In the interzone playoffs, the Portage Trojans edged the Brandon Vincent Massey Vikings 90-89. “I am so proud of the guys,” Vikings coach Brett Nohr told the Brandon Sun. “If anyone had told me we’d lose by one to Portage in the interzone, I would have said they were being unrealistic. The kids made mistakes, but they battled and battled and for the first time in three years, there was an atmosphere in our gym. People reacted to every shot. It was fun.” Vasilios Giannopoulos paced the Vikings with 24. Gage Crowston added 19, including 6 treys. With seconds left in the game and the Vikings trailing by four, Stephen Howard hit a halfcourt shot to cut the lead to one. “I think, in the long run, this was a good disappointment because we are not at the level to compete at the 4A regionals,” Nohr said. “This was our provincials and to lose by one gives our guys reason to work harder for next year.” The Vikings (coached by Brett Nohr) also included Mitch Robb, Thomas Harper, Zach Beaudry, Ian Barr, Gage Crowston.
In the opening round: …………………………………………………… The 8th-seeded Winnipeg St. Paul’s Crusaders defeated the Winnipeg Vincent Massey Trojans 79-68 as S Moffat scored 17. A Kibsey led the Trojans with 20. …………………………………………………… The 5th-seeded Winnipeg Miles Macdonell Buckeyes whipped the 12th-seeded Portage Trojans 96-45 as K. Shaw scored 22. C. Maclum led Portage with 11. The Trojans also included Peter Stockman, Cody MacInnis. …………………………………………………… The 6th-seeded Winnipeg Sturgeon Heights Huskies dumped the 11th-seeded Winnipeg Kildonan East Reivers 77-58 as D Hughes scored 14. Mo Mohamed led Kildonan East with 17. The Reivers also included Marcus Hemmings. …………………………………………………… The 7th-seeded Winnipeg Fort Richmond Centurions stomped the 10th-seeded Winnipeg Daniel McIntyre Maroons 101-68 as B Foster scored 21. Ramon Burke led the Maroons with 31. The Maroons (coached by Carey Lasiuk) also included Kjoban Panaligan, Justus Kelly, Noriel Almario.
In the quarterfinals, the top-seeded Winnipeg Garden City Fighting Gophers defeated the 8th-seeded Winnipeg St. Paul’s Crusaders 80-73 as Jarred Ogungbemi-Jackson scored 33. P. Bacon led St. Paul’s with 25. The Crusaders also included Scott Moffatt.
The 4th-seeded Winnipeg Dakota Lancers clubbed the 5th-seeded Winnipeg Miles Macdonell Buckeyes 94-59 as M. Dueck scored 36. Varinder Pandher led Miles Macdonell with 14. The Buckeyes (coached by Karl Schroeder, Adam Dyck and Dmitri Evdokimov) also included Josh Alao, Zachary Allard, Antin Stowell, Keith Shaw, Antony Malyzynsky, Dan Penner, Robert Kroker, Wladic Riazanov, Rob Nairn and Jon Janzen.
The 6th-seeded Winnipeg Sturgeon Heights Huskies stunned the 3rd-seeded Winnipeg Glenlawn Lions 88-79 as C Dimaapi scored 15. Jordan Bonwick led the Lions with 25. The Lions (coached by Bryan Kornberger) also included Matt McGrath, Dave Benning.
In the last quarterfinal, the 2nd-seeded Winnipeg Oak Park Raiders defeated the 7th-seeded Winnipeg Fort Richmond Centurions 78-64 as Justin Roper scored 21. Ali Uddin led the Centurions with 21. The Centurions (coached by Jon Lundgren, assisted by Regan Moses and Michael Kebede) also included Jordan Chudrick, Travis Hrubeniuk, Anthony Sannie, Brett Foster, Mike Miles, Neil Noonan, Peter Smith, Brandon Latouche, Matt Waldner, Arthur Buchanan, Serge Uwimana, Dana Pishcke and Darren Freir.
In the semis, the top-seeded Winnipeg Garden City Gophers edged the 4th-seeded Winnipeg Dakota Lancers after rallying in the final two minutes of play. “It’s a great feeling, it’s the first one we’ll ever be in and hopefully we can come out with a win. We’ve never been here before so hopefully we can get it done,” said Garden City guard Jarred Ogungbemi-Jackson, his team’s player of the game with 23 points. “It’s our first chance so we’re going to make the best of it.” The Gophers led by as much as 14 points in the second quarter and held a 41-31 halftime lead. It was a different story in the third quarter when Dakota stormed out and began wreaking havoc with Philip Labongo’s barrage of baseline buckets and Matt Dueck flying on the fast break. Trailing by two after three frames, the Gophers fought back by chipping away with timely three-point shots by Ogungbemi-Jackson and Morissette. The Gophers took back the lead for good at 75-73 with 1:47 left after Morissette’s third three-pointer of the quarter. Grade 10 forward Marco Milosevic, who came off the bench for nine second-half points, scored two key insurance buckets in the final 30 seconds. “We’ve had a lot of big games this year… I have a lot of confidence in our guys and they maintained their poise and they made plays when they had to,” said Gophers head coach Phil Penner. “That’s kind of been our M.O. for a while now, we’ve gotten out to hot starts, double-digit leads and teams have come back and then it’s always a tough second half.” Ogungbemi-Jackson said falling behind was “really stressful. There was always confidence, we were always level-headed and we never thought we were going to lose at any point, even though we were down. We were smart and we came out on top.” Dakota was led by Labongo and player-of-the-game Dueck with 21 points each. “Really stressful,” Fighting Gophers guard Jarred Ogungbemi-Jackson said after his club escaped the drama of a potential upset. “We had the lead at half and we kind of let it go. We just wanted to stay focused and keep executing, and hopefully we (would) get the job done. There was always confidence — we were always level-headed; we never thought we were going to lose at any point, even though we were down. We were smart and we came out on top.” Up by 10 at the half, Garden City watched its big lead evaporate as Dakota, led by the inspired play of Matt Dueck and Phil Labongo (each finished the game with 21 points), out-scored them 25-14 in the third quarter to cut the margin to a point. A Dueck jumper gave the St. Vital school a 69-64 lead with five minutes to play, but big three-pointers from Ogungbemi-Jackson and Daman Morrisette tilted the score back in Garden City’s favour. “They were really hurting us inside and we knew that was going to be a problem for us,” said Fighting Gophers coach Phil Penner. “They’re so big and talented … we really had to get a little tougher on the inside and rebound.” Penner said relinquishing leads has been the concern all season long with his team. They’d come out hot, and then let opponents back into the game as they cooled down. Despite that character flaw, the coach has all the confidence in his club to find that extra gear when the pressure is at its highest. “We’ve been in a lot of big games,” Penner said. “I have a lot of confidence in our guys. They maintained their poise and they made plays when they had to.”
In the other semi, the 2nd-seeded Winnipeg Oak Park Raiders edged the 6th-seeded Winnipeg Sturgeon Heights Huskies 84-79 in overtime. Oak Park led by one at the half but Sturgeon Heights owned the third quarter, outscoring Oak Park 21-13. In the final two minutes of regulation time the Raiders went inside to 6-foot-5 Trevor Scheurmann, who scored seven straight points to tie the score 73-73. In the five-minute OT, Oak Park, led by Roper’s four points, outscored Sturgeon 11-6. “It was super-good, we were down by 13 (in the fourth quarter) and we just kept working at it and kept going,” said Scheurmann, his team’s player of the game who led all scorers with 28 points. Justin Roper scored 25. “We just want to build off this and hopefully get it done tomorrow.” Sturgeon brought a gutsy performance that pushed Oak Park and had the crowd on its feet. D.J. Levy led the Huskies with 18 points with Devin Schmidt and Kevin Quirante adding 16 each.
In the final, the Winnipeg Garden City Fighting Gophers defeated the Winnipeg Oak Park Raiders 69-65. Guard Jarred Ogungbemi-Jackson drained a trey with 30 seconds to play to ice the Gophers first provincial title. Ogungbemi-Jackson scored 23. Daman Morrissette added 17 and Brayden Duff 14 for the Gophers. “This is probably the best feeling of my life so far,” Ogungbemi-Jackson told the Winnipeg Free Press. He added that he consulted with his brother Sidney, a Gopher assistant, at half-time. “The shots I had been taking weren’t really ill- advised shots, but they weren’t that good. My brother told me to just keep shooting and keep my head level, and they kept on going in.” The Raiders led 29-26 at the half. Justin Roper paced the Raiders with 26. Trevor Scheurmann added 20.
The co-bronze medalist Winnipeg Sturgeon Heights Huskies: Kevin Quirante; Charles Dimappi; Tyler Pierce; Dexter Hughes; Kliff Kenyon; Thomas Hedley; Thomas Hedley; D.J. Levy; Denis Mompepe; Connor Hutsal; Keinan Lafrance; Harman Brar; Devin Schmidt; Shaquille Armstrong; coach Kirby Schepp; assistant Chris Byrnes; assistant Lan Hayes; assistant Gene Watson
The co-bronze medalist Winnipeg Dakota Lancers: Matt Dueck; Phillip Labongo; Brent Lowe; Bryce Jones;
The silver medalist Winnipeg Oak Park Raiders: Justin Roper; Trevor Scheurmann; Brett O’Brien; Jeremy Lomonaco; Justin Gauthier; Kerry Bosko; Mike Iwanchuk; Kyle Sanchez; Mark James; Devin Atkin; Anthony Malott; Mark Ridd; coach Randy Kusano; assistant Darren Klapak; assistant Dan Becker; manager Jared Kessler
The gold medalist Garden City Fighting Gophers: Jarred Ogungbemi-Jackson; Damian Morissette; Alex Walker; coach Phil Penner; assistant Sidney Ogungbemi-Jackson