In the quarterfinals, the 3rd-seeded Magrath Zeniths defeated the 6th-seeded Red Deer Lindsay Thurber Raiders 116-100 as Bartley Harris scored 33, Danny Balderson 27 and 6-6 centre Christiano Ruy 20. Ruy was a Brazilian from Sao Paulo who ventured to Canada in hopes of developing a professional basketball career. He played Brazilian club ball and toiled for the Brazilian junior national team. Couldn’t go anywhere in the States because he didn’t have the money so he ended up enrolling at Magrath, who no tuition fees and family to take him in. “He’s our big aircraft carrier, a big, strong player,” Zeniths coach Phil Tollestrup told the Edmonton Journal. “When you have one of them, they cover up a lot of mistakes the other kids make.” Bartley Harris paced the Zeniths with 35. Ruy “gets boards for us all the time. The height is definite advantage,” said Harris. Ruy said: “When I was in Brazil, I always wanted to play up in the States. I have a friend in Lethbridge and he said you come here and play well, some coach can see you and you have more chances. That’s why I came,” he said. “Always you heard the best guys in basketball are the American guys, the American guys. The NBA, money. And my dream is to play basketball for a living. It’s kind of cold here but I like it. I have lots of friends. Everybody comes to the games, everybody gives you fives.” Dave Bundock paced the Raiders with 24. Kevin de Jonge added 20, Kelly Liles 17, Craig Behan 12 and Scott Morgan 9. The Raiders (coached by Dwayne Lalor) also included Jamie Duncan, S Midford, T Boykin, Steve Vander Meulen, Aaron Caywood. Lalor told the Red Deer Advocate that “we knew we had to make some adjustments to stop their break, which we didn’t do quick enough. … Losing by 16 to the southern champion isn’t that bad. We knew coming in, we’d be in tough. They’re a big, talented team.” Tollestrup said “that was an incredibly fast game. Red Deer is no question the fastest team I’ve ever played against. We knew we weren’t going to be able to stop them, we just had to outscore them.”
The top-seeded Edmonton Harry Ainlay Titans defeated the 8th-seeded Calgary Crescent Heights Cowboys 89-33. The Cowboys (coached by David Ginter) included Sean Strandberg, Shane Friesen, T.C. Franklin, Barry Stauffer, Ryan Carruthers.
The 4th-seeded Raymond Comets defeated the 5th-seeded Calgary Lord Beaverbrook Lords 94-88 as Alan Gibb scored 26, Trevor Williams 25 and Ryan Baldry 25. The Comets led 51-45 at the half. Jason Davis paced the Lords with 22. The Lords (coached by Bill Bobenic) included Shane Allred, Ro Woody, Lee Ruggeri, T.C. Franklin, Bill Bryce.
In the last quarterfinal, the 2nd-seeded Edmonton Ross Sheppard Thunderbirds pounded the 7th-seeded Fort MacMurray Father Mercredi Trappers 119-52 after leading 60-25 at the half. Owen Bryan paced the Thunderbirds with 36. Mike Smith added 26. Duncan Moysey led the Trappers with 15. The Trappers also included Shayne Midford, Brent Hobbs.
In the semis, the 4th-seeded Raymond Comets ended the top-seeded Edmonton Harry Ainlay’s hopes of winning a third consecutive title by nipping the Titans 62-60. Titans captain Max Hansen told the Edmonton Journal that “a lot of the guys are really hurting” because of injury, which made it difficult to duplicate a win over Raymond weeks earlier at a tournament in Regina. The Titans fell behind by 11 and were never able to recover. “We knew we were down but our team always finds a way to fight back,” said Kevin Birkholz. “I guess we didn’t make as many shots as we should have. We couldn’t get the ball inside and the perimeter players thought they had to shoot and when they started missing, I guess we fell apart.” Hanson said “we didn’t really feel like we were in trouble. We were down but we got a lot of bad breaks at the start, a really tight whistle. … We lost the game. We didn’t shoot well so we have no one to blame but ourselves. If we would have played to our potential, we would have won.” Carl Hansen led Ainlay with 19. “It had to end sometime,” said Titans coach Rob Poole. “But we had to play a very good strong game to win. Offensively, we didn’t score as much in the perimeter as we had too. Defensively, we fought hard and got back in the game but our inability to score really hurt us today.” Alan Gibb led Raymond with 38. Ryan Baldry added 9. Gibb said “this means a great deal coming from a small town. You grow up with nothing but basketball. Your main goal is to play for the Comets.”
In the other semi, the 3rd-seeded Magrath Zeniths whipped the 2nd-seeded Edmonton Ross Sheppard Thunderbirds 94-79. Magrath built an early 10-point lead and were never threatened. Danny Balderson paced the Zeniths with 37. Christian Ruy added 28. Owen Bryan led Ross Sheppard with 30. “We played hard,” said Thunderbirds coach Bob Fowlis told the Edmonton Journal. “But you can’t let a team like Magrath get a 10-point lead. You’re always chasing them, so every mistake you make digs the hole a little deeper.”
In the bronze medal match, the top-seeded Edmonton Harry Ainlay Titans defeated the 2nd-seeded Edmonton Ross Sheppard Thunderbirds 85-83. The Thunderbirds included Owen Bryan, Mike Smith, Mike Lubin.
In the final, the 3rd-seeded Magrath Zeniths defeated the 4th-seeded Raymond Comets 83-67. With a school population of 200, Magrath was just marginally smaller than Raymond, with a student population of 250. Located just 16 kilometers apart, the two schools were altogether familiar with one another. Magrath coach Allen Tollestrup was even a graduate of Raymond, so intertwined was the history between the two. But it was Magrath’s turn to capture a title, its second. Tollestrup told the Edmonton Journal “it’s going to be a long ride home for them. But they’ll be back. … This means a lot, being such a small community. It doesn’t happen very often.” The Zeniths were led by Danny Balderson, who scored 26 went on the star at the University of Lethbridge. Brazilian Christian Ruy and Aaron Kinder each added 20. Alan Gibb led the Comets with 22. Trevor Williams added 18. “We’re really excited,” said Tollestrup. “The kids have played super the last four to five weeks and tonight they played their hearts out. When you can hold a team like Raymond to 67 points, it’s a sign of real good team defence.” Tollestrup said they didn’t try to shut down Gibb, who was Raymond’s leading scorer all season, but just tried to contain him. “That’s all you can do. He’s an excellent player. Raymond has nothing to be ashamed of. They’re a great team.” Tollestrup added the victory capped off an outstanding tournament. “There was so many people up here from both towns, it was just great.”
The bronze medalist Edmonton Harry Ainlay Titans: Kevin Birkholz; Max Hansen; Carl Hansen; Brent Prowse; Stephen Curran; Kevin Birkholz; coach Rob Poole
The silver medalist Raymond Comets: Alan Gibb; Ryan Baldry; Trevor Williams; Brodie Hill; Quinn Lybbert; Scott Anderson; Jeff Heggie; Aaron Bridge; Matt Heggie; Brandon Workman; Skouson Harker; coach Roger Baldry
The gold medalist Magrath Zeniths: Danny Balderson; Christiano Ruy; Bartley Harris; Cassio Maffia; Kevin Cook; Russell Tanner; Darren Ogden; Paul Hunt; Justin Wood; John Kendrick; Aaron Kinder; coach Phil Tollestrup