In the quarterfinals, held in Wolfville, the top-seeded Greenwich Horton Griffins whipped the 8th-seeded Glace Bay Panthers 116-60 as Ellis Ffrench scored 35, Pat Riley 19, Jeremy Dunn 12, Neal McGill 10, Sage Tanner 10, Stephane Traynor 8, Jake Kendrick 7, Matt Riley 7, Chris Babin 4 and Keegan Fiske 4. Justin Gilmet led the Panthers with 21. Jarvis Farmer added 11, Jordan McNeil 10, Jamie Callaghan 8, Adam Mugford 6, Andrew Donovan 2 and Johnny Madore 2, while Cody Campbell and Corey Littler were scoreless. The Panthers (coached by John Ryan) also included Jeff MacLeod, Richard MacDonald, Matt Currie, Nathan MacLeod and Coady MacPherson.
The 4th-seeded Halifax Grammar Gryphons defeated the 5th-seeded Bridgewater Park View Education Centre Panthers 87-80 as Matt Johnston scored 28, Noel Jones 20, Adam Ross 16, Ryan Cutliffe 8, Simon McCormick 8, Chris Filliter 4, Coleman Mallery 2 and Tarek Lawen 2. Ryan Himmelman led the Panthers with 16. Marcus Dolliver added 16, Brett Barkhouse -14, Tanner MacKay 13, Josh Goode 6, Aaron Bishop 4, Ryan Cunningham 4, Zack Haughn 4 and Chris Myers 3, while Matthias Pizzera was scoreless.
The 2nd-seeded Halifax Citadel Phoenix defeated the 7th-seeded Halifax Charles P. Allen Cheetahs 73-56 as Eamon Morrissey scored 13, Richard Halpin 12, Thomas Doolittle 11, Matt McDonald 11, Torres Anderson 9, Marquis Clayton 9 and Dwayne Gero-Carvery 8. Cory Brown paced the Cheetahs with 16. Mark Lutley added 9, Brett Hartlen 8, Sigmar Vjorsson 8, Matt Beattie 6, Kyle Balcom 4, Brad Inglis 3 and Connor Boyd 2, while Luke Dempsey, Andrew Dart and Nadrew Dart were scoreless.
In the last quarterfinal, the 6th-seeded Truro Cobequid Educational Centre Cougars stunned the 3rd-seeded Dartmouth Cole Harbour District Cavaliers 83-78 as Tyler Smith scored 29, Brandon Mallaley 21, Tim Crouse 14, Kyle Johnson 8, Eugene Anderson 6, Chance Simmonds 4, Sean Upshaw 2 and Kyle Hoare 1. “I’m really happy for the guys. They played their hearts out,” said coach Marc Roberts. He added the win demonstrated how much character his players have. “We trailed for about 90 per cent of the game. But the guys never quit and kept fighting and we pulled it out.” Julian Smith scored 18 to lead the Cavaliers (coached by Craig Boyce). Landrel Beals added 18, Cory Boutlier 14, Robert Downey 10, Cordelle Beals 10, Akeim Smith 6 and Jerry Downey 2.
In the semi-finals, the top-seeded host Greenwich Horton Griffins clocked the 4th-seeded Halifax Grammar Gryphons 91-44 as Ellis Ffrench scored 38, Jeremy Dunn 18, Pat Riley 8, Keegan Fiske 8, Matt Riley 6, Neal McGill 6, Stephan Traynor 3, Jake Kendrick 2 and Sage Tanner 2. The win improved the Gryphons record to (40-0). “Our kids were ready to play,” Griffins coach Tim Kendrick told the Halifax Chronicle-Herald. “We came out strong. We changed our defence up a little bit from what we’ve done before against them and we did a great job of executing at both ends. We played very hard.” Ryan Cutliffe paced the Griffins with 13. Matt Johnston added 12, Noel Jones 10, Matt Lyons 3, Louis Zatman 2, Tarek Lawen 2 and Simon McCormick 2.
In the other semi, the 2nd-seeded Halifax Citadel Phoenix whipped the 6th-seeded Truro Cobequid Educational Centre Cougars 75-53. Duane Gero-Carvery led a balanced Citadel attack with 15 points. Riley Halpin added 14 points and Harrison Brown had eight of his 10 during a game-changing 27-5 run as the Phoenix pulled away in the second half. Cobequid, who upset No. 3 Cole Harbour on Thursday, trailed by four at the half and drew within 40-39 early in the third quarter. But Citadel amped up the pressure, forcing turnovers and creating fast breaks as they built a 67-44 lead. “Our main thing was to get out and run the floor, because we knew we were more athletic than them,” said Brown. Brandon Malally had 23 points for Cobequid.
In the bronze medal match, the 4th-seeded Halifax Grammar Gryphons whipped the 6th-seeded Truro Cobequid Educational Centre Cougars 61-44 as Noel Jones scored 25, Matt Johnston 12, Adam Ross 9, Ryan Cutliffe 7, Coleman Mallery 3, Louis Zatzman 2, Simon McCormick 2 and Joe Sadek 1. Tyler Smith paced the Cougars with 14. Brandon Malally added 11, Sean Upshaw 3, Tim Crouse 3, Greg Beaver 3, Kyle Johnson 2, Eugene Anderson 2, Jeremy Naugler 2, Chance Simmons 2 and Andrew Myette 2. The Cougars (coached by Marc Roberts, assisted by Jeff Piers and Mr. Reynolds) also included Kyle Hoare, Alex Works, Mitch Blake, T.J. Jordan and Justin Currie.
In the finals, the top-seeded Greenwich Horton Griffins defeated the 2nd-seeded Halifax Citadel Phoenix 78-76 to cap an undefeated (41-0) season and win their second consecutive provincial crown. “This feels great. Coming into the season we had a lot of high expectations and it all came through in the end,” guard Ellis Ffrench, who scored 23 of his game-high 35 points in the second half, told the Halifax Daily News. Down 66-55 with 4:42 left to play, Citadel rallied and drew within 77-76 after Duane Gero-Carvery completed a four-point play with 23.8 seconds remaining. Ffrench responded with a pair of free throws and the Phoenix couldn’t make good on three chances to tie. Thomas Doolittle missed a pair of free throws with 7.7 seconds left, and after Citadel recovered the ball, he drove but lost the ball after taking plenty of contact. Citadel had an inbounds play with 0.3 seconds remaining, but Harrison Brown didn’t have time to shoot before the buzzer sounded. “We hadn’t seen them all year, but we knew they were a great team and it would be a situation like this,” Ffrench said. “It was a great game.” Horton grabbed the lead for good midway through the first quarter and stretched it to 10 points in the third as they heated up from outside, making six three-pointers — including four from Ffrench. Citadel trimmed the gap by holding the Griffins to just one field goal in the entire fourth quarter, but Horton closed out the game at the free-throw line. Ffrench scored Horton’s last seven points, all from the line. “He made some big shots,” Citadel coach Mark Parker said of Ffrench. “We lost him in transition a few times, but that’s what seniors do. He’s a good player, and good players make big plays.” Pat Riley added 13 for the Griffins, while Jeremy Dunn scored 11, Sage Tanner 7, Neal McGill 5, Keegan Fiske 4 and Stephan Traynor 3. Dunn said this one felt even sweeter at home. “Since last year we’ve wanted another one. Winning it on home court was awesome. The whole team really just came together and we were able to pull it out in the end.” Gero-Carvery paced the Phoenix with 27. Eamon Morrisey added 15, Thomas Doolittle 12, Marquis Clayton 12, Matt MacDonald 4, Riley Halpin 4 and Pat Festeryga 2. Kendrick said there was a measure of relief at the end. “That flood of emotion at the end of the game when the horn went off, the kids from the sidelines rushing onto the court, it was a real thrill for our players to see that kind of emotion at their own school. … Our players have become very mentally tough. They really believe now that they’re not going to lose. They have that feeling that something will happen and they’ll come through. We were down 27 in the second quarter one time this year and came back to win that one. We were down by 17 late in the third quarter in the New Brunswick tournament and came back to win that one. The kids believe that something will happen and we’ll come back. … We did it a little differently (from the conventional approach). I believe you want to talk about that stuff, don’t shy away from it or hide from it. We talked about it a lot, talked about the streak a lot and talked about being undefeated a lot. We had fun with it. I think it did what we wanted it to do — it lightened the pressure. The kids were excited about it. Instead of a big-pressure thing, it became a fun thing.” Kendrick told the King’s County Register that “they gave us everything we could handle. I didn’t think we played particularly well at times, but the mark of a good team is the ability to ‘win ugly.’ We played D when we needed to, we made shots when we needed to, we were great at the foul line and we got a really big 35 points from Ellis. … We felt there were two things that could derail us – complacency and selfishness. We got a couple of wakeup calls about complacency along the way, but there were no signs of selfishness all season. … Citadel is a good team, and they brought their A game today,” he said. “We definitely didn’t expect to go undefeated, but we worked hard all year and it worked out for us.”
The bronze medalist Halifax Grammar Gryphons: Matt Johnston; Noel Jones; Simon McCormick; Adam Ross; Ryan Cutliffe; Louis Zatzman; Matthew MacKay-Lyons; Chris Filliter; Tarek Lawen; Coleman Mallery; Joe Sadek; Matt Lyons; coach Tim McGarrigle
The silver medalist Halifax Citadel Phoenix: Eamon Morrissey; Duane Gero-Carvery; Thomas Doolittle; Harrison Brown; Marquis Clayton; Riley Halpin; Matt MacDonald; Pat Festeryga; coach Mark Parker
The gold medalist Greenwich Horton Griffins: Ellis Ffrench; Jeremy Dunn; Pat Riley; Neil McGill; Sage Tanner; Jake Kendrick; Matt Riley; Stephen Traynor; Keegan Fiske; Stephen Traynor; Chris Babin; Connor Stewart; coach Tim Kendrick; assistant Marvin Rhyno; assistant Jay Robichaud; assistant Bob McGill