REGULAR SEASON
| EAST | WEST | ||||||||
| Laurentian | 16-4 | 22-10 | Peter Campbell | Western | 11-3 | 29-6 | Craig Boydell | ||
| Carleton | 12-8 | 16-12 | Paul Armstrong | McMaster | 10-4 | 25-11 | Joe Raso | ||
| Ottawa | 11-9 | 12-13 | Jack Eisenmann | Waterloo | 9-5 | 22-7 | Tom Kieswetter | ||
| Ryerson | 10-10 | 14-17 | Terry Haggerty | Guelph | 8-6 | 14-11 | Chris O’Rourke | ||
| Queen’s | 9-11 | 10-17 | Scott Meeson | Lakehead | 6-8 | 11-16 | Lou Pero | ||
| Toronto | 9-11 | 11-20 | Ken Olynyk | Windsor | 6-8 | 10-15 | Mike Havey | ||
| York | 6-14 | 8-25 | Bob Bain | Brock | 5-9 | 13-17 | Ken Murray | ||
| Wilfrid Laurier | 1-13 | 11-19 | Mike Kilpatrick | ||||||
Playoff non-qualifiers:
Brock Badgers: Serge Fuca, Sam Fuca, Jason Pearson, Jamie Duncan, Jared Wideman, Craig Emuss, Conor MacSweeney, Vince Policella, Martin Smieszek, Trevor Padfield, Tyler Bettridge, David Sidenburg, Ryan Dudley, Mike Hurley, Rob Ivanovic, coach Ken Murray
Queen’s Golden Gaels: Derek Richardson, John Purdy, Brendan Byrne, Mike Gleeson, Mark Bednis, Peter Stelter, Jay Fraser, Dave Wilson, Reilly Musselman, Duncan Cowan, Rob Sherrard, Jay Cooling, Mike Gleeson, coach Scott Meeson
Toronto Varsity Blues: Arbi Shahnazarian, Sherwyn Benn, Alex Lempp, Matt Sturgeon, Louis Pahis, Danny Stephens, Steve Williams, Chris Skeaff, Nathan Hale, Vidak Curic, Ryan Pyle, Paul Culham, Reid Beckett, coach Ken Olynyk
Wilfrid Laurier Golden Hawks: Matt Babel, Basil Botetzayas, Ryan Dolan, Scott Fitzpatrick, Ken Hodgins, Bernie Lee, Jared Mitchell, Bob Papadimitriou, Chris Popofski, Patrice Pusey, Nicholas Ritchie, Adam Rogers, Kevin Ryan, Corwin Troje, Matt Westberg, Todd Woodburn, Jeff Zdrahal, coach Mike Kilpatrick, assistant Steven Krajcarski, manager Josh Forler
York Yeomen: Paul Weir, Rob Sorgini, Dean Labayen, Chris Peskun, Steve Irvine, Scott Shepherd, Ammer Askary, Dwayne Lawrence, Tom Romas, Derek Alexander, Derek McGrattan, Ricky Earle, David Steele, Paul Nixon, coach Bob Bain, assistant Tom Oliveri
In the West quarterfinals, the 3rd-seeded Waterloo Warriors defeated the 6th-seeded Windsor Lancers 66-49 as Mano Watsa scored 17 and the Warriors held the Lancers to just 27% per cent from the floor (15-56), 2-18 from the arc and out-rebounded them 46-23. The Warriors opened the second half with a 24-7 run. Waterloo outrebounded Windsor 66-49. Warriors coach Tom Kieswetter told the Kitchener-Waterloo Record that “our offence was erratic and disjointed at times. But our defence did the job.” Lancers coach Mike Havey told Canadian Press that “when you hold a team to 24 in the first half at home, you’d think you might be ahead. But our offensive woes continued and it cost us in a major way. Shooting as badly as we did isn’t going to get it done in any league. Waterloo’s so big and there are so many of them. We kept trying to jam the ball inside even though they packed the middle on us because we’re not a great jump-shooting team. Altogether, it was a bad combination.” The tide turned on four possessions in the second half when Waterloo switched to a half-court trapping defence, forced four consecutive turnovers and expanded an 8-point lead to 14. Derek Maat added 12 for the Warriors. Steve Anderson led Windsor with 14. Mike Baggio added 10 and John Poulimenos 9. The Lancers (coached by Mike Havey) also included Sefu Bernard, Kwame Boamah, Jeff Mulligan, Kirk Francois, Adam Wydrzynski, John Veljanovski, Matt Parent, Rob Codling, Norman Boose, Nate Jackson and Jim Dunlop.
In the other West quarterfinal, 5th-seeded Lakehead defeated 4th-seeded Guelph 79-76. The Gryphons (coached by Chris O’Rourke, assisted by Wayne Kidd, Dave West and Mark Grant, manager Dane Pierre, manager Mike Ravensdale, trainer Laurie Halfpenny-Mitchell, trainer Mark Hunter) included Malik Shebbaz, Jason Crotty, Geoff MacNeil, Michael Koolhaas, Mark Melehes, Koven Padayachee, Brent Jamieson, Charles Yearwood, Mark Halfpenny, Jason Wenczler, Michael Ayanbadejo, Curtis Seeley, Mark Allen, Toffer Treiguts, Aharon Brown and T.J. Sprickerhoff.
In the West semis, 3rd-seeded Waterloo upset 2nd-seeded McMaster 80-51. The Warriors ripped off 14 unanswered points to open the contest, and soon expanded the lead to 22-2, while the Marauders never found their rhythm. With guard Mano Watsa setting the tempo, Waterloo took a 24-4 lead. Watsa hit first two pullups of the game and was 10.17 from the floor on the night. His sterling defensive rattled McMaster. He also nabbed 10 rebounds and stole the ball 5 times. Waterloo had a 34-20 lead into the lockers and pulled away in the second half. Watsa scored 22, grabbed 10 rebounds and dished 7 assists. Mike Stroeder added 20, Mike Zavershnik 15 and Mark Eys 13 and 10 boards. Dan Schipper had 8 points off the bench and 2 blocks. Waterloo outrebounded McMaster 49-24. Watsa told the Kitchener-Waterloo Record “that’s the best team effort I’ve seen in my five years at Waterloo.” Mike Zavershnik said “the way we’re playing right now, it doesn’t matter who we play.” Warriors coach Tom Kieswetter said “you think you’ve seen it all from Mano and then he comes up with something like this (game). … I don’t think was ready for our intensity.” Marauders coach Joe Raso said “we looked slow and methodical. Our post players (Vojo Rusic and Nick Rupcich) have been Jekyll and Hyde all season. Waterloo dominated our posts today.” Rodney Baptiste and Steve Maga led McMaster with 10 points each. Doug Doyle added 9. Maga told the Hamilton Spectator that “our shooting was off and half the time our shot (selection) wasn’t that good to begin with.” The Marauders (coached by Joe Raso) also included Brian Taylor, Justin Boye, Doug Doyle, Graham Hewitt, Mark Maga, Daren Spithoff, James Akrong, Jamie Loucks Kevin McKenna.
In the other West semi, top-seeded Western defeated 5th-seeded Lakehead 93-75. The Nor‘Westers took an early 24-19 lead before Western took command to lead 41-32 at the half. Nat Graham led Western with 21 points, including 9-13 from the floor, while grabbing 8 rebounds and handing out 5 assists. Micah Bourdeau scored 18 points, 8 rebounds and 8 assists. Point guard Jim Grozelle scored 13 on 4-4 from the floor and 4 steals. Chris Brown scored 12 and grabbed 12 boards. Matt Tweedie scored 12 on 3-5 from the arc. Graham told the Western Gazette that the Mustangs knew that McElmurry was “a guy that would get his points. We just focused on making sure that no one else hurt us. … They are obviously a good team, they seemed to hit all their shots. What was especially surprising was their defence. They held one of the best offences in the OUA to under 50 points.” Mustangs coach Craig Boydell said “we’re maturing at the right time as a team. We felt we had to go inside-out to get the right match-ups and our guys did that successfully.” Ramon McElmurry led Lakehead with 32 points, including 23 in the second half. He hit 13-22 from the floor and grabbed 13 rebounds and handed out 6 assists. The Thunderwolves (coached by Lou Pero) also included Dan Zapior, Andrew Stevenson, Steve Reid, Carlo Zoffranieri, Brent Bradshaw, Jeremie Clarke-Okah, Dave Reynolds, Brennan Judge, Mike Booth, Mark Tonizzo, Jake Lawrence and Hamead Rashead.
In the West final, top-seeded Western defeated 3rd-seeded Waterloo 66-61. It was a tight defensive struggle from the start. Micah Bourdeau tied it at 17 on a jumper as Western slowly built an eight-point lead and headed into the lockers ahead 36-30. But Mike Stroeder exploded for 6 points as Waterloo built a five-point lead in the second half before Matt Tweedie drilled a pair of free throws to tie it at 50 with five minutes to go. Then Western took over. An inside power move by Chris Brown and steal by Chedo Ndur led to a Tweedie feed of Bourdeau on a backdoor cut led to an 8-point Mustang lead with 1:40 to play. Mano Watsa hit a three but Bourdeau hit two free throws and a slam to give Western a 9-point lead with 20 seconds to play. Bourdeau, who scored 10 of Western’s last 12 points in the final three minutes, including a trey, finished with 18 points on 6-9 from the floor, grabbed 7 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 steals. Chris Brown scored 10 and grabbed 10 boards. Matt Tweedie added 12 while Nat Graham scored 9 on a poor 3-13 from the floor but grabbed 12 boards. Jim Grozelle ran the offence impeccably. Mustangs coach Craig Boydell told the Kitchener-Waterloo Reocrd that “for Micah to do what he did – with all the therapy and back pain he’s endured this season – it was an incredible exclamation point to our year.” Mano Watsa led Waterloo with 23 points on 8-21 from the floor, including three from beyond the arc in the final 90 seconds of play. Mike Stroeder added 18 on 7-11 from the floor and 5 boards. Mike Zavershnik scored 5 but did an excellent defensive job on Graham. Mustangs coach Craig Boydell told the Western Gazette that “we started September with defence, knowing that stopping another team from scoring was going to do it and that’s what we did.” Boydell added that Micah Bourdeau had “made so many sacrifices all year to do whatever he could,” Boydell explained. “It’s just so fitting that in the end he was the guy who did it. That dunk at the end was the exclamation point.” Warriors Mano Watsa said “we never expected to lose. It comes as a shock to us – we just fell short.” Waterloo coach Tom Kieswetter said “we were prepared. We were playing our best basketball, but we just got beat. Full credit to them. Micah Bourdeau was the difference.” Warrior Derrick Maat told the Kitchener-Waterloo Record that “I expected to win during the entire game – until the last couple of minutes. Then I saw it was slipping away.” Warriors coach Tom Kieswetter said “we ran out of gas. We’ve played five games in eight days. Western had to play three in eight days. There’s lots of excuses but I think was a factor.”
In the East semis, 4th-seeded Ryerson upset top-seeded Laurentian 74-66, as OUA east rookie of the year Ben Gorham scored 27. The Voyageurs broke to a 7-0 lead. The Eyeopener reported that the tide turned with a measure of intimidation. “Second-year centre Sasha Ivankovic, who received a cut on his neck when he rebounded the ball earlier, got the ball off the rim and was protecting it from the approaching Laurentian forwards. Perhaps feeling claustrophobic, Ivankovic stood from his couch and raised an elbow to look like he was going to flatten the Vee’s player. From that point on (Rye was within two points at the time), Ryerson seemed to have the game under control. The Rams went into halftime with a slim 35-34 lead. The second half was even until team captain Brian Smith and rookie Ben Gorham hit consecutive three-pointers to seal the victory.” Voyageurs guard Clifton Edwards drilled three quick treys but fouled out midway through the second half. Laurentian committed 27 turnovers to Ryerson’s 13. Ted Dongelmans finished 4-17 from the floor, 11 rebounds, 5 blocks. The Voyageurs (coached by Peter Campbell) also included Leon Sutton, Dwayne Burton, Kevin Gordon, Joey Turco, Sean Ludwig, Patrick Brandt, Clifton Edwards, Roan Biggs, Chris Caruso, Robert Annecchini and Christopher Johnson.
In the other East semi, 2nd-seeded Carleton thrashed 3rd-seeded Ottawa 91-68 after Jafeth Maseruka scored 29 points. Maseruka who’d missed the final two games of the regular season after missing a meeting with assistant coach Dave Smart, prompting Paul Armstrong to withdraw his name from consideration for CIAU rookie of the year (and he was the likely winner). Ottawa’s strategy was to keep the ball out of Maseruka’s hands and keep a hand in his face when he was shooting. But Maseruka drilled his first three from beyond the arc and Carleton romped. “They expected me to shot and I expected them to be more aggressive,” Maseruka told the Ottawa Citizen. ‘But when they did try to close out, I was able to penetrate. …I don’t think you can judge those two losses (to Ottawa to close out the regular season) just on the fact that I wasn’t playing. It wasn’t just my ability that they were missing. We just didn’t play well as a team in those games. Today we started off well and continued to executive.” Armstrong said Maseruka is a key to the Ravens success “He instills confidence in our whole team when he’s on the floor. It’s not a cockiness. And when he’s on the court and controlling the game, we cut right down on our turnovers.” Maseruka hit 9-11 from the floor, including 3-4 from beyond the arc and 7-9 from the line, grabbed 5 boards and handed out seven assists. Ottawa cut the lead to 59-49 on Ibrahim Tounkara’s uncontested jam. But Brian Leonard drilled several key jumpers to restore Carleton’s working margin. “He collected some big boards of us and scored pretty much at will,” Armstrong said. “He’s certainly a scorer; that’s evident by his totals. But I think he’s unheralded as a rebounder. He gives you everything at both ends of the court.” Leonard scored 19 on 10-13 from the floor and grabbed a game-high 11 rebounds. Jeff Huddleston added 10. Tounkara led Ottawa with 16 points on 6-12 from the floor and 4-5 from the line. Tounkara said his teammates didn’t give the kind of effort they could have. “We practiced for Maseruka all week but we just didn’t come to play in the first half. And we knew he was going to shoot the three. We just gave him too much room. By the second half, it was too big a lead to overcome.” Marvin Johnson added 14 for Ottawa and Brad Peak 10. The Gee-Gees (coached by Jack Eisenman) also included Karim Mouad, Kevin Bakker, Gavin Musgrave, Steve Chapman, Rob Lawlor, Adam Clarkson, Rob Dawson, Clint Dunning, Faisal Docter, Wes Oswald, Marc Rancourt, Leon Beaton and Fraser Veevers.
In the East final, 4th-seeded Ryerson defeated 2nd-seeded Carleton 50-44 in a display of poor marksmanship by both sides. “We played two bad games since Christmas and this happened to be one of them,” said Ravens forward Brian Leonard. “But we have to give them credit. It’s not that we should have beat them or that we blew it. They definitely played better than we did.” Leonard led all scorers with 19 points. Jon Addy added 12 for Carleton. Jafeth Maseruka was held to three. Tournament MVP Jan Michael Nation led Ryerson with 14. Ben Gorham added 13. Sasha Ivankovic scored 8 and grabbed 10 boards. Ryerson had 11 turnovers, while Carleton had 18. “It’s not a good way to end my career but it was a good year,” Leonard told the Ottawa Citizen. “Last year was a very disappointing year and we turned it around this year. The last two months have been the biggest memory of my career.” Carleton shot .320 from the floor and led only 8-4 early. “Our goal was to keep them under 60 points and we achieved that but just never got it going offensively,” said coach Paul Armstrong. “We just never had any flow or confidence compared to Thursday against the Gee-Gees.” Ryerson took an early 13-7 lead and then the game turned into a gritty defensive affair. Ryerson led 31-24 at the half. They moved ahead 37-26 at the half before Carleton tied at 44. But Smith drove the lane for a bucket and tournament MVP Jan Michael Nation drilled a 15-footer and then Ben Gorham drew an offensive charge from Jafeth Maseruka and hit both free throws to close out the affair. Ryerson coach Terry Haggerty, suffering with pneumonia, said “we would not have gotten through the last two days except that I have three great assistants and three great captains who kept the guys completely focused. Words cannot describe how special a moment this is for our team, our supporters, our alumni and Ryerson U as a whole.” Haggerty won his first title since he assumed the reins at Ryerson in 1981 after a stint as assistant with Bob Bain at York. In his first three years, Haggerty was 0-12, 2-12 and 2-12 but by year four was 7-7. The 1999 season also saw Haggerty add former professional boxer Bob Marsh as an assistant coach and it instantly yielded lucrative recruiting dividends. Marsh, who’d helped Durham College win the national title in 1997, was a major player and voice in Toronto’s black community and his presence legitimized enrolling at Ryerson. Rams co-captain Rob Armstrong told The Eyeopener that “the first time we played (Carleton, Jan. 15), we got ripped off by the refs and the second time (Feb. 15) we just played a horrible game. I don’t think going into this tournament we wanted to finish third. We thought Carleton was the easier team.”
In the Wilson Cup, Western defeated Ryerson 87-70. “We knew what we had to do to be successful,” said Mustangs coach Craig Boydell told the Western Gazette. “But we also know that we can go out and run and that gives us a lot of confidence.” The Rams pressed the Mustangs into 19 turnovers but couldn’t capitalize in transition. “There are no excuses, but I think we played pretty well considering everything we’ve had to deal with,” said Rams coach Terry Haggerty. “We came in and played the No. 2 team in the country and [rookie guard Ben] Gorham and [forward Sasha] Ivankovic have been sick all week. They missed a lot of shots that they would normally hit.” Mustang Micah Bourdeau, who scored 14, nabbed 6 boards, dished 5 assists and was chosen player of the game, said “we knew we had to step up our game, we felt this game was important for rankings at the nationals. When we run our offence, we find the mismatches and we are usually successful. But we showed that we have a lot of weapons and we’re not just a half-court team.” Ivankovic told The Eyeopener that “we knew we could come back. We pressed them and they don’t like our press. When we press right we can cause some turnovers and get back in the game.” Jan-Michael Nation said “they kicked our butts today and this is a chance to wake up, correct what we did wrong and work on some systems.”
Shortly before the voting for the league’s awards, Carleton coach Paul Armstrong withdraw the name of rookie of the year shoo-in Jafeth Maseruka from consideration for league hardware because he was late for a pair of practices and missed a third in a mix-up over times. Armstrong rejected the notion that his disciplinary measures were unduly harsh. “Would a rookie of the year miss practice? Would an all-star miss practice a week before the playoffs?”
The co-bronze medalist Carleton Ravens: Brian Leonard; Jon Addy; Jafeth Maseruka; Terry Vilayil; Charlie Cattran; Jeff Huddleston; Matt Mahar; Justin Sudds; Dean Petridis; Andy Stewart; Andy Olson; Matt Boulton; Nelson Lauro; Chabine Tucker; Ed Dottin; coach Paul Armstrong; assistant Dave Smart; assistant Jesse Sazant; assistant Andy Waterman; assistant Taffe Charles
The co-bronze medalist Waterloo Warriors: Mano Watsa; Mike Stroeder; Mike Zavershnik; Derek Maat; Dan Schipper; Mark Eys; Tony Grant; Paul Kwiatkowski; Marc Rigaux; Paul Larsen; John Quinlan; Mike Nolan; Shane Cooney; Tony Grant; Jamie Birrell; Kieran Del Pasqua; coach Tom Kieswetter
The runner-up Ryerson Rams: Brian Smith; Ben Gorham; Jan-Michael Nation; Sasha Ivankovic; Rob Armstrong; Geoff Hebert; Duane Quashie; Will Sealy; Dave Petropoulos; Trevor Challenger; Kurt Eby; Brad Woodgate; Giuseppe Pompei; Kurt Eby; Karim Gilani; coach Terry Haggerty; assistant Richard Dean; assistant Lui Cinello; assistant Bob Marsh; manager Duane Edwards; therapist Lenny Ferraro; team doctor Dr. David Lowerry Haggerty; assistant Richard Dean; assistant Lui Cinello; assistant Bob Marsh; manager Duane Edwards; therapist Len
The champion Western Mustangs: Micah Bourdeau; Nat Graham; Jim Grozelle; Matt Tweedie; Chris Brown; Rich Tamminga; Chedo Ndur; Stephen Barrie; Mark Nielson; Shaun Lodge; Pete Kratz; Paul Abrams; Mark Porte; Dan Jonker; Karl Aguilar; coach Craig Boydell; assistant Mark Casselman; assistant Brad Campbell; trainer Rob Dean; trainer Darren Brownlee; administrative assistant Krista Sheppard; statistician Jeff Downie