In the quarterfinals, the Saint John Greyhounds upset the Riverview Royals 86-70. Greyhounds captain Graeme Scott, who scored 30, nabbed 16 boards, dished 12 assists and stole 5 balls, said the win didn’t feel like an upset. “Definitely not. We knew we could play with these guys since the first of the year. We came in here before and beat them and we just had to do it again.” The Greyhounds dominated from start to finish and simply outworked and outplayed the Royals. Point guard Allan Logan added 21 points and was deadly from three-point range, while Matt McGowan had a big game with 15. The Greyhounds led 54-41 at the half. The Royals (coached by Brian Forsythe, assisted by Dave Tingley) included Thomas Budd, Greg Diamond, Craig Macleod, Mike MacLeod, Shawn Nickerson.
The Quispamsis Kennebecasis Valley Crusaders defeated the Moncton Purple Knights x-x. The Purple Knights included Kevin Monaghan, Jordan Beyea.
The Fredericton Black Kats defeated x.
In the last quarterfinal, the Moncton Bernice MacNaughton Highlanders defeated x.
Other qualifiers:
Sussex Regional Sonics (coached by Byron Barton, assisted by Candace Jeffrey and Geoff Blakeney) included Aleksej Djokic, Filip Subotic, Jonathan Pierre, Mohamed Nur, David Bagheri, Jamie Goss, Richard Greenaway, Borko Brusin, Igor Korolija, Khaleel Siddiqui, Khaled Deeb, Justin Topp and Abdul Isse.
Dieppe Mathieu Martin Matadors: Alex Desroches, Luc Drisdelle, J.P. DesLauriers, Jeremie Mallais.
In the semis, the Quispamsis Kennebecasis Valley Crusaders defeated the Saint John Greyhounds 81-71 as Josh Graham scored 32 and Colin Flynn-Breen 20. Graeme Scott led the Greyhounds with 35. Allan Logan added 11.
In the other semi, the Fredericton Black Kats dispatched the Moncton Bernice MacNaughton Highlanders 85-78 as Elliot Thompson scored 28 and Andy Wright 21. Matt Robertson led the Highlanders with 18. John Budreski added 17 and Jeff Wagner 10. The score was knotted at 39 at the half.
In the final, the Fredericton Black Kats defeated the Quispamsis Kennebecasis Valley Crusaders 84-73. Player of the game Andy Wright scored 35 on 16-31 from the field, 3-6 from the arc and 6 assists to help Fredericton complete its third consecutive boys-girls double of AAA crowns. “It’s amazing,” Wright told the New Brunswick Telegraph-Journal. “The first two (championships) were good, but knowing this was my last game playing at FHS, there’s no better way you can go out.” Southwest Conference player of the year Elliot Thompson added 13 points, five assists and a game-high 15 rebounds, while Justin Conn scored 11 and Manny Wilby collected nine points, four assists and four steals. Adam Creaghan paced the Crusaders with 19 points and Colin Flynn-Breen earned player of the game honours with 17 on 6-18 from the field, 1-4 from the arc, 8 boards and 5 assists. Josh Graham added 18 points on 7-16 from the floor and 2 assists. Jamie Barefoot got into early foul trouble and scored only 8, while nabbing 6 boards before fouling out “They just ran us to death,” said Graham. “The pressure wears your legs down. You don’t get to just walk up the floor against them. We didn’t shoot very good, I personally shot horribly. But I have no regrets. We played tough and that’s all you can do in a game like this. You play tough and hope for the best. They were the better team.” After six lead changes in the first eight minutes, the Kats built their lead to as much as 13 points in the first half. But the Crusaders kept their cool, battling back to make it 42-39 at the break. Then Fredericton turned it up a notch, opening the second half on a 13-2 run and continuing to stretch their lead to as much as 18. The Crusaders never cut the lead back down to single digits, missing some bunnies and shooting just 35% in the second half while Wright and his teammates shot 51%. With KVHS determined not to let Thompson beat them, Wright took the team on his shoulders. “He was great,” said his father and coach, Phil Wright. “He has a warrior’s heart and when he gets that look in his eye, he’s not going to be denied.”
The co-bronze medalist Moncton Bernice MacNaughton Highlanders: Matt Robertson; John Budreski; Jeff Wagner; Nick Kaminsky; Matt Robinson; Eric Duquette;
The co-bronze medalist Saint John Greyhounds: Graeme Scott; Alan Logan; Nick Bonner; Kyle Blanchard; Matt McGown; coach Paul Holder
The silver medalist Quispamsis Kennebecasis Valley Crusaders: Adam Creaghan; Colin Flynn-Green; Josh Graham; Jamie Barfoot; Carl Bailey; Jordan Duguay; Tim Morrison; Ryan Kingston; Sean Hogan; Nick Steeves; Seth Dunstan; Joel Dolhoun; coach Dennis Rollins; assistant Danny Audoin
The gold medalist Fredericton Black Kats: Elliott Thompson; Andy Wright; Ryan MacPherson; Manny Wilby; Jack Piercy; Justin Conn; Luke Dolan; Mark Hubbard; Cameron Clark; Brad LeBritton; David Dolan; Geoff Frame; Ross Stilwell; coach Phil Wright; assistant Mike Wright; associate Larry Wisniewski; manager Ross Stilwell