Final regular season standings (9): Lethbridge (15-1); Mount Royal (14-2); NAIT (12-4); SAIT (11-5); Camrose Lutheran (8-8); Red Deer (7-9); Medicine Hat (6-10); Grant MacEwan (2-14); Grande Prairie (0-16)
Playoff non-qualifiers:
Camrose Lutheran Vikings: Dan Paulsen, Gary Relling, Glen Olsen, Ray Theroux, Gord Relling, Rick Schwarz, Mike Dronyk, Bob Baker
Grant MacEwan: Jim Blake, Bill Peterson, Henry Van Doesburg,
Grande Prairie: Dale King, Eric Anderson, Darren Eckstrom, Bernie Range, Tim Sebastian, Lee Tipman, Terry King, Jim Cuira, Bill Tucker, Blaine Monson
Medicine Hat: Joe Grosswiler, Marvin Stanberry, Jim Stanberry, Bob Grosswiler, Tracy Blair, Kelly Risling, Bob Granger, Fred Hall, Garth Heavenor, Tracy Nelson, Larry Nelson, coach Arnie Frank
Red Deer: Murray McLean, Lionel Leiske, Bill Bowd, Gord Graves, Weldon Rowland, Pete Koeyak, Rod Kennedy, Rick David, Greg Lunde, Keith Thompson, Brian Bieber, coach Wayne Lalor
In the semis, held in Lethbridge, the Mount Royal Cougars defeated the NAIT Ooks 65-55 after leading 30-27 at the half. Cougar Stew Bauck held Ook Rick Gawlick, averaging 30, to a mere 17, primarily with a series of blocks. “Once you block a few shots on a guy you gain a psychological edge on him,” Bauck said. Joey McLaughlin led the Cougars with 22. Dave Fulks added 12, Bauck 11 and Brian Church 11. The Cougars led 30-27 at the half.
In the other semi, the Lethbridge Kodiaks dumped the SAIT Trojans 80-64. The Trojans led 36-35 at the half. Dave Preuss paced the Kodiaks with 24. Greg Hess added 22. Jim Meyers led the Trojans with 17. Bruce Restall added 16. Preuss dominated the boards and the paint, while Greg Hess, Wayne Anderson and Kendon Eakett also left their imprimaturs on the floor. Anderson scored 14, Eakett 11, Wendell Cahoon 5, Guy Pomahac 4 and Hess forced several turnovers with Lethbridge leading by a mere 45-44. “We weren’t hitting with our shots and we weren’t controlling the boards the way we should have,” Preuss said. “In the second half, we started to hit with more consistency and took the boards away from them. If you have the boards you have the game.” Hess said “at half time, coach (Ben) Brooks told us, first, to slow down our play and then told us to loosen up, that we were too tight, which we were. When we saw what our bench could do. we felt looser when we hit the floor in the second half and we were able to play the game we are capable of Our goal for the season has always been to go to the Canadian championships and we came out of that dressing room determined not to lose to a fourth-place team in the first round of the playoffs.” Coach Brooks said he tried hard during the half to instill in his charges that they must play fundamental basketball. “Fundamentals beat all systems.”
In the bronze medal match, the SAIT Trojans thrashed the NAIT Ooks 73-52 after leading 37-26 at the half. Kim Wolfe led the Trojans with 24, Ed Dick 16 and Jim Myers 14. Rick Gawlik led the Ooks with 18. The Ooks (coached by Jules Owchar, assistant Irwin Strifler, trainer Tank Roberts) also included Doug Carter, Barry Cunningham, Don ‘Scotty’ MacEachern, Ron Humting, Herb Haekel, Mark Malone, Marty Braden, Phil Hansen, Larry Silvester, Gord Pidde.
In the final, the Lethbridge Kodiaks dumped the Mount Royals Cougars 68-59 to capture their fourth consecutive title. The Kodiaks built an early 21-point lead but the Cougars rallied to within four with 2:44 to play. Dave Preuss paced the Kodiaks with 18 points and 17 boards. Kendon Eakett added 12, along with 6 boards, Glen Schuler 11, along with 6 boards, Curtis Travis 10, along with 6 boards, Wayne Anderson 8, along with 7 boards, and Greg Hess 7. Joe Shemanski led the Cougars with 16. Stew Bauck added 12 and Joe McLaughlin 10. “The Kodiaks had too much rebounding strength for us,” said Cougars coach Jack Kenyon. “I thought we might pull it out after our comeback. Our press was bothering them, but we started to move a little too late.” The Kodiaks led 51-30 when the Cougars began to rally off their full-court pressure and runouts, holding Lethbridge scoreless for four minutes. “We were having a problem staying spread out during the press,” Kodiak coach Ben Brooks said. “If you spread out in the back court it’s harder to cover the ball handler and it’s easier for him to spot the open man down court. I was pleased with the win, naturally, and I was pleased with the way we played the last four minutes, but I was not happy with the game during the middle 12 minutes of the final half.”
The bronze medalist SAIT Trojans: Kim Woolf; Ed Dick; Bruce Restall; Alec Dordas;
The silver medalist Mount Royal Cougars: Joe Shemanski; Stew Bauck; Dave Faulks; Joe McLaughlin; Kelly O’Brady; Darryl Turko; Doug Smith; Clark Dennill; Mike Urban; Bubba Church; Joe Anderson; coach Jack Kenyon; manager Ken Melvin
The gold medalist Lethbridge Kodiaks: Dave Preuss; Gregg Hess; Kendon Eackett; John Jasiukiewicz; Curtis Travis; Glen Schuler; Bruce Hamilton; Wayne Anderson; Robin Hansen; Bob Hansen; Wendell Cahoon; Dave Peterson; Guy Pomahac; Robert Wells; Allan Pard; Dave Preus; coach Ben Brooks; assistant Jack Linderman