In the opening round, held in Stirling: …………………………………………………… The 5th-seeded Lundbreck Livingstone Sabres edged the 12th-seeded Calgary Clear Water Academy Crusaders 93-89 as Corey Phipps scored 19 and Tyler Ford 17. Dominic Toselli led the Crusaders with 29. Yaroslav Harhoek added 19. …………………………………………………… The 9th-seeded Old Koinonia Christian Royals nipped the 8th-seeded Vermillion St. Jerome Catholic Spartans 78-77 as Josh Kary scored 29 and Phil Ziegler 28. Brett Galloway led the Spartans with 24. Travis Kylm added 22. …………………………………………………… The Edmonton Parkland Immanuel Christian Penguins dumped the Fairview St. Thomas More Kodiaks 79-59 as Craig Ferguson scored 27 and Justin Versteeg 16. Lance Macdaid paced the Kodiaks with 24. Justin Mullink added 15. …………………………………………………… The 11th-seeded Rosemary Rockets upset the 6th-seeded Glendon Nobles 75-69 as Travis Baerg scored 25 and Philip Retzlaff 23. Derek Campbell paced the Nobles with 24. Logan Davis added 14. The Nobles played without captain Greg Pratch. “He got sick with the flu on the weekend,” coach Daryn Galatiuk said. “And that was the biggest problem. We didn’t just lose our captain, we lost one of our best players and that hurt us. We also got into foul trouble in a few games too and that hurt us also.”
In the quarterfinals, the Lundbreck Livingstone Sabres upset the Forestburg Falcons 78-69 as Michael Phipps scored 24 and Tyler Ford 16. Gordon Smith led the Falcons with 18. Kyle Baltimore added 13 and Brandon Wetmore 13.
The top-seeded Stirling Lakers stomped the 9th-seeded Old Koinonia Christian Royals 96-59 as Brady Adamson scored 16, Lloyd Strickland 15, Jon Romeril 15, Mason Edwards 14, Michael Krokosh 13, Adrian Edwards 10 and Bradee Perrett 10. Chris Schultz paced the Royals with 30. Josh Kary added 10 and Phil Ziegler 7. The Royals brock to an 8-2 lead but the Lakers turned on the jets and built a 55-24 lead at the half. “We were a little slow at the start, but then we calmed down and got it together,” coach Darryl Salmon told the Lethbridge Herald.
The Hay Lakes Tigers clipped the Edmonton Parkland Immanuel Christian Penguins 76-64 as Joel Peter scored 24 and Ben Heiberg 21. Craig Ferguson paced the Penguins with 18. Walter Vanderveen added 14.
In the last quarterfinal, the 2nd-seeded Foremost Falcons dumped the Rosemary Rockets 75-64 as Nick Thompson scored 15 and Skylar Van Gaalen 12. Philip Retzlaff paced the Rockets with 22. Travis Baerg added 21.
In the semis, the Stirling Lakers crushed the Lundbreck Livingstone Sabres 89-76 as Lloyd Strickland scored 42 and Jon Romeril 11. Corey Phipps paced the Sabres with 27. Michael Phipps added 14 and Scott Ogloff 12. The Sabres led 43-30 at the half.
In the other semi, the Foremost Falcons dumped the Hay Lakes Tigers 69-61 as Skylar Van Gaalen scored 17, Austin Haraga 12 and Drew Biesterfeldt 10. Joel Peter paced the Tigers with 20. Matt Woloshyn added 11, Jason Zintel 10 and Ben Heiberg 10.
In the bronze medal match, the Lundbreck Livingstone Sabres defeated the Hay Lakes Tigers 96-80 as Michael Phipps scored 23 and Dustin Damgaard 21. Joel Peter led the Tigers with 25. Matt Woloshyn added 19. The Tigers (coached by Scott Peterson, assisted by Clint Peter) also included Justin Allard, John Bardoel, Kyle Ellis, Duncan Ellis, Ben Heiberg, Jason Huellbusch, Jimmy Joudrey, Stuart Klappstein, Matt Petersen, Hans Thugesen, Wyatt Warawa and Jason Zintel.
In the final, the host Stirling Lakers defeated the Foremost Falcons 78-66 to capture their third consecutive crown. Lloyd Strickland paced the Lakers with 18. Jon Romeril added 16, Adrian Edwards 14, Mason Edwards 12 and Ellingston 11. Nick Thompson paced the Falcons with 20. Drew Biesterfeldt added 10 and Skylar Van Gaalen 10. The Falcons led 50-49 after three quarters. “They kind of threw a zone there in the second half and we didn’t adjust to it well in the third quarter,” Lakers coach Darryl Salmon told the Lethbridge Herald. “We knew they were going to go on a run, they’re pretty good, and anytime you play a team four times in a year there’s not much difference between us.” Falcons coach Garth Van Gaalen noted that “they’re a great shooting team and they play the game like they know how to play the game and my hat’s off to them because they are true basketball players. They understand the game and play well together.” The Lakers took an early 21-14 lead on a host of backdoor layups. But Nick Thompson aggressively crashed the glass as the Falcons rallied to within 32-25 at the half. Foremost ripped off a 9-0 run early in the third quarter on a trey by Matthew Beutier and a putback by Evan Sehn. He then drilled a trey to put the Falcons ahead 41-38 but Stirling answered with a 7-0 run capped by a Dallin Ellingson trey. “We had a nice swing at that point, still doing well at three quarter time but it’s just finishing games,” Van Gaalen said. “That really, truly would make a statement on our year. We would play games for 30,35 minutes but we had a lot of trouble finishing a game 40 minutes.” Lloyd Strickland and Jon Romeril took command for the Lakers in the fourth quarter. “We decided to press a little bit more there in the third and changed our press there in the fourth and it worked for us,” Salmon said. “Then Jon Romeril, after sitting most of the first half, ended up coming in and hitting some big shots for us. They always do it [weather the storm] so we kind of expected it. When they did it, we just kind of relaxed and tried to go as hard as we could, it’s more mental than physical so we just worked as a team and got ourselves back into it.” Strickland dished an assist and hit a jumper on successive trips to boost the Laker lead to 58-54 then, after three straight Foremost turnovers, Ellingson drilled a trey to extend the margin to 63-58 and the Lakers pulled away down the stretch. Strickland called winning a provincial title on your home court “a once in a lifetime opportunity. “You never get provincials twice in your home gym so you have to win it. It was so loud, small gym, packed, people lining the sidelines, it was great.”
The bronze medalist Lundbreck Livingston Sabres: Michael Phipps; Corey Phipps; Dustin Damgaard; Brett Anderson; Mark Bruder; Jared Butt; Tyler Ford; Kevin Glen; Troy McNabb; Scott Ogloff; Cody Sohm; Stuart Thompson; Alex Thurston; coach Craig Anderson; assistant Jim Proudfoot
The silver medalist Foremost Falcons: Nick Thompson; Skylar Van Gaalen; Chase Van Gaalen; Matthew Beutler; Andrew Beutler; Drew Biesterfeldt; Travis Gaetz; Austin Haraga; Colby Kultgen; David Prins; Curtis Scratch; Evan Sehn; Cord Sturtevant; Colby Bechthold; coach Garth Van Gaalen; assistant John Prins
The gold medalist Stirling Lakers: Lloyd Strickland; Jon Romeril; Brady Adamson; Michael Ascione-Edwards; James Atwood; Dallin Cooper; Justin Cote; Adrian Edwards; Mason Edwards; Dallin Ellingson; Michael Krokosh; Bradee Perrett; coach Darryl Salmon; assistant Dustin Ralph; manager Ben Neufeld; manager Colton Barr; manager Ashley Jones; trainer Kyle Peterson