In the interzone playoffs: …………………………………………………… The Brandon T.A. Neelin Spartans whipped the Virden Golden Bears 74-26. …………………………………………………… The zone 1 champ Winnipeg Churchill Bulldogs dusted the zone 13 champ Lorette Scorpions 80-45. …………………………………………………… The zone 3 champ Winnipeg St. James Jimmies clubbed the zone 4 champ Sanford Sabres 77-46.
In the wildcard game, the Winnipeg Nelson McIntyre Maroons clipped the Winnipeg Gray Academy Raiders 67-55.
In the opening round, held in Brandon: …………………………………………………… The 8th-seeded Thompson R.D. Parker Trojans defeated the 9th-seeded Winnipeg St. James Jimmies 86-81 as Jordan Merasty scored 23. Matt Antonio paced St. James with 19. Jordan Delaronde was chosen player of the game for the Trojans, while Daniel Dungca earned the laurels for the Jimmies. The Jimmies (coached by Ryan Kangas, assisted by Dennis Dare and Ariel Antonio) also included Ronel Banbilbo, Raymond Tuazon, Brendan Gali, Judd Eusabio, Ian Stratton, Anou Viraphanh, Carlo Dungca, Jacob Cook, Hugh Hutcheson and Imman Ledesma. …………………………………………………… The 10th-seeded Winnipeg Churchill Bulldogs stunned the 7th-seeded Swan River Swan Valley Tigers 87-78 as Abe Eyob scored 22. Joel Hart paced Swan Valley with 16. Jeff Abrahamson added 15 and Brendan Fedorchuk 15. Eyob was chosen player of the game for the Bulldogs, while Tyson Kinaschuk earned the laurels for the Tigers. The Tigers (coached by Ronn Vestby, assisted by Ryan Immerkar, Justin Delaurier, Chad Behrmann and Duane Whyte) also included Keith Easter, Joel Hart, Eric Froese, Karl Johnson, Josh Hart, Sayle Williams, Keegan Harness and Kelsey Bailey.
In the quarterfinal, the 5th-seeded Winnipeg Westgate Mennonite Wings whacked the 4th-seeded Winnipeg Linden Christian Wings 88-68 as Jacob Miller and Luke Bergren each scored 23. Drew Martin paced Linden Christian with 21. Miller was chosen player of the game for Westgate, while Carson Hammond earned the laurels for Linden Christian. The Wings (coached by Manfred Glor, assisted by Ron Eisbrenner) also included Nic Neustaedter, Hayden Glor, Damon Hart, Luke Cassie, Daniel Kendrick, Evan Aukema, Andrew Ens, Luke Penner, Drew Martin, Carson Hammond and Aaron Peddle.
The top-seeded Brandon T.A. Neelin Spartans stomped the 8th-seeded Thompson R.D. Parker Trojans 83-52 as Kirby Sinclair scored 23. Jordan Meratsy paced the Trojans with 20. Mike Jacobson was chosen player of the game for the Spartans, while Damon Sabourin earned the laurels for the Trojans. “We played with them for the first three quarters,” said R.D. Parker coach Jonathan Wamboldt. “We just ran out of steam.” The Trojans (coached by Jonathan Wamboldt, Trevor, Jim Mason and Chris Pelchat) Jordan Todd, Jordan Delaronde, Jordan Merasty, Damon Sabourin, Kristian Dreolini, Landen Sorensen, Alex Robertson, Alex Ryan, Kyle Loewen, Zach Sanders, Tim Pelland and Jacky Colombe.
The 2nd-seeded St. John’s Ravenscourt Eagles crushed the 10th-seeded Winnipeg Churchill Bulldogs 77-54 as Dror Leibenthal scored 31. Joseph Jabbie paced Churchill with 12. Leibenthal was chosen player of the game for the Eagles while Jabbie earned the laurels for Churchill. The Bulldogs (coached by Bob Reid, assisted by Alan Briol and Moein Shadabi) also included Trent Despins, Abraham Eyob, Jarrel Garcia, Andrew Harrison, Evan Gill, Zach Unrau, Josh Hutton, Matt Lazzari, Ryan Paul, Jesse Blackburn-Leyte, Idi Ngilima and Tyson Stengel.
The 6th-seeded Winnipeg Nelson McIntyre Wolverines stunned the 3rd-seeded Winnipeg Windsor Park Royals 56-53 as Matt Mrozek scored 18. Jordan Gauthier paced Windsor Park with 13. Ryan Sharman was chosen player of the game for the Wolverines, while Brandyn Rheault earned the laurels for Windsor Park. The Royals (coached by Jeremy Martin and Doug Kruk) also included Eric Leblanc, Aidan Ramsay, Rob Laxdal, Christian Harris, Jordan Frobisher, Connor Cattani, Trevor Gullivan, Rob Malo, Steph Balamatowski and Matt Hagen.
In the semis, the 2nd-seeded St. John’s Ravenscourt Eagles edged the 6th-seeded Winnipeg Nelson McIntyre Wolverines 58-53 as Eric Fong scored 19. Stanley Bateman paced Nelson McIntyre with 16. Albert Liao was chosen player of the game for the Eagles, while Matt Mrozek earned the laurels for the Wolverines.
In the other semi, the 5th-seeded Winnipeg Westgate Mennonite Wings stunned the top-seeded Brandon T.A. Neelin Spartans 67-62 as Levi Bergen scored 20, including a critical trey with 43 seconds to play to stem the tide on a 14-2 Spartans run. Curtis Ives paced Neelin with 19. Matt Warren added 12 and Greg Schnell 11. Luke Bergen was chosen player of the game for the Wings, while Cole Dickson earned the laurels for the Spartans. Neelin coach Don Thomson told the Brandon Sun that “let’s face it: We knew that, somewhere along the line, that’s what people had to do to really get us down. Our guard play has improved just immensely over the last two years … and we got some good looks. Our guards have come along so well that those looks have become good looks for them and, you know, they didn’t go in today “ The Wings sat back in a 2-1-2 zone defence most of the game and sagged down in the paint to eliminate Neelin’s biggest threats: Connor Ketchen, Matt Warren and Kirby Sinclair, who picked up three fouls in the first half and had his court time limited. The zone left Neelin’s guards with a number of open looks but the Spartans were inconsistent from the perimeter and, as a result, found themselves down 35-30 at halftime and by as many as 14 in the fourth quarter “We knew they were going to come out with energy, we just knew we had to sustain our energy long enough for their’s to drop off and we just didn’t sustain it long enough,” said guard Cole Dickson who hit three treys and scored 11. “We had a lot of peaks and valleys and their energy just outlasted ours tonight.” The Wings also dominated the offensive boards. “We talked about three things to be successful today and one of them was we had to rebound the ball extremely well,” Thomson said. “We took care of the rebounding in the key really well but our pursuit on the ball that bounced 15, 18 feet, we were second on every three or four. If you’re going to be successful, you’ve gotta be able to do that.”
In the bronze medal match, the top-seeded Brandon T.A. Neelin Spartans clipped the 6th-seeded Winnipeg Nelson McIntyre Maroons 79-69 as Kirby Sinclair scored 21, Curtis Ives 13, Matt Warren 12 and Mark Jacobson 10. The Spartans ripped off a 9-0 run, including back-to-back treys by Jacobson, early in the second quarter to take command. Matt Mrozek paced McIntyre with 28. Blake Majcher was chosen player of the game for the Spartans, while Mrozek earned the laurels for Nelson McIntyre. “I thought we did a much better job defensively (than in the semis),” Neelin coach Don Thomson told the Brandon Sun. “They’re a tougher match up than Westgate is, just getting the ball and then stopping dribble penetration I thought we defended extremely well for the most part.” Connor Ketchen said “after last night it was rough and we had a long night. But we came out today — especially playing Nelson Mac, a team that beat us… by 25 in January – it gave us that extra motivation to come out and play hard. … The thing we’re most impressed with is the improvement from the end of last year to this year. We grew tremendously.” Thomson said “we’ve talked all along with this group about leaving a footprint and the Neelin family, and they’ve definitely done that. Bronze isn’t what we set out to get and at the same time they left their footprint and that’s exactly what you ask the kids.” The Wolverines (coached by David Day) also included Stanley Bateman, Tyler Van Doorn, Casey Verrier, Ryan Sharman, Josh Mrozek, Matt Moreira, Bryce Anderson, Roger Kebini, Jared Berryman, Tom Nuesister and Anders Giesbrecht.
In the final, the 5th-seeded Winnipeg Westgate Mennonite Wings stomped the 2nd-seeded Winnipeg St. John’s Ravenscourt Eagles 75-47
The bronze medalist Brandon T.A. Neelin Spartans: Kirby Sinclair; Mike Jacobson; Cole Dickson; Curtis Ives; Blake Majcher; Jodie Ruskin; Greg Schnell; Matt Genaille; Tyler Minshull; Matt Warren; Conner Ketchen; Tegan Nagorski; Theo Farough; Mark Jacobson; coach Don Thomson; assistant Ritchie Jacobson; assistant Jeremy Wielenga
The silver medalist Winnipeg St. John’s Ravenscourt Eagles: Dror Leibenthal; Eric Fong; Albert Liao; Albert Yeung; Jack Wiebe; Neelan Sriranjan; Matthew Asamine; Eli Koulack; Caleb Holden; Daniel Fernandes; Kent Mundle; Mathieu Haiart; Aiden Baker; coach Darren Johnson; assistant Guy Magnusson
The gold medalist Winnipeg Westgate Mennonite Wings: Jacob Miller; Luke Bergen; Levi Bergen; Nick Riedeger; Zach Rempel; Jonah Langelotz; Corbin Warnock; Devin Friesen; Paul Hildebrand; Paul Dyck; John Paterson; Brendan Dyck; Drew Deamel; Thomas Aitken; Keaton Winter; Sam Bergen; coach Karl Wiebe; coach Don Miller; manager Justin Braun Janzen; manager Martin Bshouty; manager Leah Dyck; manager Sarah Litz