Final regular season standings:
South (6): Mount Royal (14-6), Lethbridge (13-7), Medicine Hat (13-7), SAIT (13-7), Briercrest Bible (5-15), Prairie Bible (2-18)
North (7): Grant MacEwan (17-7), NAIT (17-7), Augustana (16-8), Red Deer (14-10), The King’s University College (11-13), Grande Prairie (8-16), Concordia (1-19).
Playoff non-qualifiers:
Briercrest Bible Clippers: Adam Harrison, David Robinson, Gene Wolverton, Jordan Mayer, Neil Nystrom, David Thiessen, Chris Karram, Kelly Archuleta, James Beer, Chris Burt, Caleb Evans, Tim Meier, Colin Milne, Brian MacDonald, coach Perry Martens
Concordia Thunder: Darren Graham, Kerry Cooper, Nicholas Phelan, Matthew Hamilton, Scott Frost, Marty Maclean, John Whitmore, Gregg Stouffer, Jeff Neilson, Filman Zerai, Andrew Maslowski, Roger Pollard, Beau Ferrari, coach Chris Nicol
Grande Prairie: Andrew Boone, Nathan Sales, Peter Kordos, Cam Smith, Colin Yates, Jeff Cope, Trevor Kerschbaumer, Kevin Geurtsen, Justin Rushton, Derrick Sheane, Dustin Louie, Will Young, Brad Potter, coach Kelly Ohlhauser
Prairie Bible: Kendall Kamphuis, Matt See, Joseph Ness, Mitch Gragg, Cam Hall, Joseph Thibeau, Mark Stetson, Marcus Reed, Bill Mantha, Josh Penner, Tim Brown, Bryan Doerksen, coach Keith Harder
King’s University College: Mark Harvey, Russ Devries, Peter Buwalda, Michael Wagner, Steve Smit, Mark Vince, Trevor Gross, Dave McKinnon, Graeme Douglas, Joel Mohammed, Dylan Mohammed, coach Bob Day (11th year)
In the quarterfinals, Mount Royal defeated Red Deer 69-64; 76-67 (2g-0). …………………………………………………… In game one, Mount Royal prevailed 69-64 after taking command with a 17-6 run midway through the second half. Eddie Richardson led the Cougars with 17, including 13 in the second half. “We were very flat in the first half,” said Cougars coach Ron Wuotila. “Thank goodness, we played good defence.” Colin Axelson led the Kings with 18. Joe Soungie added 10, Jacon Nicolay 10 and Colin Clarkson 10. …………………………………………………… In game two, Mount Royal prevailed 76-67 as Eddie Richardson scored 20 and Richard de La Pena 11. Jason Nicolay led the Kings with 16. Joe Soungie added 13, Emmanuel Bell 11 and Jeff Pierzchalski 9. The Kings (coached by John Johnstone) also included Mike Asmus, Colin Axelson, Colin Clarkson, Shelby Sawatzky, Darryl Hemstreet, Ryan Russell, Argain Gafour, Cody Skopnik and Ian Thompson. Johnstone told the Red Deer Advocate that “they play tough defence but so did we for the most part. Both games against them, we had a let down for three or four minutes and it did us in.” Cougars coach Ron Wuotila said “both the north and the south have very good players, very good coaches and very good teams but I feel the south was more disciplined. That’s not a slam against the north but the last 10 games we played, we had to play playoff basketball and that helped us a lot.”
Medicine Hat defeated Grant MacEwan 70-52; 69-74; 79-72 (2g-1). …………………………………………………… In game one, Medicine Hat dumped Grant MacEwan 70-52. The Rattlers arrived in Edmonton on a Thursday and were promptly informed by the Griffins that the game would start in an hour, rather than on the Friday, because Grant MacEwan wanted more time to prepare for the ACAC Final Four. Rattlers coach Dan Vanhooren informed his players. “They came out fired up,” at the insult, Vanhooren told the Medicine Hat Herald. …………………………………………………… In game two, Grant MacEwan prevailed 74-69. The Griffins took an early 23-10 lead but the Rattlers got back into it with an 18-2 run at the start of the second half before succumbing to a barrage of treys. “We had a large 30 turnovers — that’s the most we’ve had this season,” Rattlers coach Dan Vanhooren told the Medicine Hat News. “It wasn’t because of one particular thing other than we just had the jitters at the beginning of the game.” …………………………………………………… In game three, Medicine Hat took the series with a 79-72 win. “It’s exciting,” Rattlers coach Dan Vanhooren told the Medicine Hat News. “I’m excited for our athletes. We are a team a lot of people underestimated all year. Now we’re proving people wrong … they put it on the line every time they go out and play. Brian (assistant coach Kannekens) and I talked about it, and we were probably more nervous before Friday’s game than Saturday’s. We beat them on Thursday, so we thought they would come out pretty hard the next day — more prepared and use their size against us. Saturday, we weren’t nervous at all. It was kind of a strange feeling. “We came out hard and played really well. It was the best game we’ve played in a long time. Kurt Schoendorfer (22 points, 12 rebounds) played fabulous all weekend as did Brad David.” The Griffins included Robbie Valpreda, Tom Coyne, Mark Knoppers, Dan Rosnau, Scott Dedels, Brandon Horton, Nathan DeKlerk, Sean Wragg, Stephen Moore, Kevin Petterson, Braidon Reid, Grayson Bahniuk, Ashraf Sherif and Graham Michaels.
SAIT defeated Augustana 68-55; 53-57 62-45 (2g-1). …………………………………………………… In game one, SAIT led by 38-22 at the half and by as many as 20 down the stretch. “They wanted to play a slowdown style and we wanted to speed it up,” said Trojans coach Peter Sambu. “The guys did a great job of executing.” Forward Colin Jones, who scored 21, said “we used a full-court transition and once we started running the ball, they didn’t like that.” …………………………………………………… In game two, Augustana prevailed by four in overtime. …………………………………………………… In game three, Augustana led 26-24 at the half in a defensive affair. “I gave them a bit of a tongue lashing at halftime,” said SAIT coach Peter Sambu. “I think they responded to it. Indeed they did, taking the lead for good eight minutes into the second half on a Blair Blacom bucket and then having Shaun Kennedy and Ryan Martin get hot. The Trojans iced it with six free throws in the final two minutes. The Vikings (coached by Stacy Lorenz) included Mike Wedman, Tom West, Jesse Stanford, Sean Hamilton, Ryan Loney, Leo West, Darcy Lindberg, Layne Anderson, Barnaby Provost, Ken Cockshott, Jeff Berry and Trevor Cleveland.
In the last quarterfinal, NAIT defeated Lethbridge 73-74; 72-71; 69-67 (2g-1). …………………………………………………… In game two, the Ooks prevailed 72-71 as Mike Stephens hit the winner with six seconds to play. …………………………………………………… In game three, the Ooks took the series with a 69-67 win. “They broke us down defensively at crucial times during the game and that was the difference,” rookie Lethbridge coach Craig Anderson told the Lethbridge Herald. The Kodiaks led 33-32 at the half. But Ook guard Matt Burton went on an 11-0 run to give NAIT a 55-43 lead. Ooks coach Marc Dobell told The Nugget “this season was one of the best I have every been involved with in terms of excitement.” The Kodiaks (coached by Craig Anderson) included Kevin Rudolph, Amron Guillian, Andy Beres, A.J. Jeannotte, Dave Mulholland, Dustin Miller, Adam Baker, Chris Willes, Rob Stirling, Dwayne Cord, Steve Buesink, Mike Nieboer and Brad Holt.
In the Final Four semis, held in Calgary, SAIT defeated Medicine Hat 75-53. Medicine Hat led only once in the match, 30-29 with three minutes to play in the first half on a Kurt Schoendorfer trey, but the Trojans didn’t panic. SAIT coach Peter Sambu called a time out and the Trojans responded with a 6-0 run over the remainder of the half and pulled away early in the second, aided by a trio from beyond the arc by Colin Jones, who scored 15 in the second half. Jones finished with 21. Mark Slade led the Trojans with 26. Schoendorfer paced the Rattlers with 15. Sambu said the timeout proved critical. “We just needed to stop a little of the bleeding. We knew that if it didn’t, they could go on a hell of a run with their outside shooting.” Rattlers coach Dan Vanhooren told the Medicine Hat News that “we played a little bit like freshman and didn’t execute. ‘Give credit to SAIT, they shot the ball well and they played hard throughout the game. I think at times, our guys passed up some shots. I think that was a nervous reaction from some of the players who have never had the opportunity of playing in this type of situation and the pressure that’s around them.”
In the other semi, NAIT defeated Mount Royal 81-66. Ooks coach Marc Dobell said his troops were determined to prevent an all-Calgary final. The Cougars had made a run late in the first half, capped by a Richard De La Pena steal and baseline trey. But Mount Royal shooters continued to struggle and NAIT kept systematically bombing as they extended their lead to 18 with three minutes to play and romped. “The guys just played hard and that’s the bottom line,” said Dobell. Matt Burton led NAIT with 21. Dobell told The Nugget “the guys played really well. We were in control of the Cougars for most of the game.”
In the bronze medal match, Medicine Hat nipped Mount Royal 69-67. Retiring coach Ron Wuotila was disconsolate. “To lose two games at home is absolutely stunning. It’s very disappointing. We lost the game in the first half.” Brad David scored 21 as Medicine Hat registered its first win over the Cougars in four years. The Rattlers trailed early but started bombing from the perimeter as they built a 10-point lead with eight minutes to play. “When you’re able to shoot from the outside and score points, those can be disheartening possessions,” Medicine Hat coach Don Vanhooren told Canadian Press. “It’s a pretty timely victory.” Mount Royal rallied to within two down the stretch as Eddie Richardson got hot and had a chance to tie or win it with a series of desperation treys. But none fell. Vanhooren said his troops started slowly “and that’s a habit we’ve had, especially in this gym. But the key to any basketball game is making open shots count.” Eddie Richardson led Mount Royal with 14. Brad David led the Rattlers with 23. David told the Medicine Hat News that “everybody came out and gave it their best. They knew it was the end, and they put it all out on the line and played their toughest.” Vanhooren told the News that “we knew Brad was going to come out. Brad and I joked about it earlier — that he’s never given us two bad games in a row — and (Friday) night he had a shaky style of play and didn’t shoot the ball very well. I told him before the game started that I wasn’t taking him off the floor. I wasn’t going to manage his fouls — and to go out there to play the game. If he fouled out in the first 10 minutes, then that’s fine, and he’ll come off the floor then. He came out well, shot the ball well and came out of a shooting slump himself. And I give a lot of credit to Brad — he’s been fantastic this year for us.” The Rattlers opened the second half with a 17-8 run but let the Cougars back in it with missed free throws and turnovers. Eddie Richardson hit a trey to pull the Cougars within two with 12 seconds to play. When Chad Watson missed both free-throws seconds later, the Cougars had a final shot to tie the game, but Travis Korella’s running jumper came up short. The Cougars (coached by Ron Wuotila) also included Tom Hudel, Richard Dela Pena, Andrew Baird, Ryan Tanner, Bruce Dunham, Shawn Trusty, Jason Walcott, Jeff Hudson, Jason Buckley, Jim Shields, Darren Leavitt and Luke Henry.
In the final, SAIT defeated NAIT 82-68 as Mark Slade scored 23. Sean Wrobel paced the Ooks with 22. Ooks coach Mark Dobell told The Nugget that “they switched from man-to-man to zone coverage and it killed us. We were dominating them when they were playing man-to-man; it was a real turning point.” Ooks guard Matt Burton said “we didn’t have it in us. We hadn’t done anything til shootaround and I think that it affected the game.”
Before season, longtime coach Ted Harrison resigned. Assistant coach Peter Sambu assumed the helm.
After the season, Ron Wuotila retires after six years at Mount Royal’s helm and moves to Pittsburgh. He’s replaced by Stephen Price, who’s pursuing his master’s in coaching at the University of Victoria after seven years of coaching in Fort McMurray.
Prairie Bible hires Craig Wilsman as head coach from Simpson College in northern California
Medicine Hat hires Mike Connolly, assistant at U of Toronto, to be head coach, replacing Don Vanhooren, who becomes head coach at the University of Calgary.
Other coaches: Craig Anderson at Lethbridge, Pete Sambu at SAIT, Bob Day at King’s college. John Johnston at Red Deer, Chris Nicol at Concordia (in second year in 2001), Kelly Ohlhauser at Grande Prairie, Marc Dobell at NAIT (also provincial team coach), and Stacy Lorenz at Augustana, Perry Martens at Briercrest Bible.
The bronze medalist Medicine Hat Rattlers: Brad David; Kurt Schoendorfer; David Cunningham; Travis Cooper; Chad Watson; Matt Gottselig; Scott Coultard; Steve Miller; Kris Harris; Murray Gartly; Matt Alston; Mitch Watson; Miles Scott; Shaun Bosch; coach Dan Vanhooren; assistant Brian Kannekens
The silver medalist NAIT Ooks: Slav Kornik; Matt Burton; Mike Lecavalier; Sean Wrobel; Trav Dawson; Jason Leslie; David Rough; Mike Stevens; Bryn Porter; John Warren; Nick Mizera; Matt Arnett; coach Marc Dobell
The gold medalist SAIT Trojans: Colin Jones, Jeff Wright, Shawn Kennedy, Mark Slade, Scott Klassen, Chad Krepps, Tim Whitehead, Gabor Bart, Ryan Martin, Jay VanTournhout, Ryan Martin, Sam Salter, Kris Wiggins; Andrew Schurman; Tristan Blackwood; Rob St. Denis; Darryl Reinhardt; Ian Spriggs; Dion Brar; Blair Balcom; coach Peter Sambu; assistant Shawn Botterill; manager John MacIsaac; therapist Tammy Ulrich