In the opening round, held at York University: …………………………………………………… The Toronto Monarch Park Lions stunned the pre-tournament favorite (31-4) Sudbury St. Charles Cardinals 77-67. The game was tight until the final minutes when Monarch’s Ron Morton ripped down several critical rebounds to help the Lions pull out the win. Morton led Monarch Park with 32. Ken Seward added 24. Reni Dolcetti paced St. Charles with 24. Joe Fragoneni added 16. The Cardinals (gcoached by Dennis Grabish) also included Pat Signorotti, Gerry Lougheed, Tino Colussi, Henry Holand, Andy Zimmer, Henry Gregoris, Mike Verrilli and Bob Wettick. …………………………………………………… The Toronto Oakwood Barons edged the Welland HVS Tigers 59-50. The Tigers (coach Ron Lemon) included Don Larman, Steve Zub, Gary Kovacs, Todd LaFlamme, Phil Tamburino, Frank Tamburino. …………………………………………………… The Toronto George Harvey Hawks whipped the Ottawa Lisgar Lords 80-55 as Joe Macrito scored 19, Jose Biondi 15 and Paul Lattanzio 11. Paul Armstrong, who later became head coach of the Carleton Ravens, paced Lisgar with 18. The Lords (coached by Pat O’Brien and managed by Earl Wilson) also included George Bowles, Ray Dyck, Pat Stoqua, Matt King, Joe Sidoli, Rob Pitfield, Doug Sally, John Horowitz, Richard Wojtal and Gary Craig. …………………………………………………… The Toronto De La Salle Oaklands crushed the Oshawa Central Chiefs 72-48 as Ted Bober scored 24, Ted Galka 22 and Rick Syropiatka 14. Ed Kaaratzen and Ray Bartodziec each scored 12 to pace Oshawa Central, where coach Don McIlveen was in his 23rd year at the helm. …………………………………………………… The Kitchener Eastwood Rebels dumped the North York A.Y. Jackson Jaguars 70-46 as 6-8 Romel Raffin scored 27, while nabbing 12 boards. 6-7 Bill Hutt added 17 and 6-3 Paul Mustin added 16 points. The Rebels led 16-15 after one quarter and 32-27 at the half. Raffin told the Kitchener-Waterloo Record that he was nervous because managers forgot to bring chewing gum. “I hope it’s here tomorrow. I’m always uptight when I play.” Rebels coach Hugh Heibein said “we came into this tournament and nobody knew who we were but now a lot of people know who Eastwood Rebels are. I think we can go all the way if Hutt stays sharp. We need him going offensively to make us go, along with Romel’s strength under the boards. I just we can keep shooting like we did today (53% from the floor.” Jeff Zdenek led the Jaguars with 19. Jim Zdenek added 11. Jaguars coach Bob Cheesman asked “how in the world are you supposed to defend against that?? The Jaguars (coached by Bob Cheeseman) also included Kevin MacGilchrist, Joe Conti, Jim MacGilchrist. …………………………………………………… The Windsor Vincent Massey Mustangs dumped the Cornwall Cougars 63-51 as Andy Laliberty scored 18, Scott Windsor 13, Doug Towers 11, R Stanko 10, Greenwood 9 and Jenkins 2. The Mustangs led 38-31 at the half. Mustangs coach Wayne Curtin asked the Windsor Star “wasn’t that terrible? My guys found out early that their opposition wasn’t that strong and they played at three-quarter speed the rest of the way. Maybe it was a natural reaction. But we certainly didn’t show much after the first quarter.” Keith (Mike?) Heemskerk paced Cornwall with 25. Dick added 8, Barrie 7, Randy Rasmussen 6 and Cleary 5. …………………………………………………… The Sarnia Northern Vikings clipped the Thunder Bay Sir Winston Churchill Trojans 52-37 as Peter Running scored 18 and Gary Wiedeman 15. Hans Kuch led the Trojans with 10. The Trojans also included Dave Fogolin. …………………………………………………… The Hamilton Sir Winston Churchill Bulldogs whipped the Brampton Centennial Bucks 76-46 (also reported as 76-48) as Nick Zagorac scored 24, Raynor 19, Mike Leedale 12, Dawson 10 and Bill McIlveen 9. Bulldogs coach Jack Lee told the Hamilton Spectator that “the Bucks didn’t play positional basketball at all. They were all over the place. They’d have five guys on the left side then everyone would be over on the right. They just wandered all over the place but they did it effectively. Today, their freelance offence didn’t work as well. They couldn’t get through our man-to-man defence. I was really pleased too with Bill McIlveen’s play. I put him on their big man, Bruce Thorne, and he held him to 8 points.” Warren Day led the Bucks with 15. Dennis Zanardo added 12, Bernie Nirmann 10 and Bruce Thorne 8. The Bucks also included George Hill.
In the quarterfinals, the Kitchener Eastwood Rebels defeated the Toronto De La Salle Oaklands 55-50 after overcoming a four-point deficit in the final minute. Romel Raffin scored seven points in the last 1:24 as the Rebels overcame a 49-48 deficit. With 1:46 to play, Rebel Bill Hutt notched an and-one to trim the margin to 46-45. Raffin then hit a reverse layup and then an and-one to give Eastwood a 52-50 lead. John Matura iced the win with two free throws. Eastwood played badly and should’ve won by 20, said coach Hugh Heibein. The Oaklands had led 44-42 with four minutes to play when coach Ed Hanna called a time out. “I was hoping that we’d be able to stall the ball for the last few minutes but it didn’t work because it was just too early to use that strategy.” Hanna added that his troops had difficulty dealing with Kitchener’s height. “Trying to drive on their basket was like attempting to go through a thick forest of tall trees.” Raffin finished with 17 points, while nabbing 26 boards. Bill Hutt added 15, Paul Matura 9, Paul Mustin 8 and Dave Rose 6. Ted Galka paced De La Salle with 18 and Ted Bober 16. The Rebels led 28-20 at the half despite a raft of missed layups and turnovers. Raffin told the Kitchener-Waterloo Record that “it just wasn’t my day. I don’t know it was.” Heibein said “we only played two good quarters in the first game and may 1.5 good quarters today. The rest of the time, we have been lousy. You could even say we have stunk. … We should have been ahead by 20 points at least. We were a lot stronger than De La Salle but we didn’t show it. Later in the game, when we trailed by four points, I thought we had blown the game right there in the first half. … Those free throws are big part of our game. Every player takes 80 of them each practice. A lot of the times the other team has more field goals than we but win it at the line.” The Oaklands (coached by Craig Stewart) also included George Bober, Wally Blaszko, Rick Syropiatko, Wallace Balsko.
The Toronto George Harvey Hawks nipped the Windsor Vincent Massey Mustangs 63-60. Harvey led the entire game. They were ahead 35-31 at the half and 49-46 at the three-quarter mark. The Hawks led 57-54 with three minutes to play. Andy Laliberty hit two free throws to trim the margin to 59-58 with 1:38 to play. Joe Macrito hit a runout. Rick Stanko responded with a field goal. Massey killed 42 seconds and then turned the ball over with 8 seconds to play. The Hawks hit two free throws to ice it. “We had a man open under their basket on that throw-in but the ball never got to him” coach Wayne Curtin said. Joe Macrito paced Harvey with 27, including 13 in the first quarter. Ed Gasparotto added 18, Paul Lattanzio 6, Jose Biondi 4, Paul Doherty 4 and Rob Jeysman 4. The Hawks hit 29-58 from the floor. Andy Laliberty notched 18 for Windsor. Rick Stanko added 13, Doug Towers 11, Scott Windsor 10 and Kevin Greenwood 8. The Mustangs hit 22-52 from the floor and 16-22 from the line. The Mustangs (coached by Wayne Curtin) also included P Stanko and Jenkins. Mustangs coach Wayne Curtin told the Windsor Star that “we have nothing to be ashamed of. It certainly isn’t any disgrace to be the loser in a super game like that. We were outgunned from the floor but we were still very much in the ball game with seconds to play. We threw the ball away in a couple of crucial stages. … We made too many passes, too many turnovers. But give the other team credit for playing a pretty good game. My guys gave everything they had.”
The Sarnia Northern Vikings clipped the Toronto Oakwood Barons 55-50. Sarnia took an 8-2 lead and never looked back, leading 24-8, 35-24 and 46-37 at the quarters. Northern’s 6-8 centre, Gary Wiedeman, and 6-4 forward Peter Running dominated the boards. “We blew most of our layup opportunities and didn’t capitalize on the breaks they gave us,” said Oakwood coach Al Quance. “They were dominating their defensive boards, so we were under pressure to make every basket we shot right from the outset.” Gary Wiedeman led Sarnia with 17. Peter Running added 13. Ivor Lewis led Oakwood with 20. Len Koreneos added 13. The Barons (coached by Al Quance) also included Branco Samsa, George Gorzynski, Alan MacInnes, Frank Grespan, Sam Zomparelli, Tony Pitelli.
In the last quarterfinal, the Hamilton Sir Winston Churchill Bulldogs dumped the Toronto Monarch Park Lions 61-50 after outscoring their foes 24-12 in the final quarter. Monarch Park trailed 24-23 at the half and led only once, at 38-37 on a bucket by Bob Monnette. Nick Zagorac hit eight critical points for Churchill as they took command down the stretch. Nick Zagorac and Steve Rayner each scored 16 to lead the Bulldogs. Mike Leedale added 10 and John Telepchuck 9. The Bulldogs led 13-8 after one quarter and 29-23 at the half. The Lions led 38-37 after three quarters. Bulldogs coach Jack Lee told the Hamilton Spectator that “we’ve been a strong finishing club all year. … The guys pace themselves well.” Ron Morton led the Lions (coach Tom Otis) with 20. Ken Stewart added 12 and Bob Monette 10. The Lions also included Lou Theriault, Ken Seaward, Bill Marier, Tom Racalis. “The major difference was that they outhustled us for rebounds,” Otis said.
In the semis, the Kitchener Eastwood Rebels thrashed the Hamilton Sir Winston Churchill Bulldogs 58-30 as 6-9 centre Romel Raffin scored 18, Bill Hutt 14 and Paul Mustin 12. The Rebels led 16-10, 30-24 and 40-27 at the quarters. Eastwood held Churchill to a paltry six points in the second half as their defence forced Hamilton strictly to the perimeter. The Bulldogs also quickly found themselves in foul trouble in the second half. Cam Dawson led the Bulldogs with 9. John Telepchuck added 8, Mike Leedale 5, Steve Raynor 5, Bill McIlveen 3 and Nick Zagorac 2. Bulldogs coach Jack Lee told the Hamilton Spectator that “they’re the biggest team we’ve run up against all year. We couldn’t penetrate their defence so the only way we could score was to put it over the big guys. That worked for a while but when our shooting went cold, we were dead.”
In the other semi, Toronto George Harvey Hawks defeated the Sarnia Northern Vikings 59-39 as Joe Macrito scored 21 and Paul Lattanzio 13. Northern was led by Brian Scott’s 22 points. The Hawks full-court pressure rattled Sarnia into a raft of turnovers, while Sarnia star Gary Wiedeman was in early foul trouble.
In the final, the Kitchener Eastwood Rebels took a 23-16 lead at the half and then cruised to a 56-36 win over the Toronto George Harvey Hawks as Romel Raffin scored 27 and 6-3 f Paul Mustin added 15, Bill Hutt 9, Dave Rose 4 and John Matura 2. Top subs George Reichert and Mike Stegner were scoreless. Toronto George Harvey was paced by Joe Macrito, who scored 16 points. Ed Gasparotto added 8. Starting Rebel guards Dave Rose and John Matura were rarely in the spotlight for Eastwood but Rose proved the key to the contest as he easily handled and broke the press as Kitchener overcame an early 8-2 deficit and took a 13-12 lead at the quarter and a 37-26 bulge at the three-quarter mark. Eastwood’s big men allowed Kitchener to create an impenetrable zone on defence and dominate the boards. Rebels coach Hugh Holbein told the Kitchener-Waterloo Record that Rose “was the key to our team. He’s our quarterback and co-captain. Without him, we wouldn’t have been here in the first place.”
Hawks coach John Petruschak said “man, they (Rose and Matura) really surprised me with the way they were bring the ball up the floor against our press. They were really something. … Before they tired, we had Eastwood by six points early but we couldn’t finish them off. And that Raffin, what a super play. He killed us inside.” Petruschak told Canadian Press that “our guards began to get frustrated and started to shoot from too far away. We couldn’t drive the basket. … We just couldn’t do all the running necessary to beat them. Our press began to fizzle after 10 minutes of play.” The Rebels hit 22-46 from the floor. Eastwood coach Hugh Holbein said his troops were fine once they resolved Toronto’s press. “I just told my three forwards to move up the court the second we got possession of the ball and let the guards bring the ball up.” Holbein also sensed that Toronto was tired. “I got the boys to put more pressure on their guards once they brought the ball over the 10-second line.” Eastwood hadn’t won the Kitchener city title. Although they’d finished first in the regular season, they’d lost the Twin City title to the Kitchener-Waterloo CI Raiders. But Eastwood later thrashed the Raiders in the CWOSSA playoffs. Eastwood looked more organized than George Harvey in the final, coach Hugh Holbein said. “Everybody was concentrating on our big kids. But they forgot about our guards. They came through in clutch situations and it was those two who got us through the tourney. They made some great plays.” Eastwood finished (18-5 on the season).
The co-bronze medalist Sarnia Northern Vikings: Brian Scott; Gary Wiedeman; Peter Running;
The co-bronze medalist Hamilton Sir Winston Churchill Bulldogs: Cam Dawson; Nick Zagorac; Steve Raynor; Mike Leedale; John Telapchuk; Tony Zic; Bill McIlveen; Raynor; coach Jack Lee
The silver medalist Toronto George Harvey Hawks: Joe Macrito; Paul Lattanzio; Ed Gasparotto; Rob Jeysman; Jose Biondi; Brian Doherty; Paul Doherty; Joe Lattanzio; Bob Marr; coach John Petruschak
The gold medalist Kitchener Eastwood Rebels: Romel Raffin; Paul Mustin; Dave Rose; Bill Hutt; John Matura; George Reichert; Mike Stegner; Klaus; Garrett; Liddle; Goertz; Prange; Gisbic; Giesbrecht; coach Hugh Holbein