In the quarterfinals, held in Lethbridge, the 3rd-seeded Lethbridge Collegiate Institute Rams defeated the 6th-seeded Calgary Dr. E.P. Scarlett Lancers 100-79. The Rams led 10-0, 21-2 and by 66-28 at the half. Chris Bailey paced the Rams with 25. Spencer Holt added 22. “The guys came out motivated,” Rams coach Cliff Walters told the Lethbridge Herald. “But we lost our momentum in the second half. We’ve done that a few times this year. It’s tough to maintain that momentum when you get way up. … Chris lit it up again for us. He’s been shooting so well lately. Dale Nielsen also played well. He was the story inside.” The Lancers also included Sandor Kiss.
The Coaldale Kate Andrews Pride thumped the Calgary St. Francis Browns 88-78. “We expected to play a tough team and they certainly were tough,” said Gaels’ guard Darren Gugyelka, who scored 30. “Winning that first game is always the hardest… now we can settle down and concentrate on playing Ainlay.” The Gales led 71-70 with five minutes to play but got key buckets from Gugyelka and David Erickson to pull out the win at the free throw line. Erickson scored 23 and Dean McLaren 19. “We handled their pressure really well,” said Gugyelka. Tyler McVicar led the Browns with 21. Fabio Marcuccita added 14.
The top-seeded Edmonton Harry Ainlay Titans whipped the Red Deer Lindsay Thurber Raiders 136-44. The Raiders “gave it a good shot,” Ainlay coach Rob Poole told the Edmonton Journal. “But they played a very up-tempo game, which isn’t going to lend itself to our game.” Kevin Moser led the Titans with 40. Mark Humphrey added 23. Scott Morgan and Kelly Liles each scored 13 to pace the Raiders. The Raiders (coached by Dwayne Lalor) also included Stevemeulen, Kevin DeJonge, Dave Bundock, Phil Block, Marc Vogel, Jason Lazenby, Craig Behan, Jamie Duncan, Josh Smith and Scott Bostock. Lalor told the Red Deer Advocate that “we got behind early and never came out of it. Our effort lacked a bit and when the game got out of hand, there was no way we were going to pull it back.”
In the last quarterfinal, the 2nd-seeded Edmonton Ross Sheppard Thunderbirds stomped Grande Prairie Composite Tomahawks 106-45 as Orin Litman scored 36 and Owen Bryan 23. Curt Levasseur led the Tomahawks with 10. The Tomahawks (coached by Don Student) also included Kevin VanBerg.
In the semis, the 2nd-seeded Edmonton Ross Shepherd Thunderbirds clubbed the 3rd-seeded Lethbridge Collegiate Institute Rams 90-83 as Owen Bryan scored 35, despite playing with a sore back, while nabbing 18 boards. “He said he wanted to give it a shot and he did a heck of a job,” Thunderbirds coach Bob Fowlis told the Edmonton Journal. “He was in bad shape. I really didn’t think he’d be able to play, but I’m sure glad he did. We worked with him all afternoon and evening trying to get him ready. Owen played a hell of a game. He showed a lot of guts.” The Thunderbirds led 45-44 at the half of a seesaw affair. The Rams built a 64-57 lead at the half but Ross Sheppard answered with a 13-2 run to take command. “We couldn’t rebound,” said Rams’ co-coach Glen Alexander. “To me that was the difference. They got shot after shot. Even when they missed free throws they went and got the ball.” Orin Litman dictated the tempo for the Thunderbirds while scoring 26. Dale Williams added 14. Chris Bailey led the Rams with 26. Ryan Seeman added 25. Rams star Spencer Holt played just 10 minutes after pulling a muscle in his hip. “We went with Spencer off the top, but he reinjured the hip in the first half,” said Alexander. “We tried him in the second but he just couldn’t go.”
In the other semi, the top-seeded Edmonton Harry Ainlay Titans defeated the Coaldale Kate Andrews Gaels 85-74. The Titans had a 10-point lead with two minutes to play. “From there on, underneath two, I just felt she was in the bag,” said point guard Tally Sweiss. Coaldale trailed the entire 32 minutes. Kevin Moser paced the Titans with 30. Mark Humphrey added 15 and Max Hansen 14. Kate Andrews rallied to within 77-67 on a trey by Aaron Chmielewski but missed a bunny that would have trimmed the margin to eight. Gaels coach Terry Hanna said “we gave Ainlay a run and the kids played hard.” David Erickson paced the Gaels with 24. Dean McLaren added 18 and Aaron Chmielewski 17. The Gaels (coached by Terry Hanna) also included Darren Gugyelka, Jason Needham, Keith Soderstrom, Ryan Gibb, Chris Tanaka, Jason Sera, Trevor Selk, Jeff Bennett and Troy Speelman.
In the bronze medal match, the Lethbridge Collegiate Institute Rams dumped the Coaldale Kate Andrews Gaels 112-97 ad Ryan Seeman scored 24 and Scott Lehbauer 20. Dean McLaren led the Gaels with 31. Darren Gugyelka added 29. The Gaels (coached by Terry Hanna) also included Kevin Soderstrom, Ryan Gibb, Aaron Chmielewski, Troy Speetran, Chris Tanaka, Jason Needham, Jason Sera, Jeff Bennett and Trevor Solc.
In the final, the Edmonton Harry Ainlay Titans captured their second straight provincial title Saturday by defeating the Edmonton Ross Sheppard Thunderbirds 69-50. The keys to Ainlay’s victory at the 4A provincial high school basketball championship in Lethbridge were discipline, team work, and Kevin Moser. Moser, who scored his 1,001th point of the season early in the second half, lead Ainlay’s shooters with 31 points. Winning two titles was a major accomplishment for the Titans, who’ve faced a number of challengers along the way, Moser told the Edmonton Journal “I think it means a great deal more. This was much harder. The bench wasn’t as strong and we knew it would be an uphill battle all the way.” The T-Birds, playing in their fourth provincial final in five years, not only had to deal with Moser but Sweiss, who called the shots at the point. Add the shooting prowess of Max Hansen, who contributed 13 points, as well as a tough defence, and it soon turned into a 40-minute nightmare for Shep. It was like a Honda chasing a Porsche. “It clearly showed what a group of 12 kids can do when their put their minds to it,” Ainlay coach Rob Poole told the Journal, adding that Moser is “always up for the big games. He’s a talented individual who handles pressure well and is confident on the floor. He’ll go down as one the greatest forwards we’ve ever had at Ainlay.” Moser said motivation isn’t a problem in a big game –and it doesn’t hurt when your teammates are prepared. “It was like a well-oiled machine out there,” said Moser. “Everything coach told us to do worked. We just executed it to a T.” Titans point guard Tally Sweiss was outstanding, repeatedly picked Thunderbird point guard Orin Litman. Ainlay led 40-26 at the half and by as many as 20. Owen Bryan paced the Thunderbirds with 22. Titans coach Rob Poole said “we took a high-powered offensive team out of its game. This school has a tradition of great defence and I’m very proud of the way they came through tonight. … It was much more rewarding this year because the province was so. tough. The top 20 teams in the province were more competitive. There were six teams in the south that could have been here. We played a very tough Coaldale team in the semifinals that made us work very hard.” Thunderbirds coach Bob Fowlis said “we knew we were in trouble, down 14. You have to be pretty lucky to come back against a team like Ainlay.”
The bronze medalist Lethbridge Collegiate Institute Rams: Chris Bailey; Spencer Holt; Ryan Seeman; Scott Lehbauer; Jamie McKay; Jason Klovansky; Curtis Leishman; Brad Appleton; Dale Nielsen; Sean Olsen; Neil Wood; coach Cliff Walters; assistant Glen Alexander
The silver medalist Ross Sheppard Thunderbirds: Orin Litman; Owen Bryan; Dale Williams; coach Bob Fowlis
The gold medalist Edmonton Harry Ainlay Titans: Kevin Moser; Tally Sweiss; Mark Humphrey; Kevin Birkholz; Daryl Hansen; Darren Mulcahy; Max Hansen; Carl Hansen; coach Rob Poole