In the opening round, held in Stirling: …………………………………………………… The 11th-seeded Crooked Creek Ridgevalley Raiders defeated the 6th-seeded Milk River Erle Rivers Novas 76-72 as Craig Gerwatoski scored 26 and Lane Gerwatoski 21. Jason Welsh led Milk River with 18. Brad Cook added 13. The Novas led 35-29 at the half The Novas also included Brandon Earl, Clay Rucker, Justin Hann, James Hann. …………………………………………………… The 7th-seeded Olds Koinonia Christian Royals dumped the 10th-seeded Warburg Panthers 72-39 as Logan Johnston and Cody Cooper each scored 20. Adam Mosicki led Warburg with 17. Darren Tomaszewski added 7. …………………………………………………… The 5th-seeded Fort Assiniboine Bears thrashed the 12th-seeded Vermillion J. R. Robson Marauders 108-67 as Kevin Gilroy scored 20 and Pat Carnegie 14. Matthew Willis and Michael Schmidt each scored 24 for Vermillion. …………………………………………………… The 9th-seeded Hay Lakes Tigers beat the 8th-seeded Trochu Valley Blue Jays 84-73 as Ryan Harke tossed in 26 and Josh Vion 16. Colin Kubinec led Trochu with 18. Lance Gaboury added 17.
In the quarterfinals, the 3rd-seeded Foremost Falcons defeated the 11th-seeded Crooked Creek Ridgevalley Raiders 78-60 as Josh Kultgen scored 32 and Brett Thompson 11. Craig Gerwatoski led Crooked Creek with 14. Jesse Burns added 13. The Falcons led 38-30 at the half.
The 2nd-seeded Vilna Mustangs thumped the 7th-seeded Olds Koinonia Christian Royals 66-41 as Jason Hraec scored 32 and Jonas Gunther 16. Cody Cooper led Olds with 18. Jordan Parker added 6.
The 4th-seeded New Norway Spartans defeated the 5th-seeded Fort Assiniboine Bears 71-59 as Josh Gialet scored 35 and Jeff Friesen 20. Pat Carnegie scored 19 and Craig Schulte 11 for Fort Assiniboine.
In the last quarterfinal, the top-seeded Stirling Lakers waxed the 9th-seeded Hay Lakes Tigers 95-49 as Courtney Clawson scored 24 and Shawn Nelson 22. Ryan Harke led Hay Lakes with 18. Daryl Hartmann added 11. The Lakers opened with a 33-3 run and romped.
In the semis, the 3rd-seeded Foremost Falcons defeated the 2nd-seeded Vilna Mustangs (formerly the Vipers and formerly the Hazard) 58-51 as Josh Kultgen scored 25, Chris Slack 10 and Lyle Laqua 8. Jason Hraec led Vilna with 17. Jonas Gunther added 11. The Falcons broke to a 7-2 lead and never trailed. They led 30-26 at the half. Mustang forward Greg Flondra shadowed Kultgen constantly, to little avail. Kultgen is “expected to lead us night-in and night-out,” Falcons coach Ray Rumpel said. “He’s also our best creator. If his shot isn’t there, he usually finds the open man.” Vilna coach Syd Kuryliw stopped play in the second half and demanded that a fan be ejected for using a noisemaker. Rumpel said “we battled with them all the way, it was a good team win. Our defensive pressure was the key to this team winning, all the way from zones all the way up to here.” He added that Adam Haraga and Brent Thompson delivered stellar defensive efforts.
In the other semi, the top-seeded Stirling Lakers throttled the 4th-seeded New Norway Spartans 91-46 as Shawn Nelson scored 27, including 19 in the second half, Courtney Clawson 24 and Scott Erickson 17. Jeff Friesen led New Norway with 26. Richard Machan and Matthew Graff each added 6.
In the bronze medal match, the 2nd-seeded Vilna Mustangs dumped the 4th-seeded New Norway Spartans 66-55 as Jason Hrabec scored 37. Jeff Friesen led the Spartans with 24.
In the final, the top-seeded Stirling Lakers crushed the 3rd-seeded Foremost Falcons 89-52 as Shawn Nelson scored 31, Scott Erickson 17 and Courtney Clawson 15. Brett Thompson paced Foremost with 14. Josh Kultgen added 12 on 1-15 from the floor after being hounded by Nelson all night. Colin Haugan notched 11. Nelson set the tone early with a baseline jumper. Courtney Clawson added a trey and Nelson an elbow jumper from the key as the Lakers took a 12-0 lead on a Wes Walk putback. The Lakers led 47-27 at the half. “Shawn is our best defender,” said Lakers forward Scott Erickson. “We wanted to shut (Kultgen) down. He got frustrated and started forcing his shot a little. We wanted to force him to his right as much as we could. He always wants to go left and get that shot off. And if he gets going that way, there’s not much you can do to stop him.” Nelson said Kultgen is “such a good player. I knew we couldn’t keep him scoreless. I don’t think he had the best of games today.” Erickson said Nelson “was just awesome. He played well defensively and got some big rebounds and then he got that little floater going. He played one of his best games tonight.” Nelson said “this was probably my best game if you count my defense. We haven’t lost on home court in three years. We weren’t going to lose tonight.”
The bronze medalist Vilna Mustangs: Jason Hrabec; Jonas Gunther; Chad Kully; Greg Flondra;
The silver medalist Foremost Falcons: Brett Thompson; Josh Kultgen; Lyle Laqua; Colin Haugen; Chris Slack; Adam Haraga; Curtis Sturtevant; Cam Hazell; Michael Rasmussen; coach Ray Rumpel
The gold medalist Stirling Lakers: Courtney Clawson; Shawn Nelson; Chris Hotton; Rocky Big Smoke; Wes Walk; Kris Clark; Jorden Clark; Scott Erickson; Darcy Steele; Cam Toth; Cory Edwards; Josh Day Chief; Ray Walk; Coach Darren Mazutinec; assistant Jeff Nelson, assistant Shane Still, managers Heidi Hillyer, Mickenzie Czech and Ceejay Byam.