In the opening round: …………………………………………………… The 8th-seeded Winnipeg St. Paul’s Crusaders defeated the 9th-seeded Winnipeg Churchill Trojans 88-80. The Trojans (coached by Cory Keeler, assisted by Jeff Leduc and Ray Foster) included Jordan Stokes, Matt Tilbury, Ryan Krasnichuk, Ben Lundy, Edwin Fui, Porter Brown, Mike Labelle, Matt Schmidt and Jordan Bruyere. …………………………………………………… The 5th-seeded Winnipeg Silver Heights Huskies stomped the Brandon Crocus Plains Plainsmen 95-51. The Plainsmen included Ben Van Wellingham, Richard Longstreet, Cody Powell, Justin Reid, Dallas Lewis, Sebastian Keewatin. …………………………………………………… The 6th-seeded Winnipeg J.H. Bruns Broncos crushed the 11th-seeded Winnipeg Maples Marauders 74-56. The Marauders included Justin Duff. …………………………………………………… The 10th-seeded Winnipeg Fort Richmond Centurions defeated the 7th-seeded Winnipeg Grant Park Pirates 71-56.
In the quarterfinals, the top-seeded Winnipeg Sisler Spartans whipped the Winnipeg St. Paul’s Crusaders 94-75.
The 4th-seeded Winnipeg Jeanne Sauve Olympiens clipped the 5th-seeded Winnipeg Silver Heights Huskies 105-87. The Huskies (coached by Kirby Schepp and Chris Byrnes) included Armit Basi, Ward Anders, Tyler Forsberg, Eric Zimmerman, Nick Aarnio, Gil Gapit, Matt Pierce, Chris Conrad, Jordan Hutsal, Rob McGill, Kevin Oliver, Jeral Santos and Riley Draward.
The 3rd-seeded Winnipeg Oak Park Raiders stomped the 6th-seeded Winnipeg J.H. Bruns Broncos 85-68. The Broncos (coached by Norm Froemel) included Graham Patterson, Tyler Johnson, Brodie Berg, Jeff Wheeler, Kevin Wong, Matt Marjanovic, Mike Ivison, Brayden Anderson, J.P. Beauchemin, Randy Kezie, Richard Mao, Adam Erickson, Josh Wallman and Kyle Vince.
In the last quarterfinal, the 2nd-seeded Winnipeg Mennonite Brethren Hawks dumped the 10th-seeded Winnipeg Fort Richmond Centurions 75-65. The Centurions (coached by Ogo Okwumabua, assisted by Regan Moses, Suk Singh and Michael Kebede) included Andrew Rowan, Keshan Sankar, Mark Loewen, K.C. Mohammed, Peter Lomuro, Mabuchi Mkanda, Jimmy Legere, Seun Bammeke, Joe Holder, Shawn Boyd, Pat Kennedy, Adam Wiebe, Khas Tokar, Jeremy Glassco, Evan Prince and Rock Chen.
In the semis, the top-seeded Winnipeg Sisler Spartans whipped the 4th-seeded Winnipeg Jeanne Sauve Olympiens 89-68 as Kurtis Sansregret scored 24, including six treys in the first half. Abraham Daniels added 15 and player of the game Jonar Huertas 15. “It feels really good, really good! To knock off the defending provincial champions feels so good,” Sansregret told the Winnipeg Free Press. “The semifinal is usually the hardest game; we came in here like we wanted a shot at the championship and now we’re getting that. It means so much to our school, especially for the basketball program.” The Spartans used platoons to wear down the Olympiens, who played just six. Spartans coach Scott Martin said “we played just great in the first half, we full-court pressed them, and I think we kind of wore them down. We played 10 players and they (CJS) just ran out of steam. It’s great (to be in the final), the kids are pumped up and the community is fired up too. I’ve had ex-players call me this week to wish us luck so it’s good.” Nick Lother led the Olympiens with 22. Dan Lother added 16, Michael Mallin 9 and Daniel Fox 9. Fox said “we were together as a team for all those years, together as friends. The loss isn’t as big a deal to me as seeing the look on their faces in the dressing room just now and knowing it’s over and that it was, for some of us, our last game.” Olympiens coach Irv Hanec said the (30-5) team should be proud of its accomplishments. “It’s an emotional group of kids in there right now, they wear their hearts on their sleeves… we just got beat by a team that worked harder than we did. We’re not going to hang our heads, we’re going to walk out of here proud.”
In the other semi, the 2nd-seeded Winnipeg Mennonite Brethren Hawks clipped the 3rd-seeded Winnipeg Oak Park Raiders 93-83 in overtime as Adam Dobriansky scored 34 and Dillon Tielman 12. Tielman hit a trey with eight seconds to play to knot the score at 74 and force overtime. “It was definitely the biggest three I ever hit,” said Tielman. “We’re pretty excited (to be in the final); we really want to win one for our coach (Opalko, who won’t be back after 24 years).”
In the final, the Winnipeg Sisler Spartans defeated the Winnipeg Mennonite Brethren Hawks 81-71 as 5-7 guard Eric Garcia scored 26. The Spartans appeared in trouble when leading scorer Kurtis Sansregret was sidelined by an ankle injury early in the second half. “It was a hard-fought battle,” said Garcia, who nailed a trey to give the Spartans a 73-69 lead, then stole the ball for a runout layup to essentially ice it. “We had to play a full 40 minutes and right up to the last minute, but we just wanted it more. We gave it everything we got. I had to lead the team. We lost Kurtis. We really needed him, but I had to step up my game and I did. It’s 33 years and we got Mr. Martin (coach Scott Martin) his first title, so we’re really happy about that. He really deserves it. He’s one of the best coaches in the league.” Jonar
Forward Jonar Huertas added 19 for the Spartans. Bouw paced the Hawks with 22. Adam Dobriansky added 18. “It was intense,” said Bouw. “Everybody goes nuts after every shot, but Garcia had some super-nice concentration shots.” The Spartans led 42-33 at the half.
The all-tournament team featured MVP Eric Garcia (Sisler); Stefan Bouw (Mennonite Brethren); Adam Bobriansky (Mennonite Brethren); Jonar Huetas (Sisler); Dan Lother (College Jeanne-Sauve); Mike Smalley (Oak Park)
The co-bronze medalist Winnipeg Oak Park Raiders: Mike Smalley; Mike James; James Horaska; Dave La Freniere; Colin Tibbs; coach Randy Kusano; assistant Dan Becker
The co-bronze medalist Winnipeg Jeanne-Sauve Olympiens: Chris Thorne; Narvon Mulchand; Dan Lother; Michael Mallin; Daniel Fox; Nick Lother; Eric Vanderwey; Lavonne Allen; Alex Garcia; coach Irv Hanec, assistant Frank Clark; manager Heather Vermette
The silver medalist Winnipeg Mennonite Brethren Hawks: Stefan Bouw; Brandon Markiewich; Jeff Tuininga; Dillon Tielman; Zachary Derksen; Tim Ewert; Alex Beaudry; Matthew Livingston; Adam Dobriansky; coach Ken Opalko
The gold medalist Winnipeg Sisler Spartans: Eric Garcia; Kurtis Sansregret; Kevin Tipan; Jan Soriano; Shaun Reyes; Josh Olaes; Ferosh Tailor; Nathan Habte; B.J. Popovitch; Brad Bullard; Eric Guieb; Abraham Daniels; Myles Posthumus; Jonar Huertas; Justin Sadua; Travis Hrabarchak; coach Scott Martin; assistant P. Tynes; assistant J. Themmen;