In the quarterfinals, the 3rd-seeded Lethbridge Catholic Central Cougars dumped the Drayton Valley Frank Maddock Warriors 86-55. The Cougars led 46-23 at the half and romped. Point guard Clay Rook paced the Cougars with 25. Jason Czarny added 16 and Mike O’Brien 12. “Clay had one of the best games I’ve ever seen him have,” said co-coach Brian Leclaire. “We also got a big effort from Kevin Gilbert, who is one of our best defensive players, but also contributed nine points to the offence. They were our best players. What was good is that we were able to get every player on our roster substantial court time. We had expected them to be stronger than they showed.” Doug Tryon led the Warriors with 13. James Thompson added 12.
The top-seeded Airdrie Bert Church Chargers dispatched the Fort McMurray Westwood Community Trojans 79-61. The Trojans (coached by Tino Arvanetes) included Wayne Stephens, Gurpreet Sandhu, Tim Yakiwchuk, Sam Salter, Wes Stephens, Jason Stuart, Darrin Horsman, Ryan Lobb and Colin Clarkson.
The Red Deer Camille J. Lerouge Voyageurs defeated the Sherwood Park Archbishop Jordan Scots 79-53 as Darren Williams scored 15, Pat Engebrecht 15, Joel Chalifoux 14 and Vince Hunter 12. Voyageurs coach John Johnston told the Red Deer Advocate that “we felt we had something to prove. Both teams played incredible defence in the first half, but we could see we were the better team. We couldn’t buy a bucket early in the game. (In the second half), we went to a full-court man press and that got us running.” The Scots led 26-23 at the half..
In the last quarterfinal, the 2nd-seeded Calgary Bowness Trojans clipped the Beaverlodge Comets 105-57 as Shaun Griffiths scored 30 and Mark Reilly 11. Mark Knoppers led the Comets with 27. Roger Freeman added 11.
In the semis, the Lethbridge Catholic Central Cougars rolled the Calgary Bowness Trojans 75-55. “Once we get it rolling offensively, everything clicks for us,” said Cougars coach Brian Leclaire. “It was probably our best game of the year. … phenomenal.” Assistant Tim McLenahan said “it was the best team basketball we’ve played in a
long time.” Jason Czarny “is the key to it,” said Leclaire. “’Prime Time’ was ready to play tonight.” He scored 32. Reserve Rob Izsak stepped in for starter Shawn Wells, who took an elbow to the eye, and “played fantastic,” Leclaire said. “He played strong,” while scoring 18. Mike O’Brien added 12 and Rook 11. Mark O’Reilly led the Trojans with 20. Mike Uremovic added 16.
In the other semi, the Red Deer Camille J. Lerouge Voyageurs conquered the top-seeded Airdrie Bert Church Chargers 81-77 as Darren Williams scored 29, Vince Hunter 15, Joel Chalifoux 12 and Colin Bowlby 12. Brad Gallup led the Chargers with 33. Geoff Franks added 19. Voyageurs coach John Johnson told the Red Deer Advocate “we didn’t consider it an upset.” The Chargers rallied from 17 down in the first half and took a one-point lead with a minute to play. But Williams answered with a bucket and then Vince Hunter hit two free throws with four seconds remaining on the clock to ice it. Johnson said “our guys really wanted it. They dug down and played gutsy basketball. … The scouting book really paid off. They didn’t surprise us at all. We knew what we could do against them. We played a control game and went inside.”
In the bronze medal match, the Airdrie Bert Church Chargers outlasted the Calgary Bowness Trojans 111-102.
In the final, the Red Deer Camille J. Lerouge Voyageurs defeated the Lethbridge Catholic Central Cougars 71-63 to capture their second consecutive title and third in five years. The Cougars appeared in control in the first half, leading 36-22 at the break and 46-31 early in the second half. But a 22-7 run by the Voyageurs knotted the score at 53 with 6:30 to play, and a 5-0 run gave them the lead for good. Cougars star Jason Czarny went stone cold after a torrid first half and the Cougars appeared to panic. Voyageurs coach John Johnston said “they were mesmerized the whole week by the atmosphere. We came out in the first half a little tense and very flat. We weren’t forcing it inside but we did play good defence the whole game. … We knew Czarny would get his points and our game plan of letting him shoot finally paid off when he went cold. … It was nice to see the team show that much character from the first half to the other. We had a lot of players came through in the end.” Joel Chalifoux paced the Voyageurs with 30. Darren Williams added 10 and Vince Hunter 10. Jason Czarny led the Cougars with 28. Clay Rook added 18. Johnson told the Red Deer Advocate “not many people thought we had a chance. That’s what made it different. That’s what made it special in a lot of ways. I was really impressed with our guys. They dug down deep when it counted and knew what it took to win. I’ve never seen a team show that much character. … (Williams’) defence was phenomenal.”
The bronze medalist Airdrie Bert Church Chargers: Brad Gallup; Geoff Franks;
The silver medalist Lethbridge Catholic Central Cougars: Clay Rook; Jason Czarny; Rob Izsak; Kevin Gilbert; Colin Ward; Mark Huggins; Shawn Wells; Dale Comchi; Mike O’Brien; Geoff Halma; Rene Huel; Bryan Whelpley, Greg Kelenc, Luel Pham; Kurt Sanders; coach Brian Leclaire; assistant Tim McLenahan
The gold medalist Red Deer Camille J. Lerouge Voyageurs: Vince Hunter; Joel Chalifoux; Darren Williams; Colin Bowlby; Chris Laborde; Sean Engbers; Pat Engebrecht; Trevor Ackerman; Don Brund; Nathan Seinan; coach John Johnston