In the opening round: …………………………………………………… The Maple Ridge Ramblers defeated the Vancouver St. George’s Saints 67-59. The Saints had taken a lead early in the fourth quarter after ripping off an 11-2 run. But Maple Ridge countered with its own 8-0 run to move ahead 58-53 and never look back. “They scared me big time,” Ramblers coach Ken Dockendorf told the Vancouver Province. “They didn’t surprise me at all because I suspected they were good.” Aaron Miller led the Ramblers with 20 points. Forward Shaun Halverson added 15. Forward Andrew Luke and Ben Lee each scored 15 to lead St. George’s. The match was watched by St. George’s graduate Arthur Griffiths, once owner of the NBA’s Vancouver Grizzlies. “They have nine basketball coaches at St. George’s now. When I went there, we couldn’t get nine players,” said the Orca Bay boss, who played on the Vancouver school’s rugby team before graduating 20 years ago. “I ran into one of their coaches at a luncheon a while back, and he told me that they would be here (for the tournament). After that, I made sure I could (have the time to) come down and watch.” The Saints also included Ed Johnston, David Wong, Chris Peerless. …………………………………………………… The Vancouver College Fighting Irish defeated the Victoria High Totems 80-62. The game was tight until the third quarter when the Irish went on an 11-0 run to put the outcome out of reach. Jatinder Rai led the Irish with 21, while 6-2 Alex Lando dominated the paint. “He’s so tough, he just battles away,” Irish coach Bob Corbett told the Vancouver Sun. “He gets fouled and hacked and beaten on, somebody puts a saddle on and they try to ride him. The kid just did a great job of keeping his composure.” Totems coach Walt Christianson had agreed to have his hair shaved off if the squad made the tournament and honoured the promise, conducting a raffle to see which student performed the honours. It raised $200 toward travel costs to Vancouver for the tournament. The Totems (coached by Christianson) also included Alex Zolts, Jesse Smith, Srdjan Music. …………………………………………………… The North Delta Huskies exploded for 24 unanswered points in the first half en route to an 80-50 pounding of the Burnaby St. Thomas More Knights. Kam Dahia led the Huskies with 20. Jeff Stebbings added 17 and Kam Dahia 16. Huskies coach Bill Edwards told the Surrey/North Delta News Leader that his troops were determined to avenge a “bad outing” during the season against the Knights. “All we did this time was to be focused as we could and staying with the game plan. That’s all it took because talent-wise, I knew we were better.” The Huskies led 41-18 at the half. Dahia said “we were a little big nervous, then called a time-out and got a little disciplined. We started running on them and we had the 24-0 run. After that, it was pretty easy.” Chris Borromeo paced the Knights with 20. The Knights also included Ben Cooney, Ryan O’Connor. …………………………………………………… The Richmond McNair Marlins defeated the Port Alberni District Armada 103-62. The Armada included Cam Parks.
In the second round: …………………………………………………… The 3rd-seeded Vancouver Kitsilano Blue Demons defeated the West Vancouver Highlanders 84-52 after jumping out to a 24-1 lead. 6-6 forward Etienne Orr-Ewing scored 20 and grabbed 14 boards, while guard Willie Schmidt, who had broken his jaw two weeks earlier scored 16 and grabbed 7 boards. Tyler Gylan led the Highlanders with 13. Kitsilano opened with a 24-1 run and cruised. The Highlanders also included Dave Shannon. …………………………………………………… The 4th-seeded Port Coquitlam Terry Fox Ravens whipped the Prince Rupert Rainmakers 87-38 as Andrey Schmidt scored 19. Travis Adams led Prince Rupert with 14. Rainmakers coach Mel Bishop told The Other Press that “I could tell in the first six to seven minutes of the game that my kids were too tight. They weren’t relaxed so they couldn’t see the floor well. … There was a lot of mismatches on the court, size-wise. Even when they subbed people in, there was mismatches.” The Rainmakers (coached by Mel Bishop) also included Ben Anderson. …………………………………………………… The Richmond Colts demolished Fort St. John North Peace Oscars 115-64, although star forward Kyle Russell told the Vancouver Sun that the squad wasn’t at the top of its game. “We were a little sluggish. We hadn’t played in a week, so that’s to be expected,” said Russell, who scored 23, grabbed 13 boards and had 5 blocks. “But now we’ve got the kinks out, so we’ll be ready.” Brian McDonnell paced the Colts with 27 points. Emmanuel Bell led North Peace with 18. …………………………………………………… The top-seeded Salmon Arm Gold defeated the Cranbrook Mount Baker Trojans 82-60 despite trailing early 11-7. But the Gold got on track with a 20-0 run and never looked back. Forward and player of the game Andrew Roy led the Gold with 31. Jordie McTavish finished with 24 points, 11 assists and 10 steals, and Josh Booy 10 on 5-7 from the floor. Roy told that Vancouver Province that McTavish was the difference. “He’s a real intense player and his intensity rubs off on the rest of us. We’re not jealous at all of him. He deserves all the attention he gets and we wish him all the best for the future.” Gold coach Chris Harrington, noting the signs in the stands urging “Jordie for Premier”, added that “I think the guys that do it are getting used to the media thing. Every time we come down here it’s like `boom.’ But we’re getting pretty practiced at it.” McTavish also pulled off a couple of highlight reel plays in the fourth quarter, making a perfect feed between his legs to Mike Farrant on the fastbreak and then finishing off an alley-oop pass from Mike Young. “I don’t think there’s any real pressure on us,” McTavish said. “I mean this team has never ever won anything at this tournament.” More than McTavish’s talents, though, the Golds displayed depth. Neil Ellingson paced the Trojans with 14. Mike Martindale added 13. …………………………………………………… The 5th-seeded Clearbrook MEI Eagles defeated Richmond Matthew McNair Marlins 94-75 by outrunning and outshooting the Marlins. Mark Redekop led MEI with 24, along with 13 boards. Eagle Dan Turner told the Abbotsford News that “we played good. Got the bugs out.” Mark Redekop said “we stuck to our game plan, not to let their press break us down.” Mickey Ringuette led McNair with 15. The Marlins (coached by Paul Eberhardt) included Joel Hulme, Anthony Hadju, Tim Rempel, Joe Arienda, Blair Arburthnot. …………………………………………………… The Vancouver College Fighting Irish edged Abbotsford W.J. Mouat Hawks 70-64 as Alex Lando scored 13 and grabbed 10 boards. Jatinder Rai added 17 points and 14 boards. Alex Lando added 13 points and 10 boards. Sean McLaverty led the Hawks with 22. “Playing on Day 1 can be a huge advantage. Of course, only if you win on Day 1,” Vancouver College coach Bob Corbett told the Vancouver Province. “Playing on Day 1 isn’t good for history, since I don’t think a team has ever made it to the semifinals after having to play then. And I think it could affect us for our third game. But it can be an advantage in the second.” The Hawks missed their first five shots and trailed 11-0 within three minutes. They trailed 31-14 midway through the second quarter, cut the margin to nine at 63-54 with 3:38 left, but never really threatened. “We didn’t play a great game, but we didn’t play so bad that we deserved to not be in the game, and that’s what we were,” said Hawks coach Richard Ralston. The Hawks (coached by Ralston) also included Tyson Boult, Mike Lee, Jordan Gervais, Josh Venderheide, Seth Bergen, Nathan Jones, Todd Robertson, Kyle Labbe, A.J. Sidhu. …………………………………………………… The Maple Ridge Ramblers defeated the Nanaimo Wellington Wildcats 79-45 as Aaron Miller scored 27. Steve Adams added 20 points and 11 boards. Ivan Milin led Wellington with 17 points and 10 boards, while point guard Steve Macdonald was held to just 6 on 2-14 shooting. The Wildcats, playing in their first-ever B.C. AAA draw, led 17-11 at the end of the first quarter before going stone cold. The Wildcats shot just .290 from the floor and mustered just 5 points in the fourth quarter. The Ramblers led 30-26 at halftime and 43-32 with three minutes left in the third. Wildcats coach Phil Letham told the Nanaimo Daily News that “I don’t know what happened. We couldn’t have played worse if we planned it. We shot 29%. We turned the ball over.” The Wildcats (coached by Phil Letham) also included Justin Sproule, Randy Collins. …………………………………………………… The North Delta Huskies defeated the Saanichton Stelly’s Stingers 73-72. Huskies coach Bill Edwards told the Surrey/North Delta News Leader that “we had a good game plan and we stayed with it for most of the first quarter. But we fell apart in the second, and lost all focus on what the plan was, which was to cut down their penetration and make them shoot from outside.” Aaron Olson led Stelly’s with 34. Stelly’s (coached by Dave Tooby) also included John White, Darren Moilanen.
In the quarterfinals, the Vancouver Kitsilano Blue Demons defeated the Clearbrook Mennonite Educational Institute Eagles 73-61 after withstanding a furious second half rally. Forward Sandy Bisaro had 19 points and 12 assists for the Blue Demons. The Eagles (coached by Arnie Dick) included Josh Hall, Dan Turner, Dave Brandsma, Matt Loewen, Mark Redekop, Scott Thoutenhoofd.
The top-seeded Salmon Arm Gold defeated the Maple Ridge Ramblers 78-54, as guard Jesse Walker scored 33, including 9 treys (according to the Salmon Arm Observor). Walker scored 36 on 10-23 from the arc,), Andrew Roy 22 and Jordie McTavish 19, while dishing 17 assists. The Gold outscored the Ramblers 19-2 in the final quarter. The Ramblers included Steve Adams, Aaron Miller, Shaun Halvorsen, Mike Eskildsen.
The Port Coquitlam Terry Fox Ravens defeated the North Delta Huskies 91-55 as Andrey Schmidt scored 33 on 10-15 from the floor. Jeff Stebbings led the Huskies with 12. It marked marking their fourth victory in as many games this year against their Fraser Valley rivals. The Huskies (coached by Bill Edwards) also included Chris King, Ryan Neufeld, Kam Dahia, Mandeep Gill, Chad Varnes.
In the last quarterfinal, the Vancouver College Fighting Irish stunned the Richmond Colts 63-62. It was a battle in the paint between Alex Lando of Vancouver College and Trevor Bourne of Richmond, while both teams used full-court pressure all the way. “It was a war,” Fighting Irish coach Bob Corbett told the Vancouver Sun. “And our kids warred away big-time. They’re tough kids. We played them before Christmas at their place and we back away from them. One of the things we said was ‘don’t take anything from them. Go out and attack them. Make them do things to beat us’.” The Irish took the advice to heart, getting in the face of Richmond star Kyle Russell and smothering the Colts run-and-gun offence, which had averaged over 100 ppg during the season. Lando said “we knew that if we worked 100 per cent for 40 minutes, we could compete with them, and that’s just what we did. We went in thinking they weren’t going to be as prepared as we were to play them. They thought they were just playing a small team. We just had to prove to everyone that we’re legit.” Richmond nearly won it when Brian McDonnell drove the hoop and saw a layup roll around the rim a couple of times and drop out. Suneel Gokhale paced Vancouver College with 22. Lando added 20 points and 20 boards and Jatinder Rai 14. McDonnell led Richmond with 18 points and 10 boards. Russell was held to 12 points and 13 boards. With the win, Vancouver avenged a 40-point loss to Richmond earlier in the year. “Richmond’s outstanding. They have outstanding players and outstanding coaching. You have to play a whale of a game to beat them and I think we did that,” Corbett told the Vancouver Province. “This is maybe one of the all-time tournament upsets. I was talking to Ian Hyde-Lay (coach of St. Michaels University School) and we figured Richmond was the team that should win it this year.” The lead bolted back and forth, but Richmond held a 60-58 advantage with less than two minutes to play. That’s when their get-up-and-go got up and left. Vancouver College forward Alex Lando got his try from just under the hoop while being fouled with 1:51 to go. He sank the subsequent foul shot for the Irish to go up 61-60. Richmond forward Brian McDonnell, who was later named defensive player of the tournament, had his layup attempt roll around the rim on the Colts’ next trip down the floor and Vancouver College forward Suneel Gokhale drained a jump shot with 0:54 to give the Irish a 63-60 lead. “Richmond is intimidating, but we had to master that. We had to believe that we could win, even though they’re probably the best team here,” said Lando. “Teams may have forgotten about us, because we had an up-and-down season and because we played probably our worst basketball of the year at the Lower Mainlands. But everybody has really come to play at this tournament.” Jatinder Rai chipped in with 14. McDonnell had 18 points and 10 rebounds in a losing cause for the Colts, while swingman Kyle Russell added 12 points to go with his 13 rebounds. Colts coach Bill Drisbow told the Richmond Review that “we were trying to go inside but we just didn’t do a very good job of it. We took some soft shots when we had them down and we didn’t score on them and that cost us.” The Colts (coached by Bill Drisbow) also included Pasha Bains, Erik Eggen, Mike Davis, Trevor Bourne.
In the semis, the Kitsilano Blue Demons because the first Vancouver team in three decades to make the final as they defeated the top-seeded Salmon Arm Gold 61-60, which entered the tourney 35-0. Grade 11 forward Etienne Orr-Ewing hit a free throw with nine seconds to go to give Kitsilano the win. He finished with 17 points, while 6-8 center Sandy Bisaro scored 23 and grabbed 11 rebounds, and Willie Schmidt added 13 points. Salmon Arm star and Utah University-bound Jordie McTavish, who was offered a scholarship by Utes coach Rick Majerus while in grade 10, scored 19 including two treys to open the contest. Andrew Roy added 19 and Jesse Walker 12, while Josh Booy nabbed 11 boards. Salmon Arm had led 19-18 at the quarter when Kitsilano exploded for a 14-0 run en route to a 35-28 halftime lead. Roy rallied Salmon Arm in the third quarter scoring eight points inside but Kitsilano clung to a 48-46 lead at the break. Salmon Arm took the lead as Jesse Walker hit his first from beyond the arc after eight unsuccessful attempts. In the quarterfinal, Walker had sunk 10 from the beyond the arc. The game remained close til the end when Orr-Ewing hit the clutch free throws. McTavish bounced a three-pointer off the rim with a minute to play but later hit a meaningless three with 10 seconds to play to cut the margin to one. “I think we’re finally getting the respect we deserve,” Kitsilano coach Randy Coutts told the Vancouver Province. “We set our goals high at the start of the year and we’re going for the championship Saturday night. You come to the show, you’ve got to perform, and we did that.” The Blue Demons had distinct size advantage, with 6-8 Bisaro and 6-6 Orr-Ewing matching up against 6-3 Andrew Roy, and Coutts’ squad took advantage of it all game, pounding the ball inside at every opportunity. Kitsilano clinched victory in the fourth, as they went on a 10-0 run in a seven-minute stretch to take a 60-55 lead. Roy cut it to three when he tallied with 1:20 to go. The Golds had the ball in the hands of their best player going for the tie but point guard Jordie McTavish rimmed his three-point attempt from the top of the key with 12 seconds on the clock. Orr-Ewing hit on one of two free throws with 9.5 seconds left, making McTavish’s trey at the buzzer academic. Kitsilano became the first public school from Vancouver to make the provincial final since David Thompson in 1968. Gold coach Chris Harrington told the Salmon Arm Observor that “there’s nothing we should be hanging our heads about. It’s okay to be disappointed about this game but when you look at the whole picture, we did something that these kids will never forget – I’ll never forget it. We played okay, they just scored nore points than us.”
In the other semi, the Port Coquitlam Terry Fox Ravens made their third straight provincial final by defeating Vancouver College Fighting Irish 86-61. The Ravens got 21 points from swingman Andrey Schmidt.
In the bronze medal match, the Salmon Arm Gold defeated the Vancouver College Fighting Irish 81-67 after guard Jesse Walker hit a pair from beyond the arc early in the fourth quarter to blow open the contest. “It was pretty tough to prepare for the game, considering it’s the first game we ever went into having lost the game before,” coach Chris Harrington told the Vancouver Province. “I told the grade 12s that they deserved to go out winners and I told the grade 11s that they deserved to start next season as winners. Walker finished with 7 points but clinched the outcome. With Salmon Arm ahead 57-55 he nailed a trey. The Irish responded with a bucket in the paint by Alex Lando but Walker came back downcourt and drilled another trey to put the Golds ahead 63-57. Salmon Arm soon stretched its lead to 70-59. “At the (third-quarter) break, I told Jesse he had to start stroking them, even though he wasn’t really going that good,” said Harrington. “He went out and hit those two back-to-back, and that finished them.” The Fighting Irish led 11-4 early but trailed 37-34 at the half. Vancouver College moved ahead 44-41 when forward Suneel Gohykale scored but point guard Jordie McTavish rallied the Gold back to a 54-53 lead with 1:11 to play in the third quarter and then added another trey with 20 seconds left in the quarter. Harrington “wouldn’t have traded coaching Jordie for anything. It’s not an accident he’s as good as he is. And the nicest thing about Jordie is that you’ll never know from talking to him that he’s a great player.” McTavish finished with 36 points on 11-16 from the field, including 3-5 from the arc, while dishing 9 assists and making 3 steals. Forward Andrew Roy added 27, along with 10 boards, and Josh Booy 9. Suneel Gohkale led Vancouver College with 26. Alex Lando added 21. The Fighting Irish (coached by Bob Corbett) also included Ryan Opina, Jatinder Rai, Justin Villanueva, Kevin Eiben, Theo Gonzales, Rafie Pelova, Kevin Lepsoe, Prabjit Bal, Patrick Suttie, Jerod Ridley, Karl Baheria, Don Guevarra, Chris Tsakumis and Kevin Lardizabal.
In the final, before a crowd of 8,451 at Vancouver’s GM Place, the Vancouver Kitsilano Blue Demons ended Vancouver city’s 34-year-old drought in defeating two-time defending champ Port Coquitlam Terry Fox 57-42 in the final, marking the first time a public school from Vancouver had even been in the final since 1961. Kitsilano looked nervous early but outscored Terry Fox 21-2 in the second quarter en route to a 57-42 win. Sandy Bisaro finished with 23 points and 13 rebounds, while Etienne Orr-Ewing notched 9 points and 10 boards; Willie Schmidt 9 points and 10 boards, Keith Bustard 8 points, 6 assists and four steals, and Alex Seal eight points. Vancouver out-rebounded Terry Fox 52-28. Port Coquitlam was led by Colin McDonald’s 11 points. Richard Morgan added 8, Andrey Schmidt 6 and guard Jeff Antwi 6. “Coming in we were very well-matched teams at all positions,” Willie Schmidt, who played with a fractured jaw from a snowboarding accident, told the Vancouver Sun. We just took it right to them, came in feeding it inside, and kept taking it to them the whole game.” Kitsilano coach Randy Coutts added that his troops “deserved this. They put the time and the commitment in this year and there’s nothing more gratifying. We basically dictated the tempo of the game. The game plan was to go inside. The big kid (Morgan) got into foul trouble and they had to sub him out. It left them pretty weak in the interior and basically, we exploited that in the second quarter. We got a lot of easy hoops inside.” The Blue Demons said they playing in memory of Acron Eger, who went missing on a boat trip with his family in the Bermuda Triangle over Christmas break seven years earlier just as the boys’ basketball squad was earning the top ranking in the province. “His spirit was here tonight,” Kitsilano head coach Randy Coutts said of Eger, whose body and boat were never found, and whose team went on to finish fourth that year, the previous best finish for a Blue Demon squad. “We talked about it in the pregame warmup. I wasn’t at the school at the time, but I know about Acron, and the kids know.” The Blue Demons used rebounding and a stifling zone defence to dominate in the lowest-scoring championship final since the West Vancouver Highlanders defeated the North Vancouver Argyle Pipers 49-48 in 1982. They allowed just one Raven bucket in the second quarter — Colin MacDonald’s jumper with 5:13 to go — and held a 35-16 margin at the half. Terry Fox got to within eight, at 43-35, with 1:16 to go in the third quarter, but could come no closer. “We were very tentative, very nervous,” said Terry Fox co-coach Rich Chambers, whose squad was looking for its third title in four years. “We were very tentative all night, and we just couldn’t get anything.” The Blue Demons became the first Vancouver team to win the title since the Vancouver Magee Lions defeated the Surrey Semiahmoo Totems 70-45 back in 1961. “I play rec ball with Brent Watson (the tournament MVP for Magee in 1961), and he called me and wished us luck,” said Coutts. “It’s great for Vancouver.”
The bronze medalist Salmon Arm Gold: Jordie McTavish; Jesse Walker; Andrew Roy; Mike Farrant; Mike Young; Josh Booy; Brad Romyn; Wes Schmitt; coach Chris Harrington
The silver medalist Port Coquitlam Terry Fox Ravens: Colin McDonald; Richard Morgan; Andrey Schmidt; Jeff Antwi; Jojo Ahenkorah; Graig Merritt; JoJo Ahenkorah; coach Rich Chambers; coach Don Van Os
The gold medalist Vancouver Kitsilano Blue Demons: Etienne Orr-Ewing; Sandy Bisaro; Willie Schmidt; Keith Bustard; Alex Seal; coach Randy Coutts