1978-79 CCAA men

			Maisonneuve	64
	Fanshawe	62	Langara	68	Langara	63
	Langara	67
							—–MOUNT ROYAL
			Mount Royal	58	Mount Royal	66
	John Abbott	77	John Abbott	51
	Cape Breton	71

In the Four-west playoffs, Lethbridge receives a wild card.

In the quarterfinals, the Lethbridge Kodiaks defeated the Red River Rebels 72-58 after leading 44-29 at the half while capitalizing on a 14-0 first-quarter run. The Kodiaks led by 19 but the Rebels shifted to a full-court press and rallied within six before Lethbridge closed it out with a 12-4 run. Leonard Boras paced the Kodiaks with 14. Jon Webster added 12, Kevin Reiter 10 and Paul Leclaire 10. “We started out real slow,” said Kodiak coach Tim Tollestrup. “But then we caught on fire and pulled to a 20-point lead. Then Red River threw a 1-3-1 half-court press at us and we couldn’t buy a basket for the next little while, and our lead dropped to six. So, it was nip and luck toward the end.”

In the other quarterfinal, the Mount Royal Cougars whipped the B.C.I.T. Cougars 79-47 as Tim Herr scored 17, Rob Kendel 16, Don Janzen 15 and Ludlow Rodney 14. The Calgary Cougars dominated the boards, while scoring often in transition. John DeGoode led B.C.I.T. with 18. Dave Hubbard added 12.

In the semis, the Langara Falcons (then Vancouver CC), defeated the Lethbridge Kodiaks 84-72. The Falcons led 43-30 at the half and by as many as 22. They outrebounded Lethbridge 37-22. Kevin O’Leary paced the Falcons with 23. Steve Glover added 17, Kevin Dancs 16 and Terry Lancaster 12. Jon Webster paced the Kodiaks with 17. Paul LeClaire added 16, Mike Smith 14 and Barry Mehew 12. “We got off to a slow start and got behind by 22 points,” Kodiaks coach Tim Tollestrup told the Lethbridge Herald. “We just couldn’t seem to handle them with our man-to-man defence so we went into a zone, which threw them off a little bit. Then we went into a 1-3-1 trap which held them and we got their lead down to about eight with about four minutes to go. We were outrebounded 37-22, and that was the difference right there. They were getting three and four chances sometimes on the offensive boards. The kids played really well and hard, and I was quite proud of their efforts even though we lost.”

In the other semi, the Mount Royal Cougars defeated the Briercrest Bible Institute Clippers 61-45.

In the bronze medal match, the Briercrest Bible Clippers edged the Lethbridge Kodiaks 81-77 after leading 44-31 at the half. The Kodiaks drew within 68-64 but could never close the game to less than 4. Kodiaks Paul Leclaire, Mike Smith and Jon Webster all fouled out. Barry Mehew paced the Kodiaks with 15. Mike Smith added 13, Leonard Boras 13, Kevin Reiter 12 and Paul LeClaire 12. “They had some tall timber and we had a hard time shutting it down,” said Kodiaks coach Tim Tollestrup. The Kodiaks (coached by Tollestrup and trained by Dave Kato) also included Vince Bouvier, Jon Webster, Rod Schmidt, Bruce Olson.

In the Four-West final, the Mount Royal Cougars defeated the Langara Falcons 72-69 in double overtime. The Cougars trailed 37-27 at the half and by 11 with 4:15 to play as they struggled to contained Steve Glover, who scored 25, and Kim O’Leary, who scored 17. But coach Jack Kenyon shifted them into a 2-2-1 full-court press and they roared back. “That was the turning point,” Falcons coach Dun McCallum told the Calgary Herald. “We didn’t handle their press. Why? I have no way of knowing. But we’re young, nine freshman. We had plenty of chances to win but we didn’t take advantage. They did a number on us when it counted. I thought we’d blow them out when we had them by 18.” Mount Royal took their lead at 71-9 with a minute to play in overtime. The Cougars were playing with starters Tim Herr and Dave McMillan at less than 100% because they’d been food poisoned a night earlier. Kenyon said “both spent the night being fed intravenously and were really too weak to play, although they both tried. We missed Tim’s muscle inside and it was rough. It was like the ‘Tunnel of Love’, everyone was clutching and grabbing. The score was knotted at 62 after regulation and at 64 after the first overtime. Don Janzen, who scored 24 for the Cougars, said “I knew it was going to be a helluva game but we never gave up. That was the key.”

In the national quarterfinals, held at the Centre Claude Robillard in Montreal by the host F.A.S.C.Q., the wild card Langara (then Vancouver CC) Falcons knocked off the Ontario champ Fanshawe Falcons 67-62 as they outhustled the turnover-plagued Falcons. Langara led 36-23 at the half. Langara’s Kim O’Leary dominated the first half scoring all 18 of his points. Backcourt partner Kevin Dancs scored 19, including 15 in the second half. Ron Bailey led Fanshawe with 10. Terry Fitilopoulos added 13 and Bob Horvath 7.

        In the other quarterfinal, Glen Lipomanis scored 30 as the host John Abbott Islanders defeated the Nova Scotia CC champ Cape Breton Capers 77-71. Guard Bill Burns led the Capers with 28. Lipomanis scored 24 in the first half, including three buckets near the end of the half to give the Islanders a 42-36 lead at the break. But Burns, a former Dalhousie player, kept the Capers in the game. Don Donovan added 16 for Cape Breton. Sean McClellan scored 13. Jim Davidson tossed in 20 for John Abbott, including 16 in the second half. Adam Lesinski added 13 and Mike Waycassey 10. Islanders coach Mike Dawson told the Montreal Gazette that “the game was more an emotion drain to get rid of the nervousness than anything else. On the whole, we made things difficult for ourselves and apart from our shooting … we just didn’t play well.” Glen Lipomanis said “it wasn’t a take charge type of role but a case of staying with the guy with the hot hand.”

        In the semis, the Four-West champ Mount Royal Cougars defeated the host John Abbott Islanders 58-51 in a tight defensive struggle. The Cougars, appearing in their first ever tournament looked nervous. Both teams shot poorly, with John Abbott hitting .460 from the floor while taking a mere 46 shots. Mount Royal shot 25-66. Defence played a major role in the contest. “We just didn’t understand what they were doing on defence,” said John Abbott assistant coach Bob Harmidy. “I’ve never seen a team play defence that well; they had us off balance all night.” The Cougars played a switching man to man. Guards Ludlow Rodney and Jamie Armstead complete rattled Island guard Glenn Lipomanis and Adam Lesinski. Mount Royal led 29-20 at the half. Trailing by one with four minutes to play, the Cougars got hit and ran off eight unanswered points to move ahead for good 52-45. John Abbott played a zone. “We tried to get inside the zone, but we had problems penetrating it. We needed one of our big men to start hitting from outside to open up the zone. It just wasn’t there tonight,” said Cougars coach Jack Kenyon. Rob Kendell, a former member of the University of Winnipeg Wesmen, scored 15 for Mount Royal. Don Janzen, a transfer from Simon Fraser, added 12 and 9 rebounds. Mike Wacassey scored 16 for John Abbott. Lipomanis scored 13.

        In other semi, the Langara Falcons defeated the Maisonneuve Vikings 68-64. The Falcons took Maisonneuve star 6-6 centre Stephan Clark out of the game, using tough man-to-man defence and hold him to 2 points. They also held all-star Luc Adam to 4. “We were too emotional in the game. We’ve never played in front of a bid crowd in an atmosphere like this,” a disappointed Maisonneuve coach Jean-Guy Morin said. “Against their man to man, we should have gone outside more.” Kim O’Leary led Langara with 24 points, including several key buckets down the stretch to quell a Vikings attempt at a rally. The Falcons led by 15 midway through the half but appeared to let up slightly. But they iced it with a 6-0 run. Terry Lancaster scored 14 for Langara. Kevin Dancs added 12, Doug Pirozek 6 and 16 rebounds. Francois Dion led the Vikings with 22. Claude Leval and Jacques Durocher each added 10.

        In the bronze medal match, the Maisonneuve Vikings edged the John Abbott Islanders 69-68 as Francois Dion hit a seven-foot jumper with four seconds to play. Dion “settles us down,” said Maisonneuve coach Jean Guy Morin. “If we need a player to take an important shot with time running out, the ball always goes to Francois.” Jacques Durocher paced the Vikings with 26. Glen Lipomanis paced the Islanders with 18.

        In the final, a rematch of the 4-West title game, the Mount Royal Cougars defeated the Langara Falcons 66-63. It was the culmination of a dream for coach Jack Kenyon. “We won the national junior title 10 years ago. But I’ve been working towards this for the past five years.” The Falcons took early lead and built up 39-28 lead on the basis on Kim O’Leary’s open jumpers. Tim Herr had a bad first half but hit for 18 in the second half. The North Dakota native was selected tourney MVP with Vancouverites crawling on his back. “We just couldn’t handle Tim. He man-handled our kids inside; their inexperience proved to be our downfall,” coach Duncan McCallum told Canadian Press. “I felt that this year we had it for sure. It should have been ours today.” O’Leary picked up his fourth foul with 16 minutes to play and that deflated the Falcons. Mount Royal put on the full court press and turned the game around, with Ludlow Rodney repeatedly stealing the ball and electrifying the crowd. “I don’t know about the rest of the guys but I played for the coach. Coach Kenyon is a great coach. After 16 years of coaching, he deserves this title.” said Ludlow. The Toronto native added “I love defence. I don’t care if I score only two points in a game, as long as I play well defensively.” Tim Herr scored 24 in total, Dan Janzen 17 and Ludlow Rodney 14. Steve Glover led the Falcons with 17. Kim O’Leary added 16.

        The all-tourney team featured: MVP Tim Herr (Mount Royal); Adam Lewinski (John Abbott); Ludlow Rodney (Mount Royal); Don Janzen (Mount Royal); Francois Dion (Maisonneuve); and Kim O’Leary (Langara)

        The bronze medalist Maisonneuve Vikings: Francois Dion; Jacques Durocher; coach Jean Guy Morin

        The silver medalist Langara Falcons: Kim O’Leary; Kevin Dancs; Terry Lancaster; Doug Pirozek; Steve Glover; coach Duncan McCallum

        The gold medalist Mount Royal Cougars: Tim Herr; Ludlow Rodney; Jamie Armstead; Rob Kendell; Don Janzen; Dave Kokoschke; Jeff Gull; Norm Marty; Roger Belisle; Barry Hunt; Brent Zimmer; Dave McMillan; Don Gellatly; Brent Krusel; Darrel Hawryluk; Mike Smith; coach Jack Kenyon