In the quarterfinals, Fredericton Leo Hayes Lions defeated the Moncton Harrison Trimble Trojans 65-54 as Jason Rouse scored 177, David Boyce 12, Josh Thomas 12 and Jason Daniels 12. Jordan Gillis led the Trojans with 16. David Fox added 14 and Rob Broome 14. The Lions led 47-28 at the half. The Trojans also included Alex Leblanc, Jordan Gillis, Travis Foster.
The Fredericton Black Kats dumped the Moncton Ecole L’Odyssee Olympiens 103-43 as David Dolan scored 16, Cameron Clark 14 and Colin Bradley 12. Daniel Quirion led the Olympiens with 21. Jonathan Arseneau added 9. The Black Kats led 44-28 at the half. The Olympiens also included Mash Zanglo, Remi Richard.
The Quispamsis Kennebecasis Valley Crusaders defeated the Moncton Bernice MacNaughton Highlanders 82-59 as Brent Kingston scored 24, Jordan McGill 11, David Gainforth 11 and Simon Gagnon 11. Cameron Wade paced the Highlanders with 19. Colin MacKenzie added 14 and Scott Kelly 12. The Crusaders led 54-24 at the half. The Highlanders also included David Matchett.
In the last quarterfinal, the Riverview Royals defeated Sussex Regional Sonics 66-60 as Anthony Sears scored 25, Alex MacLeod 18 and Ryan McCluskey 17. Sean deWinter led the Sonics with 19. Luke Belding added 14. The Royals led 37-29 at the half. The Sonics (coached by Byron Barton, assisted by Candace Jeffrey) also included Ryan Oxford, Adam Sparkes, Shawn Meehan, Aaron Tabor, Ryan Wells, Tom Isaacs, Jeff McLeod, Adam Aiton.
In the semis, the Fredericton Leo Hayes Lions stunned the Fredericton Black Kats 70-57 as Jason Rouse scored 20, David Boyce 16 and Zachary Haines 13. Paul Young led the Black Kats with 16. Cameron Clark added 12.
In the other semi, the host Riverview Royals crushed the Quispamsis Kennebecasis Valley Crusaders 87-57 as Alex McLeod scored 33, Jeremy Sallows 20 and Ryan McCluskey 19. Jordan McGill led the Crusaders with 14. Simon Gagnon added 10 and Brent Kingston 9.
In the final, the Riverview Royals defeated the Fredericton Leo Hayes Nashwaaksis Y’s Lions 94-73 as Alex MacLeod scored 35 on 16-21 from the floor, 8 boards and 3 steals. The Royals shot .688 from the floor in the second half and .644 for the game in winning their first title since 1994. “This is number one for sure on my list, I have not done anything bigger than this so far, but it’s not over yet,” MacLeod told the New Brunswick Telegraph-Journal. “It can’t get any more perfect than this. This is the best feeling in the world.” The Royals trailed 14-12 early but took control with a 13-0 run. Ryan McCluskey added 20 points and 8 assists, Anthony Sears 13 points, 8 assists and 6 boards. Jeremy Sollows notched 9 and Xavier Talbot-Thiebaux 8. David Boyce paced Leo Hayes with 20 points. Jason Daniels added 15, Josh Thomas 12 Jason Rouse 7, Gordon Banks 7 and Luke Olmstead 7. Riverview coach Garry Fox said “this is just great — I’ve coached for about 23 years in Riverview and I’ve won titles at the middle school level, the junior varsity level and at the midget provincial level before — but nothing compares to this. I just feel so good for the kids, we had so many Grade 12s and some of them I coached since they were in Grade 4. … Our guys played a great defensive game. I thought our zone defence gave them a lot of trouble and kept us out of a little bit of foul trouble. When we get into our running game, it’s hard to beat us.” An elated Ryan McCluskey said “I can’t even – words don’t describe this right now, I don’t know what to say. I’m so happy to be with all my boys, growing up playing ball, to end on this note — it means the world to us.” The game began with Riverview coming out on the offensive as its quick offense earned the club an early 10-2 lead. The Royals then began to falter and allowed Leo Hayes a 12-point run, as nerves seemed to get the best of the seasoned team that gave up a number of turnovers. Riverview led 35-23 at the half. Just over halfway through the third quarter McCluskey hit a fade away trey as he was fouled that caught nothing but net. He added the free throw as the Royals opened up a 20-point lead. They led 68-46 after three quarters and romped. MacLeod said the Royals were determined to earn the school’s first title since 1994. “We knew we had a lot of pressure on us. …. It was a big deal for us to win this. Since the beginning we knew this was our team, we knew we were going to go. (Coach Garry Fox) put us in a lot of competitive games and that helped us out.” Riverview hit 12/20 from the line, while Leo Hayes was 21-31. Leo Hayes coach John Hickey said “they shot close to 70 per cent from the field and we just didn’t shoot that. When you shoot 70 per cent from the field, you’re going to win most games.” David Boyce said “it took us a lot of hard work to get here,” Boyce said. “We had a lot of ups and downs throughout the season. We tried to finish it off on a high. We left everything on the floor, so there’s nothing more you can ask for. We got on them for a while but they just made everything. We weren’t shooting at a high percentage like them, so we knew it wasn’t going to turn out well for us.” The Royals had a four-inch height advantage across the starting five and they used that size to make it hard for the Lions to penetrate. “It was tough inside,” Boyce said. “We got bullied around a little bit and they’re quick too.” Hickey said “we have a lot of confidence in our guys. It was just one of those games that got away from us. They made shots in key situations. We didn’t. Yeah, we missed some bunnies. Would it have been closer? Yeah, maybe a different story, but we missed ’em.” The Royals, who beat the Lions all four times, finished with a 32-7 record. They’ve won the Northeast Conference crown five of the past six seasons but had only made one other Final 12 appearance in that span, losing by 20 to the Fredericton HS Black Kats back in 2002. With 9 of 12 seniors, the Royals were determined to go out as champs. “We have been playing ball together since we were five,” MacLeod said. Hickey said “they’re a tough team. They haven’t been the best all year for no reason.” Hickey’s team finished (25-14). “We’re unbelievably proud,” he said. “This is an unbelievable group of young men. They’ve worked harder than anybody. You guys just see them work hard in games. We see them work hard every day in practice.” Earlier in the year, former Lion Mike Fitzgerald had lost his battle with a brain tumour less than a month ago. “With all the things that we’ve been through, just being here is an accomplishment for us,” Boyce said. “It’s been a good season. We’ve grown as a team. Everyone’s chipped in tremendously. We wanted to finish with a win but it wasn’t meant to be.”
The co-bronze medalist Fredericton Black Kats: Paul Young; Cameron Clark; David Dolan; Colin Bradley; Calvin LeBlanc; Adam Melanson; John Morse; Matt Rioux; A.J. Dowling; Ryan Clarke;
The co-bronze medalist Quispamsis Kennebecasis Valley Crusaders: Jordan McGill; Simon Gagnon; Brent Kingston; David Gainforth; Devin Graham; Ryan Vaughan; Ryan Nicholson; Adam Spurrell; Brian Brigden; Nick Sipprell; Jesse Bartlett; Jacob Calhoun; coach Dennis Rollins
The silver medalist Fredericton Leo Hayes Lions: Jason Rouse; David Boyce; Zachary Haines; Jason Daniels; Josh Thomas; Gordon Banks; Luke Olmstead; coach John Hickey
The gold medalist Riverview Royals: Ryan McCluskey; Alex MacLeod; Jeremy Sollows; Xavier Talbot-Thiebaux; Anthony Sears; Anthony Pickard; Jesse Balser; Eric Banks; Drew Barron; Colton Chase; Alex Lewis; Chris MacDonald; Zach Macklin; Garry Murdoch; Alex Parsons; Cody Sollows; Matt Sears; Graham Wilbur; Tommy Wilson; coach Garry Fox; assistant Mike MacDougall; assistant Dave Tingley