(3) Malaspina 86            
(6) Sheridan 74 Malaspina 64        
(2) S.A.I.T. 72 S.A.I.T. 66 S.A.I.T. 70    
(7) Mt. St. Vincent 60            
              —–MONTMORENCY  
(4) Montmorency 89            
(5) Langara 74 Montmorency 56 Montmorency 81    
(1) Humber 81 Humber 54        
(8) John Abbott 68            

       

        In the quarterfinals, held at Montreal’s John Abbott College, the 2nd-seeded SAIT Trojans dumped the 7th-seeded Mount Saint Vincent Mystics 72-60 as guard Shay Yellow Horn scored 23 and forward P.J. Robertson 18, while grabbing 9 boards. The Mystics committed 27 turnovers and shot 23-69 (.350) from the floor and 1-19 from the arc. “I’m very disappointed,” said Mystics coach Rick Plato. “I thought this year we had a chance to bring home a medal. We were down early, 23-5, but cut it to four points in the second half. Every time we’d make a run, though, we’d make a couple of turnovers and it’d be back to 12. We did a great job on the boards. We outrebounded them by 20 even though they were bigger than us. But we missed a lot of easy layups. Someone counted 9 or 10 and we shot .610 from the foul line. We beat ourselves.” Craig Miller paced the Mystics with 16. All-Canadian guard Mark Clarke added 14 and point guard Malik Adams 10.

        The 3rd-seed Malaspina Mariners defeated the 6th-seeded Sheridan Bruins 86-74 as Donnie Fitzpatrick scored 19, Greg Bateson 16, player of the game Gary Edgar 15 and Billy Billman 13.

        The top-seeded Humber Hawks dumped the 8th-seeded John Abbott Islanders 81-68.

        The 4th-seeded Montmorency Nomades defeated the 5th-seeded Langara Falcons 89-74.

        In the bronze quarterfinals (consolation play, no bronze semis), the 5th-seeded Langara Falcons nipped the 8th-seeded John Abbott Islanders 84-82.

        In the other bronze quarterfinal, the 6th-seeded Sheridan Bruins clipped the 7th-seeded Mount St. Vincent Mystics 87-76. Mark Clarke led the Mystics with 29. David Wilson added 17 and Malik Adams 10.

        In the semis, the SAIT Trojans nipped the Malaspina Mariners of Nanaimo, B.C. 66-64 as Shay Yellow Horn scored 26 and Trevor John 12, while grabbing 14 boards. “I was worried,” said Trojans coach Phil Allen. “They overwhelmed me when I watched them play. It was like men versus boys. They’re absolutely huge. They’ve got 6-10, 6-9 and 6-6 starters, and 25 years of college experience, not including freshmen, compared to our nine.” The Trojans fell behind 15-3 early but battled back to within two points at the half. The Mariners regained an eight-point lead early in the second half but again, the Trojans rallied, winning it on a pair of free throws by Yellow Horn with 15 seconds to play. It marked the sixth time in 14 years that SAIT had made the final. It would also be the last final for Allen, who proposed to retire after the season. Allen credited his troops with perseverance. “They dug out, put on their hard hats and bore down.” Greg Bateson led the Mariners with 18. Derek Wiseman added 10 and Donnie Fitzpatrick 9. The Mariners led 29-27 at the half and hit 10-21 from the line. Fitpatrick notched a putback with 16 seconds to play to give Malaspina the lead. But an off-the-ball call against Greg Bateson negated the bucket and sent point guard Shay Yellowhorn (rather than the man who was fouled) to the line and he hit both free throws to win it for the Trojans. Mariners coach Mark Simpson told the Nanaimo Daily News that “I talked to the convenor of officials and he knew the refs had made a mistake. But there’s nothing we could do. We should have been up by two and all of a sudden, we’re behind.”

        In the other semi, the Montmorency Nomades stunned the top seeded Humber Hawks 56-54.

        In the bronze medal match, the Humber Hawks defeated the Malaspina Mariners 62-60. Gary Edgar paced the Mariners with 17. Donnie Fitzpatrick added 13 and Greg Bateson 10. Mariners coach Mark Simpson told the Nanaimo Daily News that “I don’t think either team played with any real fire. We just didn’t have it.” The Mariners (coached by Simpson) also included Derek Wiseman, Billy Billman.

        In the final, the Montmorency Nomades defeated the SAIT Trojans 81-70. Trojans coach Phil Allen had hoped to close out his coaching career with a third title but instead the Nomades earned their first title as 6-9 forward Alexandre Bougaieff scored 23. Allen disappointed but noted that “as far as I’m concerned, they’re all winners. They went out winners. Boy, they fought right down to the last second but it wasn’t meant to be. I’m so proud. We may have not got the gold medal – we got a different coloured medal – but these guys are still champions.” Shay Yellow Horn led SAIT with 18. P.J. Robertson added 11 before fouling out late in the first half. The Trojans led 45-41 at the half but struggled from the field and had difficulty protecting the defensive glass in the second half. “The ball just seemed to bounce the wrong way,” said centre Mark Knoppers. “In the second half, the rebounds would go off two of our guys hands and they’d run it down. It seemed nothing was going our way.” Captain Trevor John said it wasn’t for lack of effort. “We all tried our best. There’s no regrets. We played our hearts out. We can’t look back and say, ‘if I had done this’ or ‘what if’.”

        The all-tourney team featured: MVP David Brownrigg (Montmorency); Navi Sekhon (Langara); Gary Edgar (Malaspina); Shay Yellow Horn (SAIT); Mark Croft (Humber); and Alexandre Bougaieff (Montmorency).

        The bronze medalist Humber Hawks: Steve McGregor; Jason Daley; Everton Webb; Dennis Barham; Oneil Henry; Ken Prentice; Warrick Manners; Henry Garbrah; Mark Croft; Kevin Shand; Steve Nelson; Dwayne Newman; Patrick Lewis; coach Mike Katz; assistant Rick Dilena

The silver medalist SAIT Trojans: Shay Yellow Horn; Trevor John; P.J. Robertson; Mark Knoppers; Brandon Jopp; Clint Somerset; E. Ozcan; B. Koorbatoff; J. Corbell; S. Senft; Mr. Baraham; C. Leeper; D. Kostecki; Jeff Landels; coach Phil Allen; assistant Ted Harrison

        The gold medalist Montmorency Nomades: David Brownrigg; Alexandre Bougaieff; Marc-Leonce Volcy, Felix Desjardins; Paul Stephens; Bobby Miller; Anderson Pierre; Didier Boucard; coach Guy Pariseau