In the opening round, held in Toronto: …………………………………………………… The 8th-seeded Brantford St. John’s Green Eagles defeated the 14th-seeded Windsor W.D. Lowe Trojans 66-57 after rallying from a five-point deficit with four minutes to play. Mike Yuhasz led the Green Eagles with 22. Neziol added 15, Perras 13, Bol 10 and Rob Pietrkiewicz 8. Yuhasz told the Brantford Expositor that “every shot I took went in. I wanted the ball more but it’s tough getting it inside with these guys.” Trojan Doug Payne, who scored 16, told the Windsor Star that “we started taking some shots we wouldn’t normally take. We got out of normal range. We started throwing up circus shots. After we started missing, I felt we lost our rhythm. It’s the same pattern we’ve had all season. We can play stretches of real good basketball and then all of a sudden, we fall asleep. It’s just a lack of concentration for a few minutes. Mental errors created the turnovers and that’s what cost us the game.” Leading 55-50, the Trojans saw star Vince Osier make a bad pass, allowing a transition layup, followed by a three-point play to knot the score in a period of 20 seconds. “That was the turning point right there,” said Osier, who scored 22. ‘I should never have tried to throw it downcourt to Chad (Curley). I should of just given it to a guard. Jazz (Dhaliwal) was standing right behind me. I should of just let a guard bring the ball up.” Coach Gerry Brumpton noted that “it’s hard to be critical of Vince when he really held us together offensively. But he’s no rookie out there. You can’t have that type of mistake from your veteran players. We could’ve been up by seven points and it all comes apart on one mental mistake. The teams up here won’t let you get away with that.” ………………………………………………… The 3rd-seeded Agincourt Stephen Leacock Lions defeated the 9th-seeded Ajax Pickering Trojans 78-69. The Lions shot the ball poorly in the first half and got into foul trouble, while the Trojans height gave them fits. “It was no cakewalk that’s for sure and Pickering proved they came to play,” Leacock coach Jim Hinkson told the Toronto Star. “We were very rusty early and I don’t know, maybe it was luck or whatever, the game turned in to a tough defensive struggle and a war under the boards.” The lead changed hands seven times in the opening quarter of a very physical contest. Leacock, however, took the lead for good 15 seconds into the second half. The Lions couldn’t control their jitters, said 6-3 forward Everton Henry, who scored 20. “Awful, just plain terrible, there’s no other way to explain it. We were very tense and fortunately it was the kind of struggle that allowed us time to regroup and turn on the juice when we needed too.” The Lions experience turned the tide. “We came here to win and thought this was the time to do it,” said a disappointed Pickering coach Ron Parfitt. “I think what it came down to was those three easy layups – that was the turning point. Their defensive pressure also hurt and we couldn’t react to their quickness late in the game.” Pat Williams added 18 for Leacock, while Finbar Strachan scored 16. Slavek Stawski led Pickering with 18. Hale Miller added 12. …………………………………………………… The top-seeded Toronto Oakwood Barons clipped the 11th-seeded Mississauga Morningstar Mustangs 84-64 (also reported as 84-67) as Justin Jones scored 27. …………………………………………………… The 6th-seeded Toronto Runnymede Redmen dusted the 16th-seeded Kingston CVI Blues 75-41 as Mike McCook scored 15. The Redmen led 22-16 after one quarter and 40-17 at the half. Karl Darrall paced the Blues with 9. Jeff Neasmith added 9. Blues coach Hans Garsch told the Kingston Whig-Standard that “they played full-court man-to-man pressure on us, which we expected but we had a few mental lapses, particularly in the second quarter. They’re a more talented team and it showed in the second half.” The Blues (coached by Garsch) also included Tavares, Wherrett, Rutherford, Tony Nikas, Moe Foster, Dave McRae, Andrew Frost, Dignum, Holy, McLean, Raymond, Reid, Price and Slack. …………………………………………………… The 4th-seeded St. Catharines Governor Simcoe Redcoats torched the 10th-seeded Toronto St. Michael’s Blue Raiders 64-44 as Brian Bleich scored 23, while nabbing 13 boards, Al MacDougall 10, Troy Garrah 10, John Walsh 8, Joe Milkovic 5, Peter Huebert 4, Michael Walsh 2 and Chris DeSantis 2, while Greg Smith, Jason Munro and John Dyck were scoreless. Bleich dominated the paint, opening the affair with a putback. Bleich told the St. Catharines Standard that “the key thing for was to get fired up right away. Following up on Troy (Garrah)’s shot did it. … What really surprised me was their size but they got most of their baskets from the outside and we kept going inside. Another thing was, I scored and then Al (MacDougall) scored and then I scored. They couldn’t figure out what to do so they had to play honest defence. And then Troy and Joe (Milkovic) kept hitting shots from the elbow whenever they were open.” The Redcoats led 14-13 after one quarter and 29-24 at the half as point guard John Walsh dictated the tempo. They opened the second half with a 6-0 run and led 50-30 after three quarters. Saints coach Pat Woodburn said “we got an excellent game out of all 10 ballplayers tonight and this was really good for our confidence.” Jeff Zownir led the Blue Raiders with 17. Roland Semprie added 11, Jason Ciceri 10, while nabbing 11 boards, Mike Lavelle 4 and Sam Primomo 2. Blue Raiders coach Dan Prendergast said “that third quarter was just brutal. We took a bad shot on our first possession and missed and then were down by seven. It was downhill from there. We couldn’t put anything in and the whole offence broke down.” …………………………………………………… The 2nd-seeded North York Bathurst Heights Bears stomped the 12th-seeded Peterborough Raiders 95-45. …………………………………………………… The 5th-seeded Sarnia Northern Vikings dispatched the 15th-seeded Ottawa Sir Robert Borden Bengals 72-63. …………………………………………………… The 7th-seeded Burlington Pearson Bengals clubbed the 13th-seeded Sudbury LaSalle Lancers 79-54.
In the second round: …………………………………………………… The 3rd-seeded Agincourt Stephen Leacock Lions dumped the 14th-seeded Windsor W.D. Lowe Trojans 59-52 after rallying from a 12-point deficit in the third quarter. Trojans coach Gerry Brumpton told the Windsor that his troops “should not be heading home” but hit a dreary 8-19 from the line. “When you have guys by the throat you have to hang on. I knew we were missing a lot of free throws by 8-19 is terrible. Some of the guys were complaining about the officiating but when you have that many opportunities and miss them, you have no right to cry about it. The game was lost right at the line, by us, not the officials.” Vince Osier, who led all scorers with 18, said “we just didn’t have enough experienced players to deal with them at the end. We had some guys on the floor who are in their first year and weren’t used to type of pressure. They did a good job but we needed one more guy who we could count on to score. We just didn’t quite have enough to make it to the end.” Stephen Leacock opened with a 14-0 run but then went scoreless until the final two minutes of the first half as the Trojans ripped off a 21-6 run that gave them a 28-23 lead at the half. “We did the one thing I hate to see and that is to get an early lead,” said Lions coach Jim Hinkson. “We just weren’t in the game after the quick start. We played stupid basketball and they began to play extremely well.” The Trojans built their lead to 37-25 in the third quarter but then began to miss their free throws. The Lions, by contrast, hit 15-18 from the line. Doug Payne added 15 for Lowe. Jazz Dhaliwal notched 11. The Trojans (coached by Gerry Brumpton) included Vince Osier, Doug Payne, Mark Tomek, Jazz Dhaliwal, Chad Curley. …………………………………………………… The 2nd-seeded North York Bathurst Heights Bears spanked the Ottawa Sir Robert Borden Bengals 79-54. The Bengals (coached by Ted Edwards) included Steve Anderson, David Munro, Brian Lee, Doug Elliot, Rob Ager, Kevin Lee, Mark Elliott, Rob Krog. …………………………………………………… The 9th-seeded Ajax Pickering Trojans nipped the 8th-seeded Brantford St. John’s Eagles 68-65 as Slavek Stawski scored 14, Hale Miller 11, Adam Bertona 11, Brian Moore 11 and Tony King 10. The Trojans led 25-13, 42-31 and 54-50 at the quarters. Mike Yuhasz led the Green Eagles with 21. Andrew Bol added 14, Dave Neziol 10, Dave Rourke 6 and Dennis Perras 5. The Eagles (coached by Frank Petrella) also included Brian Jonker, Jamie Proracki, Sean Dawson, Scott Hudson, Rick Polgar, Chris Svaria, Brian Coyne and Rob Pietrkiewicz. Petrella told the Brantford Expositor that “we were just a little slow getting on track. The guys hung on but it’s tough playing catchup ball. The bottom line is that we needed a little more luck with the baskets going in for us, especially from the foul line.” …………………………………………………… The top-seeded Toronto Oakwood Barons clubbed the Kingston CVI Blues 74-48. The Blues (coached by Hans Garsch, assisted by Andy Ledoux) included Tony Nikas, Moe Foster, Jeff Neasmith, Dave McRae, Karl Darrall, Andrew Frost. …………………………………………………… The 5th-seeded Sarnia Northern Vikings clipped the Peterborough Raiders 57-48. The Raiders (coached by Jim Faulkner) included Shawn Delaire, Brad Robinson, Al Parkes. …………………………………………………… The 4th-seeded St. Catharines Governor Simcoe Redcoats whipped the Sudbury Lasalle Lancers 63-40. The Lancers (coached by Jim Hann) included Norm Hann, John Toner, Des Elliott. …………………………………………………… The 7th-seeded Burlington Pearson Bengals stomped the Toronto St. Michael’s Blue Raiders 84-67. The Blue Raiders (coached by Dan Prendergast, assisted by Donald Graham and Greg Paolini) included Jeff Zownir, Roland Semprie, Paul O’Ryan, Danny Prendergast, Mike Lavelle, Alex Confalonieri, Carl Esposito, Arnulfo ‘Ace’ Babao, Grady Savage, Jason Ciceri, Tim Wasik, Alastair Bailey, Dwight Donald, Lorenzo Lombardi, Sammy Primomo and Felicito Cristi. …………………………………………………… The 6th-seeded Toronto Runnymede Redmen crushed the Mississauga Morningstar Mustangs 88-66. The Mustangs (coached by Jorn Kristiansen) included Bobby Allen.
In the quarterfinals, the 9th-seeded Ajax Pickering Trojans dumped the top-seeded Toronto Oakwood Barons 77-66 as Slavek Stewski scored 18, Hale Miller 18, Adam Bertoia 14, Brian Moore 12, Shelton Roberts 9, Tony King 4 and Dave Collie 2. “People didn’t believe how good we are, but that didn’t matter because the team came here thinking it could win, and I doubt if we could play any better than (we did) against Oakwood,” Pickering coach Ron Parfitt told the Toronto Star. Even 6-foot-7 Barons forward Wendell Brereton couldn’t believe it was all over after winning 42 of 45 games. “It was right in front of us and we let it go,” he said. “It’s a tough thing to accept after it’s over. Maybe it was pressure, and then again maybe we were a little cocky and overlooked the fact that they (Pickering) could play basketball, too.” The Trojans led 24-18, 44-41 and 55-49 at the quarters. Justin Jones paced the Barons with 20. Wendell Brereton added 18, James Procope 14, Paris Dryden 12 and Bob Davis 2. The Barons (coached by Terry Thomson, assisted by Jack Vecchio and Ken Rose) also included Everton Lewis, Carlo Alves, Maurice Smith, Richard Mitchell, Lyndon Anderson, Dalton Higgins, Mario Regio and Eldon Mascoll.
The 6th-seeded Toronto Runnymede Redmen stunned the 3rd-seeded Scarborough Leacock Lions 74-53 (also reported as 74-52) as Mike McCook scored 17, Paul Watson 16, Jamie Watt 16, John Johnson 12, Kert Davis 10 and Wayne Pelley 3. The Redmen led 18-14, 33-31 and 53-41 at the quarters. Leacock coach Jim Hinkson told the Toronto Star “those are the breaks in this game. We struggled, the shooting was atrocious and the other team just kept adding momentum to an already excellent game.” Hinkson, who announced after the game that he was resigning after a nine-year career added that “I’m happy it’s over. It wasn’t a year I enjoyed, and all the unnecessary aggravation took its toll on the team.” Everton Henry led the Lions with 16. Loren Guichard added 14, Dennis Smith 12 and Finbar Strachan 10. The Lions also included Fred Rutherford, Dave Austin, Colin Eastman, Keil Grey and Pat Williams.
The 2nd-seeded North York Bathurst Heights Bears dumped Burlington Pearson Bengals 79-48 as Phillip Dixon scored 32, Horace West 14, Ian Trought 11, Tony Peart 10, Eric James 6, Steve Daley 2, Bobby Brown 2 and Gary Blair 2, while Gabe Mensch was scoreless. The Bears led 17-9, 40-24 and 59-34 at the quarters. Rob DeMoot scored 18 to lead the Bengals (coach Vern Lucyk). Geoff Hewick added 8, Jay Lucyk 7, Daren Berringer 6, Jim Tebrake 5 and Alexis Mayer 4, while Jeff Lucyk, Steve Hinkson, Dan Butcher and Dave Emuss were scoreless.
In the last quarterfinal, the 4th-seeded St. Catharines Governor Simcoe Redcoats defeated the 5th-seeded Sarnia Northern Vikings 58-48 as Brian Bleich scored 25, Allen MacDougall 18, Peter Huebert 8, Troy Garrah 5 and John Walsh 2, along with 12 assists. The Redcoats led 15-14 after quarter. The score was knotted at 22 at the half and at 34 after three quarters. The Redcoats closed out the affair with an 18-4 run over the final four minutes. John Walsh told the St. Catharines Standrd that “Woody (coach Pat Woodburn) called a timeout and told us this was the possession of the year. … We got the ball inside to Brian (Bleich), he converted and they panicked. It was so perfect. If there’s one guy you want to have the ball when it counts, it’s #33.” Woodburn said “Bleich, he’s the man. Johnny ran the show and got it to our two shooters. There’s no secret. We struggled all game and the kids kept working.” Mike Acton paced the Vikings with 12. Doug Toole added 11, Kevin Rome 8, Virgil Hill 7, Jim Toole 6 and Kris Paulley 4. The Vikings (coached by John Thrasher) also included Pat Demeter, Rob Demeter, Cam Clarke, Craig Campbell, Bryne McLaughlin, Craig Leonard, Rob Willock, Jason Kaul, Mike Smith and Matt Beattie. Thrasher said “it was anybody’s game with three minutes to go but Bleich dominated at the right time. I don’t care what anybody says about these Toronto kids – Bleich is the best high school player in Canada. He’s absolutely awesome and you just can’t stop him when he wants to play.”
In the semis, the 2nd-seeded North York Bathurst Heights Bears defeated the 6th-seeded Toronto Runnymede Redmen 83-78 as Ian Trought scored 20, Phillip Dixon 18, Horace West 18, Tony Peart 11, Eric James 10, Steve Daley 4 and Bobby Brown 2. The Bears led 24-18 after one quarter and 40-37 at the half. The score was knotted at 59 after three quarters. John Johnson paced the Redmen with 19. Wayne Pelley added 14, Wayne Robertson 14, Mike McCook 14, Kert Davis 11, Paul Watson 4 and Jamie Watt 2.
In the other semi, the 4th-seeded St. Catharines Governor Simcoe Redcoats defeated the 9th-seeded Ajax Pickering Trojans 53-50 as Brian Bleich scored 19, Allen MacDougall 18, John Walsh 6, Peter Huebert 4, Joe Milkovic 4 and Troy Garrah 2. The Redcoats led 22-16, 36-29 and 45-42 at the quarters. John Walsh told the St. Catharines Standard that “this is like a dream unfolding before my eyes.” The Trojans led 50-49 with 2:08 to play but Walsh found Bleich for a bucket inside. With 17 seconds to play, MacDougall forced a turnover and Walsh fired a long pass to MacDougall on the ensuing inbounds play for an insurance layup. Hale Miller paced Pickering with 21. Brian Moore added 12, Adam Bertoia 6, Tony King 6 and Slavek Stawski 5.
In the bronze medal game, the 6th-seeded Toronto Runnymede Redmen defeated 9th-seeded Ajax Pickering Trojans 77-71 as Wayne Pelley scored 18, Mike McCook 14, Wayne Robertson 14, Kert Davis 14 (also reported as 12), John Johnson 8, Jamie Watt 6, Paul Watson 2 and Clarence Porter 2. The Trojans led 23-13 after one quarter and 38-37 at the half. The Redmen led 55-50 after three quarters. Hale Miller paced Pickering with 21. Brian Moore added 15, Tony King 10, Shelton Roberts 9, Dave Collie 7, Steve Heck 4, Slavek Stawski 3 and Anthony Livingston 2. The Trojans (coached by Ron Parfitt) also included Adam Bertoia, Rico Eubanks and Mike Williams.
In the final, the 2nd-seeded North York Bathurst Heights SS Bears defeated the 4th-seeded St. Catharines Governor Simcoe Redcoats 72-55 as Phil Dixon scored 32, including a two-handed jam with 56 seconds left to play that sent the crowd into an absolute frenzy. Bathurst, which trailed 16-12 after the opening quarter, turned the game around for good midway through the second quarter. “Our game is our feet and when we start to run, something we have done all year, there is no team that can keep up with us,” Bears coach Bob Maydo told the Toronto Star. Simcoe coach Pat Woodburn said “we had to take the air out of the ball and slow them down, otherwise it was game over. We got a good lead but they picked up the pace and we just couldn’t stay with them. They also got 20 points on turnovers and that guy Dixon was quite something to watch.” Bathurst led 33-28 at halftime, increasing its lead to 48-38 after three quarters. Dixon, who had a field day with l0 points in the final quarter, credited his supporting cast. “We knew we would win but the key was to wear them down and especially to try to confuse their big guy (Bleich). When we started getting aggressive, taking the play, I knew it was all over.” Bathurst outscored Simcoe 39-27 in the second half when the Redcoats were obviously feeling the pressure, turning the ball over on several occasions and going almost three minutes without scoring in the final quarter. Eric James added 15 for Bathurst, while Ian Trought scored 10, Tony Peart 7, Horace West 6 and Bobby Brown 2. Dixon told the St. Catharines Standard “this feels great. I’ve wanted this game badly. We came out slow in the first quarter and after we got our momentum back, we played our game. Bears assistant Jennie Hooper said “they didn’t fold when Governor Simcoe came out strong. They played tough-nosed defence. They played with their feet and their brains and that’s tough combination to beat.” 6-8 post Brian Bleich pumped in 28 for the Redcoats, including a trio of two-handed jams., while Allen MacDougall added 10 (also reported as 14), Peter Huebert 9, Joel Milkovic 2 and Greg Smith 2, while John Walsh dished 9 assists. Bleich said “gold would have been nice for our fiftieth game because we worked so hard to be here. … The main goal was to go inside. We started in a spread offence so I could go one-on-one to the hoop and go to the foul line early. Everyone was so hyped up and we were going so fast with the lead. All of a sudden, they started to come back.” Redcoats point guard John Walsh said “at halftime, we were still in the ball game and 16 minutes from gold and the fulfillment of our dreams. But they did a super job getting us out of our game. No doubt they’re the strongest team talentwise and the defence, getting the ball over centre is a chore against them. … We played purely on emotion and adrenalin. We were tired but we never gave up.” Redcoats coach Pat Woodburn, who tried to elevate the tempo in the final four minutes, said “we got as far as we could with the style that we play. But do you lose by six working the ball patiently inside or go for it all and run, even chancing losing by more. We had to try but they were too quick for us. There’s just no substitute for quickness.”
The media-selected all-star team featured Phil Dixon (Bathurst Heights); Eric James (Bathurst Heights); Brian Bleitch (Governor Simcoe); Al McDougall (Governor Simcoe); and Paris Dryden (Toronto Oakwood).
The bronze medalist Toronto Runnymede Redmen: Wayne Pelley; Mike McCook; Kert Davis; Wayne Robertson; Jamie Watt; Dave Sherwood; Greg Burke; Rohan Russell; Costy Dessources; Alan Todd; Clarence Porter; Sean Kavanagh; John Johnson; Paul Watson; Dave McCullough; coach John Petrushchak; assistant Bruce Mason
The silver medalist St. Catharines Governor Simcoe Redcoats: Brian Bleich; Allen MacDougall; John Walsh; Greg Smith; Michael Walsh; Mike Literovich; Troy Garrah; John Dyck; Joe Milkovic; Jason Munro; Peter Huebert; Chris DeSantis; coach Pat Woodburn; assistant Tom Brank
The gold medalist North York Bathurst Heights Bears: Phil Dixon; Eric James; Ian Trought; Tony Peart; Steve Daley; Bobby Brown; Horace West; Gary Blair; Gabe Mensch; coach Bob Maydo; assistant Jeannie Hooper