Final regular season standings: Grant MacEwan (12-4); Lethbridge (12-4); NAIT (10-6); Camrose Lutheran (10-6); SAIT (9-7); Medicine Hat (8-8); Mount Royal (5-11); Red Deer (4-12); Grande Prairie (2-14)
Playoff non-qualifiers:
Camrose: Guy Pallister, Brent Brady, Stacy Lorenz, Nathan Coltvet, Kerry Unger, Rob page, Curtis Masters, David Houston, Kyle Larson, Jody Watson, Rick Smith, Kenji Sawai, Jeff Gieg, Byron Johnson
Grande Prairie: Ian Perry, Todd Dalke, Jamie Fitzpatrick, Rory Duncan, Ivan Brkich, Warren Hill, Steve McKay, Mike Risdale, Blake Foster, Keith Hampe, Duane Oltmanns, Jerry Hesse, Jamie Nielsen, coach Kelly Ohlhauser
Medicine Hat: Brady Layton, Brad McKenzie, Kevin Grandberg, Craig Shanholtzer, Jason Beamish, Brad Krizam, Paul Foster, Todd Heggie, Corey Narrison, Chris Lewis, Andrew Lawson, Rob Nijenhuis, Robert Oliver
Mount Royal: David Fry, Erin Furnell, Fred Frey, Ted Davis, Ken Davidson, Shane Forrer, Kris Reed, Eric Bastiaanssen, Miguel Galy, Kelly Gedlaman, Jason Leblanc, John Yvon, Mike Wesolowski
Red Deer: Jason Langelaar, Kevin O’Brien, Shane Olmstead, Justin Holton, Steve Snyder, Mike Sam, Dan Strand, Don MacDonald, Darryl Mitchener, Kelsey Knutson, Sherwin Ward, Brent Andersson, Tract Tait
SAIT: Erik Johnson, Colin Vigilance, Ed Major, Stacey Johnson, Pete Wright, Winston Turpin, Kurt MacNeill, Sheldon Brown, Len Timmer, David Haughton, Jason Lynde, Keith Christensen, Larry DeCapite
In the semis, the Grant MacEwan Griffins defeated the Camrose Lutheran Vikings 87-69; 73-71 (2g-0)
In the other semi, the Lethbridge Kodiaks defeated the NAIT Ooks 76-74; 67-63 (2g-0). ……………………………………………………………… In game one, Lethbridge completed the sweep as Andre Costa hit two free throws with one second remaining on the clock after being fouled on an attempted trey (from 80-feet out, according to the NAIT Nugget). Costa finished with 19. Jeff Stevenson added 14, Carlos Maffia 13 and Jim Kaminski 12. Kodiaks coach John Jasiukiewicz told the Endeavour that “I thought we played good defensively but our offence wasn’t nearly what it should have been. We had a lot of turnovers and every time you make a turnover, you take a shot away.” Overtime seemed certain, as Kodiaks inbounded at the LCC end of the court and Costa turned to launch a court-length shot attempt. As he was turning with the ball, he realized a NAIT player was in his face and drove forward to launch the shot and draw contact at the same time, sending him to the line for three foul shots. He made two to ice the win. “Hindsight is 20-20. Give (Costa) credit. He saw our man (Neil Vany) going up in front of him and drove forward with the shot to draw the foul,” said NAIT coach Dave Hoy. “I was very proud of the way we shot in the game and we didn’t give up a lot of second shot opportunities, but their zone defence gave us a lot of trouble.” Jasiukiewicz noted “there were a lot of mental mistakes by both teams. He didn’t lose the game for them, any more than any number of players who made bad mistakes earlier in the game on both sides. Nobody was outstanding for us. The lone positive might have been that Jeff Stevenson scored in double figures, which we need to see him doing, but both sides stopped thinking at the finish. We had 53 shots in the game and it should be more like 93 and we were 63 per cent from the line and that isn’t good.” Rob Hansuk led the Ooks with 23. Neil Vany added 11 and Chuck Royer 10. The Ooks hit 12 treys. ……………………………………………………………. In game two, Lethbridge completed the series sweep with a 67-63 win as Carlos Maffia scored 19, Jim Kaminski 17, Jeff Stevenson 12 and Andre Costa 12. Rob Hansuk led the Ooks with 17. Norm Barthel added 10. With the win, the Kodiaks earned the ACAC’s second berth at nationals. “My goal this year as coach was to win the ACAC,” Kodiaks coach John Jasiukiewicz told the Lethbridge Herald. “It’s always nice to go to nationals, but going as the No. 2 seed is more of a gift. In university ball a wild card has some significance, so we really want to go as No. 1 from our conference.” NAIT narrowed a seven-point Kodiak lead to 64-63 in the final minute on a three-point basket by Rob Hansuk. NAIT got the ball back and had a chance to win it with 10 seconds left, but Hansuk missed from three-point range. Kodiak guard Andre Costa was fouled and made one of two attempts. On the missed free throw, LCC forward Rob Lorenson grabbed the rebound and scored to lock up the victory. Jasiukiewicz told the Endeavour “we played really well defensively. We held them to 20 points less than they usually score.” The Ooks (coached by Dave Hoy, assisted by Mark Bosworth) included Norm Barthel, Rob Hansuk, Moe Amerey, Neil Vany, Chuck Royer, Sandy Malhi, James MacDonald, Les Cselinacz, Don Grapentine, Greg Robinson, Kevin Lockhart, Mike Powell, Jason Flexhaug, Jeff Flexhaug and Brian Hofstede.
In the finals, the Grant MacEwan Griffins defeated the Lethbridge Kodiaks 76-79; 78-73; 77-73 (2g-1).
In game one, Lethbridge defeated Grant MacEwan 79-76 as Jeff Stevenson scored 16, Jim Kaminski 16, Marty Dusoswa 15, Carlos Maffia 14 and Andre Costa 10. Darren Ross led the Griffins with 28. Chris Weureuter added 18. “We were in a lot of trouble at times,” said Kodiak coach John Jasiukiewicz. “But I think Marty Dusoswa came on and has his best game of the year for us. Also, Rob Lorenson had 14 rebounds and that was a key for us.” He added that Pat Hicks also did a good job on the boards. The Kodiaks were up 18 points at one time in the first half, but settled for a 44-37 halftime lead after finding themselves in foul trouble. The Griffins narrowed the margin to one point in the second half, but the Kodiaks pulled out the win. “This was a big win for us,” said Jasiukiewicz. “We hadn’t won up here in so long that we needed to win that first game and get the jump on them in the series.”
In game two, Darren Ross scored 21 and Chris Weureuter 17 to lead Grant MacEwan to a 78-73 win as Darren Ross scored 21 and Chris Weureuter 17. Carlos Maffia paced the Kodiaks with 29. Jim Kaminski added 21. “Our scoring was horrendous,” Kodiaks coach John Jasiukiewicz told the Endeavour. “We missed shots we have no right missing.”
In the deciding third game, Jason Stanier scored 24 to lead MacEwan to a 77-73 win. “We wanted gold,” said Stanier. “We wanted to prove we were the best in Alberta after losing the first one.” Stanier scored 13, and 24 on the night, as the Griffins built a 39-33 lead at the half and then hit several critical buckets down the stretch. “In the second half we went to the line more,” said Stanier. ‘We tried to get inside to Chris Neureuter. He controlled the paint the whole series.” Chris Weureuter scored 12 and nabbed 12 boards. Darren Ross notched 15 and Daryl Glimps 13. “Darren (averaging 23.9 ppg) didn’t have one of his better games,” Stanier added. “The rest of us had to buckle down and come through.” Andre Costa led the Kodiaks with 19. Carlos Maffia added 17 and Jim Kaminski 13.
The silver medalist Lethbridge Kodiaks: Carlos Maffia; Andre Costa; Darren Oczkowski; Jim Kaminski; Jeff Stevenson; Rob Lorenson; Pat Hicks; Marty Dusoswa; Jon Larson; Scott Tollestrup; Troy Jacobs; Shane Dawson; Eric Jensen; Larry Sherwood; Tim Bey; coach John Jasiukiewicz
The gold medalist Grant MacEwan Griffins: Darren Ross; Jason Stanier; Kurtis McGeachy; Jason Holtz; Stephane Rochet; Ray Hines; Daryl Glimps; Chris Neureuter; Mike Hamilton; Vince Lefebvre; Trent Edwards; Gary Lewis; Kent Biswanger; coach Ken Larson