In the quarterfinals, held in Antigonish, the top-seeded Halifax West Warriors defeated the 8th-seeded Dartmouth Prince Andrew Panthers 78-50 as Fred Perry scored 25 and Keith Gough 21. Kirk MacKinnon led the Panthers with 20. Alan Stevens added 16. The Panthers also included Jeff Sponagle, Russell Nauffts.
The 2nd-seeded Bridgewater Park View Education Centre Panthers defeated the 7th-seeded Truro Cobequid Educational Centre Cougars 64-55 as Scott Veinotte scored 21 and Chris Isenor 11. Scott Walsh led the Cougars with 20. The Cougars (coached by Brent Baker, assisted by R Hergot) also included Corey MacSween, Chris Patton, Robert Ryan, James Muir, Peter Rawlinson, Iain LaPointe, Chris Doyle, Nick Robichaud, Michael Fisher and Ted McPhee.
The 3rd-seeded Halifax Queen Elizabeth Lions defeated the 6th-seeded host Antigonish Dr. J.H. Gillis Royals 80-69 as Tim Maloney scored 25. The Lions led 44-31 at the half. Kentron Beals added 13 and Cordell Colley 11. David Murphy led the Royals with 26. The Royals also included Jackie Chisholm, Mark Chisholm.
In the last quarterfinal, the 4th-seeded Coxheath Riverview Rural Royals defeated the 5th-seeded Dartmouth Cole Harbour District Cavaliers x-x. The Cavaliers included Patrick Downey, Brent Stewart, Michael Johnson.
In the semis, the top-seeded Halifax West Warriors dumped the Coxheath Riverview Rural Royals 78-67 as Keith Gough scored 15, Benji Hill 13 and Nathan Carvery 10. Sheldon Snow led the Royals with 22. Kirk Bryden added 17. The Warriors led 34-25 at the half.
In the other semi, the 3rd-seeded Halifax Queen Elizabeth Lions upset the 2nd-seeded Bridgewater Park View Education Centre Panthers 62-58 as Cordelle Colley scored 17, Tom Madden 11 and Tim Maloney 10. Craig Cooper paced the Panthers with 20. Scott Veinotte added 13 and Kris Baker 10.
In the bronze medal match, the Coxheath Riverview Rural Royals nipped the Bridgewater Park View Education Centre Panthers 75-73 as Sheldon Snow scored 19 and Tony MacNeil 12. Craig Cooper and Chris Isenor each notched 13 to lead Park View.
In the final, the 3rd-seeded Halifax Queen Elizabeth Lions dumped the Halifax West Warriors 69-58 to hand legendary coach Bob Douglas a title in his last match at the helm. “I’m just speechless. I’m just like in a state of … I don’t know,” Douglas, who announced at the start of the season that he’d be retiring after 27 years of coaching, told the Halifax Daily News. “I was just like in another world. This was a team that beat us by 20 points and three games. The kids said: ‘we can beat them, we can beat them’, and I wasn’t going to give them any negative vibrations. They said all year: ‘we’ve got to have this win for Coach, it’s his last game’. I said, ‘forget me. I’ve been very fortunate. This is your chance’. This is as good an effort as I’ve ever seen. … I just couldn’t believe we could score that easily. Their press was so impressive. They didn’t do anything else because it’s been so effective the last 20 games. We took that away. We attacked it and actually scored on it. You could’ve knocked me over with a feather. I just thought that team was the class of the province. But it’s awful tough. I’ve been on the other side in the same way. The pressure on a team – they really proved themselves to be the best all year and that’s not easy. I’ve been in the same situation where I’ve brought in a team that were 30-2 and lost.” Cordelle Colley led the Lions with 31, while rookie point guard Steve Nelson was exceptional against the pressure. Captain Tim Maloney said the Lions “just all wanted to win it for coach. The great career he’s had, it was nice for him to go out on a win, especially against the West, who’ve beat us.” Tim Maloney finished with 14 points, including 10 in the first half. Stephen Nelson added 12. Queen Elizabeth led 34-33 at the half. Fred Perry led Halifax West with 34. “Perry can score, at will, pretty much any time he wants to,” said Maloney. “We just wanted to contain everyone else.”
The bronze medalist Coxheath Riverview Rural Royals: Sheldon Snow; Tony MacNeil; Kirk Bryden; Todd Lewis; Brad MacNeil; Criag Tobin; Chris Lewis; Ian MacDonald; Troy Miller; David Barrington; Shane Hussey; Patrick Harrington; coach Bill Burns; assistant David Martell; manager Ron Miller; manager V.J. MacDonald
The silver medalist Halifax West Warriors: Fred Perry; Keith Gough; Benji Hill; Nathan Carvery; Jason Jones; Troy Wilson; coach Mark Parker
The gold medalist Halifax Queen Elizabeth Lions: Tim Maloney; Stephen Nelson; Cordelle Colley; Tom Madden; Jonah Taussig; coach Bob Douglas; assistant Jason Wilson