In the quarterfinals, the top-seeded Quispamsis Kennebecasis Valley Crusaders dusted the 8th-seeded Bathurst Phantoms 88-56 as Miller scored 27, Walker 22, Johnston 15, Charlebois 12, Malcolm 6, Jackson 4 and Armstrong 2. Drew Thibodeau led the Phantoms with 15. Tim O’Connell added 14, Colin Brewster 9, Bruce Boucher 6, Terry Shaw 5, Mark Brewster 3, Phil Colton 2 and Mike Hennessey 2, while Rick Ellis, Rob McCurdy and Shawn Smith were scoreless.
The 4th-seeded Moncton Harrison Trimble Trojans defeated the 5th-seeded Moncton Purple Knights x-x. The Purple Knights included Bruce Noble, Scott Lancaster, Keri Ryan, Andrew MacPherson, Garnet McKean, Bruce Bell, Jamie Blackmore, Rod Robertson, Ian Campbell.
The 2nd-seeded Fredericton Black Kats spanked the 7th-seeded Riverview Royals 129-44 as Scott scored 20, Smith 18, Adams 17, Nair 15, Sullivan 15, McMullin 12, Hoyt 10, Kidney 8, Tingley 7, Brown 5 and Mason 2. Chris Battis led the Royals with 14. Dan McEvoy added 12, Neil LeBlanc 7, Nick Nichols 4, Mark Atkinson 2, Shane Rawlins 2, Todd McCann 2 and Dwight Balser 1.
In the last quarterfinal, the 3rd-seeded Sussex Sonics whipped the 6th-seeded Miramichi Valley Pulamoo 88-66 as Ryan scored 28, Dave Haley 18, Peter Haley 15, Munro 12, Hutchinson 6, T Muscroft 5, McGarrigle 2 and Philippe 2. Barry Amos led the Pulamoo with 17. Ian Noseworthy added 16, Mike Ward 11, Jim Watters 10, Mike Viennau 6, Scott Mazerolle 4 and Rick Stewart 2, while Kiley McKenna and Sonny Close were scoreless.
In the semis, the 2nd-seeded Fredericton Black Kats nipped the 3rd-seeded Sussex Sonics 73-72 as Sullivan scored 21, Nair 19, Kidney 12, Adams 8, Hoyt 6, McMullin 4 and Smith 3. Ryan led the Sonics with 50. Haley added 8, Jeffrey 6, Munroe 4, Muscroft 2 and Haley 2. The Sonics led 34-29 at the half.
In the other semi, the top-seeded Quispamsis Kennebecasis Valley Crusaders defeated the 4th-seeded Moncton Harrison Trimble Trojans 70-61 as Walker scored 26, Armstrong 15, Charlebois 10, Miller 10 and Johnston 9. Cummings led the Trojans with 21. Wallace added 15, Smith 8, Macleod 6, Weatherbee 6, Kitchen 4 and Mowat 1.
In the final, the Fredericton Black Kats edged the Quispamsis Kennebecasis Valley Crusaders 63-62 in overtime as Vinod Nair notched a putback with 12 seconds to play. Nair told the Fredericton Daily Gleaner that it “was just part of the offence. We were just crashing the boards like we have to. It came to me and I put it in.” Crusader Shawn Miller launched a desperation 15-footer with six seconds to play which Nair blocked. Crusader Joey Walker forced overtime with the score knotted at 55 with a bucket in the paint. Sullivan, who suffered a leg injury with 8”13 to play, led the Black Kats with 22. Nair added 13, Kidney 8, Smith 7, Scott 6, Adams 5 and McMullin 2. Black Kats coach Gary Young said “it’s awfully nice to see a kid you know is hurting come out and play with the character and stamina he did after what looked to be a very serious injury. There’s no question that leg will badly swollen tomorrow. But he wanted back in the ball game and I wasn’t going to deny him an opportunity to play. He showed he could play with some pain. I think he was a critical factor and certainly deserved player of the game.” Young added that Nair did an excellent job shutting down Crusader Joe Walker as “we keyed all week on what he was going to do defensively on Joey Walker, the premier centre in the league. Walker had one basket in the second half to tie the score 55-55 with 10 seconds left in regulation – and that is just an exceptional job against anybody who can jump as high as he can. I think Vinod deserves full credit for that. He had him solely man-on-man with no help 9 times out of 10. It was just Vinod’s job to stop him.” Sullivan said “it’s a total team effort man, everybody contributing, everybody scored down the clutch and you just can’t say enough about the whole team.” The Black Kats finished (29-3) on the season, capped a boys/girls double at the AAA level, led 30-29 at the half and hit 5-11 from the line. Walker led the Crusaders with 13. Johnston added 13, Armstrong 13, Miller 12, Charlebois 9 and Jackson 2. The Crusaders hit 9-14 from the line. Crusaders coach Peter Corby said “they beat us on the boards. WE didn’t play our game. We didn’t control the boards. It was the biggest difference. We often gave them two or three shots. When you give any team a chance to score two or three times even the weakest club in the world is going to score on you. And you don’t give Fredericton High School two or three shots.”
The co-bronze medalist Sussex Sonics: John Ryan; Dave Haley; Peter Haley; Sean Munro; Neil Hutchinson; Todd Muscroft; Troy McGarrigle; Patrick Philippe; Spencer Jeffrey; Mark Muscroft; Stephen Carter; Kenny Charters; Dennis Lackie; Dennis Anderson; Luke Thomas;
The co-bronze medalist Moncton Harrison Trimble Trojans: Chris Cummings; Tim Wallace; Jeff Smith; Ian Macleod; Darrick Weatherbee; David Kitche; Jeff Mowat; Dwayne Melanson; Jamie Forsythe; John Rosengran;
The silver medalist Quispamsis Kennebecasis Valley Crusaders: Shawn Miller; Justin McCann; Juston Harrington; Greg Evans; Neil Armstrong; Doug Malcolm; Tim Johnston; Jeff Green; Rick Wilson; Shawn Charlebois; Chris Jackson; Joey Walker; coach Peter Corby; assistant Bill Mayberry; manager Rob Stevenson; manager Donnie Moore
The champion Fredericton Black Kats: Vinod Nair; Jon Kenyon; Bill McMullin; Paul Mason; Rob Tingley; Duff Adams; Aaron Scott; Alex Kidney; Lee Hoyt; Dan Smith; Malcolm Brown; Richie Sullivan; coach Gary Young; manager Scott Munro; manager Scott Paterson