In the quarterfinals, held in Coalhurst, (enrolments under 99), the Lundbreck Livingstone Sabres dumped the Vegreville St. Mary’s Saints 92-76. The Sabres led by 15 early but the Saints rallied to within 42-34 at the half and then took a 54-52 lead early in the second half as Sabres point guard Nolan Pharis got in foul trouble. But Chris Cook hit three consecutive buckets to re-ignite the Sabres offence and they romped to an easy win. “Basically, it was their press, but we didn’t have the right guys in at the time to handle their press because we were in foul trouble,” said Lundbreck coach Arlin Olsen. “But we just settled down and figured out what to do against their full-court pressure and got a lot of easy baskets underneath. … When (Pharis) went out, they really put the pressure on.” Cook paced the Sabres with 31. Jim Crayford added 22, Shane Westrop 16 and Pharis 14. Steve Cheremshynski led the Saints with 18. David Sali added 17 and Scott Wilde 14. The Saints also included Shane Henderson,
The Coalhurst Trojans clipped the Calgary Christian Cougars 71-57 as Craig Loxton scored 27, Bob Tinsley 15 and Dean Trotter 14. The Trojans led 34-20 at the half. Andrew Drost and Marvin Grasmeyer each scored 16 to lead the Cougars.
The Banff Bears dumped the Boyle Huskies 94-48 as James Harbarenko scored 31. Troy Sachko led the Huskies with 16. The Huskies also included Dan Wilson,
In the last quarterfinal, the Fairview St. Thomas More Kodiaks dispatched the Forestburg Falcons 86-58 as Guy Rook and Donald Zinselmeyer each scored 19. Sheldon Blumhagen led the Falcons with 15. The Falcons also included Dave Husereau, Trevor Williams.
In the semis, the Lundbreck Livingstone Sabres dumped the Banff Bears 90-52 as Nolan Pharis scored 25 and Chris Cook 19. Warren Simms led the Bears with 25.
In the other semi, the Fairview St. Thomas More Kodiaks edged the Coalhurst Trojans 76-75 after rallying from a 20-point deficit. Guy Rook paced the Kodiaks with 31. Dean Trotter led the Trojans with 33. Chris Hawkins added 20.
In the bronze medal match, the Coalhurst Trojans dumped the Banff Bears 79-58 as Craig Loxton scored 28 and Dean Trotter 23. Warren Simms led the Bears with 33.
In the final, the Lundbreck Livingstone Sabres thrashed the Fairview St. Thomas More Kodiaks 84-51. “We took it in stages,” said Lundbreck coach Arlin Olsen. “We set different goals throughout the game. First, we weren’t going to give up the ball on their press, and we wanted to get 10 points off our press. Then we wanted to hold them under 30 for the half.” The Sabres led 37-23 at the half. “That’s what we do in most of our games, work in stages,” said Olsen, adding that even when the Sabres go into the second half with a big lead, “we start out 0-0 to make it a challenge. Otherwise you start sitting back. We want to win both halves.” Jim Crayford paced the Sabres with 30. Nolan Pharis added 14. Guy Rook led the Kodiaks with 26. Peter Przybylski added 13. “I knew Crayford was going to come through,” said Olsen. “He was just on the verge of coming through with a big game. I knew he was due. Nolan really controlled the whole tempo, but they key on him so much. Crayford and Cook really picked up the slack, and so did (Shane) Westrop.” Olsen added that guard James Connellan “did a really good job hounding them. He and Pharis really complement
each other. Connellan’s got to be one of the best ball-hawkers around.”
The bronze medalist Coalhurst Trojans: Craig Loxton, Dean Trotter, Chris Hawkins, coach DeWayne Duce
The silver medalist Fairview St. Thomas More Kodiaks: Guy Rook; Donald Zinselmeyer; Peter Przybylski;
The gold medalist Lundbreck Livingstone Sabres: Nolan Pharis; Jim Crayford; Chris Cook; Shane Westrop; James Connellan; coach Arlin Olson