In the opening round: …………………………………………………… The Saskatoon Christian Centre Academy Cougars whipped the Carrot River Wildcats 68-14. Saskatoon Christian led 30-4, 49-4 and 59-8 at the quarters. …………………………………………………… The Waldheim Raiders defeated Cando 80-61. Cando kept it close up to midway in the 4th, and then Waldheim pulled away with points at the line and a solid inside game. The Raiders led 22-15, 45-32 and 59-47 at the quarters. …………………………………………………… Kinistino clubbed the Maidstone Huskies 96-63. Kinistino came out quickly against Maidstone and build up a 47-16 lead by the end of the first quarter. Scott Foster, Holmes and Powell led the way for Kinistino while Maidstone’s Donovan played well but, in the end, Kinistino was too much. …………………………………………………… The Canora Cougars stomped Porcupine Plain 109-41. Canora put a lot of early pressure on Porcupine Plain and forced them into numerous turnovers. Led by Bobyk, Molyneaux and Wyonzek, Canora jumped out to a 24-4 lead after the first quarter. Hood from Porcupine Plain had a good game but it wasn’t enough as Canora dominated from start to finish. …………………………………………………… The Regina Christian Grizzlies stuffed the Redvers Rams 96-40 as Travis McLaren scored 24. Kelsey Raymond paced the Rams with 14. The host Grizzlies took control quickly and built a 29-9 lead after the first quarter as CJ Rilling scored 8 in the quarter to pace the grizzlies and Connor Sylvestre scored 5 for the Rams. The second quarter went much the same way and RCS led 52-19 at the half. The second half was much less up tempo for both teams and Redvers took two technicals. The Grizzlies led 80-34 after three quarters and coasted to the win. …………………………………………………… The Osler Valley Christian Academy Lions dumped the Coronach Colts 87-70 as C. Wiebe scored 30. J. Froelich led the Colts with 24. Both teams began with a press, but neither team was able to capitalize on the turn overs early on. Towards the end of the first quarter, VCA began to take the lead and went in at the quarter up 21-15. The second was much of the same, but Coronach made it close right before half cutting the lead to single digits once again at 40-31 behind Froelich’s 18 points at the half. Coronach looked tired coming out at half and VCA seemed fresh, which allowed them to capitalize on the mistakes of the Colts. Wiebe went off in the 3rd and scored 11 points of his game high 30. VCA led 64-43 after the third and coasted to a relatively easy win. …………………………………………………… The Outlook LCBI Bisons whipped the Foam Lake Panthers 89-31. LCBI led 30-13, 46-17 and 65-24 at the quarters. …………………………………………………… The Hudson Bay Riders defeated the Rosthern Junior College Longhorns 74-62. Hudson Bay led 20-13, 37-30 and 54-42 at the quarters.
In the quarterfinals, the Saskatoon Christian Centre Academy Cougars stomped the Waldheim Raiders 100-25. Saskatoon Christian led 35-9, 63-18 and 90-23 at the quarters.
The Kinistino Blues defeated the Canora Cougars 93-80. Kinistino came out quickly against a fast Canora team and dominated the first quarter with a 24-8 lead. Canora fought back and closed the gap to 12 with the half time score being 48-36. Kinistino came out quickly again after half time and re-established their lead but Canora fought back and closed the gap in the fourth quarter and were behind by only 2 points. A late push by Holmes and Powell for Kinistino put them over the top.
The Regina Christian Grizzles stuffed the Osler Valley Christian Academy Lions 93-53 as Travis McLaren scored 36. Mitchell Weber led the Lions with 22. RCS came out of the gates quickly and took a 20-13 lead into the break. Mitchel Weber kept it close for the Lions with 13 in the first half, but behind Travis McLaren’s 21 in the first half they were behind 46-26 at half. RCS kept the pressure on went up 26 until VCA brought it back to 20. The Grizzlies called time out and went on a 21-1 run that cemented the win. The Grizzlies led 82-47 after three quarters.
In the last quarterfinal, Outlook LCBI Bisons whipped the Hudson Bay Riders 87-57. Speed, quickness, and great shooting resulted in LCBI being able to advance to hoopla. The Riders young team played hard during the entire team, but had difficulty against the Bisons, who played well in all facets of the game.
In the semis, the defending champion Saskatoon Christian Centre Academy Cougars clubbed the Kinistino Blues 90-37 as Joel Donauer and Stephen Tymchak each scored 18. Scott Foster paced Kinistino with 14. Saskatoon CCA led 24-14, 46-20 and 71-31 at the quarters. “It was a nice way to start Hoopla,” said CCA coach Aaron Benneweis. “We were able to see these guys at our tournament at the end of February and that definitely helped prepping. No. 8 (Scott Holmes) and No. 11 (Scott Foster) are two great players for Kinistino and we definitely needed to key on them to slow their offence down.”
In the other semi, the Regina Christian Grizzlies defeated the Outlook Lutheran Collegiate Bible Institute Bisons 64-57 as Travis McLaren scored 20. Marvin Montinola led the Bison with 16. LCBI led 18-10 after one quarter. The Grizzlies led 28-27 at the half and 49-44 after three quarters. Grizzlies coach Geoff Glasspell said his squad benefited greatly from the way point guard David Johnson ran the show. John rejoined the Grizzlies in late January after spending three years in Alberta (first in Coronation, then in Three Hills). He originally attended Regina Christian School, but moved to Coronation, Alta., midway through his Grade 9 year. “The highlight of coming back is being able to graduate with everyone here,” said Johnson. “I went to school with a lot of these guys in Grade 4. I hadn’t seen a lot of them in three years.” Johnson moved to Alberta to live with his mother, Yvonne. Shortly after the most-recent Christmas break, he decided to return to Regina and live with his father, Ken. “I started one day into the second semester,” Johnson said. “I probably knew 90 per cent of the people in my class already. A week in, it felt like normal.” Glasspell said “our team is 100-per-cent different with him in the lineup. He makes us better basketball-wise and he’s also a great leader. He doesn’t complain. That’s probably what endears him to his teammates. He really is like a prodigal son, coming back to us. It’s pretty neat.” David Pascoe, who scored 5 for the Bisons, told the Regina Leader-Post that “it was a tough one today.” The Bison led 18-10 and 27-24 in the first half. “The town had high expectations, but we kind of let them down. You come in here with high expectations to get the gold. It’s really disappointing right now.” LCBI coach Paul Engen said “we just didn’t adjust quick enough. We were kind of hesitant and that’s not our style. They put us into something we don’t normally do. But they fought hard. It’s something to be proud of.” Christian opened a 48-41 lead after three quarters and led by as much as 11 points down the stretch. “Oh, yeah, they pressed us all game,” said LCBI guard Davis Pascoe. “We started to slow down. We had the hang of it near the end there, but it was too late.”
In the bronze medal match, the Kinistino Blues defeated the Outlook LCBI Bisons 68-62 as Scott Foster scored 30. Marvin Montinola led the Bisons (coached by Paul Engen) with 19.
In the final, the Saskatoon Christian Centre Academy Cougars thrashed the Regina Christian Grizzlies 94-42 as Stephen Tymchak scored 25. Andrew Donauer added 22. Travis McLaren paced Regina Christian with 17. It was the Eagles second consecutive provincial title. “It was awesome, especially having it two years in a row,” said Eagles co-captain Matt Donauer, whose team raced out to a 19-2 lead and was ahead 49-20 at the half, told the Saskatoon Star-Phoenix. “It was a surprise and it wasn’t,” said Donauer, one of two Grade 12 players on the squad along with Stephen Tymchak. “We studied our opponents and we worked hard to beat them. The keys were working together and stopping their top players.” Eagles coach Aaron Benneweis said “it’s a nice accomplishment for the boys and for our program. I never let a loss define me and I don’t let a win define me, but this is the fruit that is borne if you work hard all year. We knew we had to stop McLaren. We definitely knew he was a big threat inside and they had a couple of guards who could penetrate. We worked all week on different situations to make sure we were prepped. My starting five did an absolutely excellent job and executed everything right to how we practiced. We frustrated them on defence and the press definitely.”
The bronze medalist Kinistino Blues: Scott Foster; Scott Holmes; Geoff Powell; Jay Foster; Tyler Hourie; Kirk Porter; David Boyle; Spencer Powell; Laine Homes; Evan Breiter; Jeff Erickson; Jared Breiter; Jordan Foster; coach Adam Svenkeson; assistant Stephen Hunt
The silver medalist Regina Christian Grizzlies: Travis McLaren; C.J. Rilling; David Johnson; coach Geoff Glaspell
The gold medalist Saskatoon Christian Centre Academy Cougars: Stephen Tymchak; Joel Donauer; Matt Donauer; Andrew Donauer; Kyle Donauer; Josiah Fenez; Curtis Vinish; coach Aaron Benneweis