paced the Golden Hawks with 20. Tom Pallin added 9 and Chris Livingstone 6. Laurier coach Gary Jeffries said “Mac is too strong for us, both inside and on the perimeter. They’re better than we are in all aspects of the game. They just wore us down. … If you play 14 games and win one time, what the hell are you doing in the playoffs? You’ve proven all year you didn’t belong. It’s foolish.” The Golden Hawks (coached by Gary Jeffries) also included Colin Strickland, Tolly Henderson, Brian Fretz, Andrew Scharschmidt, Shawn Roach, Adam Bazuk, Steve Duncan, Brad Johnston, Jim Newton, Dave Bart, Jim Newton, Peter Schut, Tim Smith, Jay Spencer, Mario Venditti, Jay Spencer, Scott O’Donnell, Alex Thornton and Geoff Budgell.
In the last West quarterfinal, 4th-seeded Western nipped 5th-seeded Waterloo 78-73. Western took the lead with an 8-0 run in the second half. Waterloo rallied within two with 22 seconds to play but the Mustangs iced it as Blake Gage and Peter Schmidt hit 3-4 from the line. Mike Lynch led the Mustangs with 16. John Vermeeren added 14 and Blake Gage 13. Alex Urosevic led the Warriors with 14. Sean Van Koughnett added 13, Mark Hopkins 13, along with 7 boards, Tom Balfe 12 and B.J. York 11, Chris Moore 8 and Dave Lynch 2. Urosevic told the Kitchener-Waterloo Record that returning to the line-up after four weeks with an ankle injury wasn’t a problem. “Like the old adage: If you can walk, you can play. I like to drive a guy then pull-up and take the shot. I really couldn’t do that today but that’s not an excuse.” Golden Hawks coach Tom Kieswetter said “we feel badly about losing but we don’t feel badly about how we played. You can’t say Western worked any hard than we id. They were just a little more efficient.” The Warriors (coached by Tom Kieswetter, assisted by Mike Kilpatrick, Dave McNeil and Brian Clegg) also included Jim Toole, Gahan Richardson, Neils Tofting, Andy Pocrnic, Bruce Van Loon, Josh Martin and Mike Leitch.
In the West semis, 4th-seeded Western stunned top-seeded McMaster 95-85. The Mustangs took command with a 12-2 run late in the second half as they rallied from a 15-point deficit. John Vermeeren paced the Mustangs with 29. Stephen King added 24 on 6-10 from the arc, and Michael Lynch 20. Mustangs coach Craig Boydell told the Hamilton Spectator that “it was very chancey to try to beat McMaster on the perimeter so we knew we had to get the ball inside and have Vermeeren produce. It was gutsy effort by everyone. … I didn’t think we played badly in the first half. We just wanted to be patient. With a young team like ours, though, I didn’t whether the wheels would fall off.” Jack Vanderpol paced the Marauders with 17, while nabbing 21 boards. Jeff Zownir added 14, Shawn Francis 14, Sheldon Laidman 14 and Derek Howard 9. Marauders coach Joe Raso said “it’s a tough way to end the year. Maybe we’re better chasers than we are leaders. Instead of playing to win, we started playing not to lose. As it got closer and closer, we got tighter and tighter. … WE have some unforced turnovers and that’s a little uncharacteristic for us.” The Marauders (coached by Joe Raso, assisted by Rupert Wilson, Perry Brussese and Pete Giftopolous) also included Cesare Piccini, Greg Caldwell, Paul Maga, Lance Postma, Derek Howard, Marc Sontrop, Kannin Osei-Tutu, Charles Hafron-Benjamin, Nathan Aryev, Andrew Peters, Andrew Gillis and John Hogeterp.
In the other West semi, 3rd-seeded Brock defeated 2nd-seeded Guelph 68-64 as Brian Bleich scored 25, Allen MacDougall 19, Dave Picton 14, Sullivan 10, Wood 8, Huebert 4, Pullar 3 and Dekker 2. The Gryphons had a chance to tie it late but missed a bunny. Dave Picton corralled the rebound, was fouled, and iced the win with a pair of free throws. The Badgers did a remarkable defensive job of containing Gryphon posts Brent Barnhart and Randy Mahoney. The Badgers hit 17-38 from the floor, 7-20 from the arc and 13-17 from the line, while garnering 26 boards, 13 assists, 10 turnovers and 17 fouls. Tim Mau paced the Gryphons with 21, while nabbing 17 boards. Steve Krajcarski added 12, Chris O’Rourke 9, Brian Barnhart 8, Andre Baptiste 7, Rich Wesolowski 5 and Christian Baldauf 2. The Gryphons hit 20-51 from the floor, 4-10 from the arc and 12-14 from the line, while garnering 32 boards, 19 assists, 14 turnovers and 15 fouls. The Gryphons (coached by Tim Darling, assisted by Ray Darling, Rob Froese, Walter Schlichthorn and Tarry Upshaw, manager Russ Cullinance, manager Lisa Jackson, manager Melissa Leiskau, trainer James Sweeney) also included Floyd Cobran, Rory Steele, Kris Vander Veer, Mark Tonizzo, Humphrey Hill, Jamie Procope, Ron Hamilton, Doros Theodosiou, Randy Mahoney and Themis Hantzaridis.
In the West final, 4th-seeded Western defeated 3rd-seeded Brock 83-75 as Michael Lynch scored 24, Blake Gage 16, John Vermeeren 13, along with 11 boards, Brendan Noonan 10, Schmidt 8, Rawlings 5, King 5 and Meskis 2. The Badgers led 36-35 at the half but the Mustangs went on 10-2 run to take a 56-47 lead. Brock rallied no closer than four. The Mustangs hit 26-49 from the floor, 4-8 from the arc and 19-23 from the line, while garnering 31 boards, 14 assists, 19 turnovers and 17 fouls. Mustangs coach Craig Boydell told the St. Catharines Standard that “this team has come a long way. We probably played our two worst games of the season getting on this roll. The players deserve a lot of credit. They could have packed it in and quit back them, but they didn’t.” Brian Bleich led the Badgers with 23 (also reported as 28). Sullivan added 18, Pullar 10, MacDougall 9, Wood 7, Picton 6, Huebert 2 and Dekker 2. The Badgers hit 18-43 from the floor, 10-24 from the arc and 9-11 from the line, while garnering 25 boards, 13 assists, 19 turnovers and 19 fouls. Bleich said “it hasn’t sunk in yet. I really don’t know how we lost. I don’t know what happened. Maybe when I see it on tape, I’ll be able to explain it.” Pat Sullivan added that “if the other team was wearing red (Guelph colours) today, we’d have won. But they wore purple and it was like we didn’t care. I don’t understand it. I was worried. There was a lot of talk about going to Halifax and you can’t be like that. We had to win this one first. Everyone knew that but we didn’t play like it. We were out of sync all day. I think it all comes down to will and desire. Today, we didn’t have that.” Badgers coach Ken Murray said “that was one of the poorest defensive efforts we’ve had against a league team.”
In the Wilson Cup, Ottawa scored a home-court 88-48 victory over Western as Bobby Brown scored 18 and was selected the game’s outstanding player. Vince Smyth also scored a career-high 18 for the Gee-Gees. “They weren’t guarding (Smyth) and he picked up on that right away,” said Gee-Gees coach Jack Eisenmann. “He earned his time and now he’s making the most of it.” Smyth, from Sarnia, played 28 minutes in the final, a luxury he didn’t often enjoy during the season after suffering a knee injury in November and losing his starting centre spot to Chris Lemcke. “It was difficult going from playing a lot and making a contribution to not playing much, sitting on the bench, just trying to be positive. But I just said to myself: ‘when I get my chance, I’m going to make the most of it.” Lemcke had sat out the 91-92 season with Ottawa due to differences with Eisenmann. He played weekly in a city league and eventually decided to return to the team a reformed man. “I just thought the guys were going to have a great team and I just wanted to be part of it. Little did I know just how good we’d turn out to be.” Lemcke averaged 8 ppg during the season and 14 ppg during the playoffs. “The fourth-year players had to step things up a bit. I knew I had the talent. All I needed was the playing time.”
The co-bronze medalist Brock Badgers: Brian Bleich; Allen MacDougall; Dave Picton; Gord Wood; Mike Pullar; Dave McKay; Pat Sullivan; Pat Palmeri; Jamie Huebert; Jason Tatti; Jeff Lucyk; Joe Dekker; coach Ken Murray
The co-bronze medalist Toronto Varsity Blues: Scott Bleue; Howard Buckstein; Jason Ciceri; Dan Conrad; Brodie Osome; Cargel Stewart; Carl Swantee; Jason Dressler; Lars Dressler; Amr Elmaraghy; Darryl Gee; Jason Gopaul; Eddy Meguerian; David Moore; Trevor Reid; coach Ken Olynyk
The runner-up Western Mustangs: Michael Lynch; Stephen King; John Vermeeren; Brendan Noonan; Jason Meskis; Blake Gage; Nigel Rawlins; Hugh Bell; Peter Schmidt; Dave Kleuskens; Martin Harris; Aaron Czaga; Brad Campbell; coach Craig Boydell; assistant Jeff Farrugia; assistant Art Sharp; assistant Michael Yuhasz; manager Jill Stiefelmeyer; trainer Jill Kempster; trainer Bonnie Rysdale; academic advisor William Avison; SID Helen VandeBovenkamp; athletic director Darwin Semotiuk
The champion Ottawa Gee-Gees: Clarence Porter; Dave Reid; Rod Lee; Greg Maillet; Wayne Charles; Chris Lemcke; Edward Weltz; Bobby Brown; Steve Kokelj; Vince Smyth; Royston Hohenkirk; David Bajurny; Tim Mathieson; Mike Milne; Shawn Turnau; Paul Holness; coach Jack Eisenmann; SID Morgan Quarry; athletic director Carol Turgeon