In the opening round of the Regina city playoffs: …………………………………………………… The Luther Lions spanked the Miller Marauders 81-52 as Richard Cohee scored 17 and Adam Johnstone 15. The Lions used a 12-0 run, including three buckets by Adam Johnston, a pair by Paul Cohee and one by Pat Heal to take command. Johnston told the Regina Leader-Post that “It was hard to get up the game. We lacked intensity until everyone realized we had to pull through with Rob Ramsay (the starting point guard who was stricken by the flu). We didn’t have a controlled offense but we had the fastbreak. We didn’t stop and set it up – just pushed it up tonight.” Marauders coach Vaughan McIntyre said “there were certain points where we looked good. Our problem all year has been rebounding and controlling the ball. So our objective tonight was to do that by blocking people out and controlling the offence. With it down to a nine-point lead, the guys were too tired to do anything. Luther just put a spurt on and our guys were too tired to reply.” Steve Tunison led the Marauders with 19. Andrew Hoffert added 12. The Marauders (coached by Vaughn McIntyre) also included Eldon Ponscak. …………………………………………………… In the quarterfinals, the Dr. Martin LeBoldus Golden Suns nipped the Luther Lions 75-73 as Brent Kopp hit the winning free throws with 30 seconds to play. Steven Lobaugh paced the Golden Suns with 20. Brent Kopp added 12. Richard Cohee led the Lions with 24. The Lions (coached by Dick Stark, assisted by Gary Beckie and Jeff Christiansen) also included Adam Johnstone, Paul Cohee, Pat Heal, Rob Ramsay, Dave Hannesson, Eldon Ponscak, Scott Rever, Richard Cohee. …………………………………………………… The Archbishop M.C. O’Neill Titans dusted the Balfour Redmen 79-60 as Peter Lewis scored 28. Dale Meger led the Redmen with 17. The Redmen also included Martin Sattler, Toby Frisk, Glen Keenan. …………………………………………………… The Thom Trojans spanked the Sheldon-Williams Spartans 78-65 as Richard Wahpooseyan scored 17, Lance Lascue 16, Tim Klein 15 and Troy Williams 6. The Trojans used a 21-5 run in the second half to take command. Thom coach Dale Wilde told the Regina Leader-Post that “we’ve always said that the faster the game, the better it is for us.” Spartans coach Spence Burgess said “they’re a big team. We had to break them. And on the break, we basically throw the pass up in the air and other guys get under it. Even when we’re ahead of them going for a pass, they beat us to it and went to the basket. Thom really is an aggressive team. Any loose ball, they’re going to get it 7 of 10. I’m not really sure what happened during those four or five minutes.” Peter Hryniuk scored 18 to lead the Spartans. Bob Miller added 10. The Spartans (coached by Spence Burgess) also included Jim Culham. …………………………………………………… In the last quarterfinal, the Martin Monarchs whipped the Campbell Tartans 64-48 as Dan Salowski scored 17 and Darren Thomas 15. Mason Pak led the Tartans with 15. Chris Rusnak added 12. The Tartans (coached by Randy Prokopanko) also included Mike Peshko, Bob Lane, Tim Fowler, Rob Burns, Rob Bowns. …………………………………………………… In the semis, the Archbishop M.C. O’Neill Titans edged the Thom Trojans 65-61 after leading 38-24 at the half. Dan Fleming led the Titans with 12. Lance Lascue led the Trojans with 26. The Trojans (coached by Dale Wilde) also included Richard Wahpooseyan, Shaun Belt, Tim Klein, Sean Pattalas. …………………………………………………… In the other semi, the Martin Monarchs nipped the Dr. Martin LeBoldus Golden Suns 76-74 as Darren Thomson scored 24 and Dave Shalley 16. Rob Moser led the Golden Suns with 29. LeBoldus guard Roland Biegler bounced a desperation trey off the rim as time expired. The Golden Suns broke to a 9-0 lead but Martin rallied with a 12-11 edge. Darren Thomson hit 3 field goals and 4 free throws in the last five minutes of the first half as the Monarchs took a 36-34 lead into the lockers. Thomson told the Regina Leader-Post that “we missed putting the ball into the buckets early in the game. But I knew once we hit the first score, we’d start to click. I was hyper all day and down early to shoot.” Martin coach Gord Burgess said “all this year, we’ve either played or were dead cold at the start of the game. Today, it didn’t look good but I wasn’t worried because most of the misses were high percentage shots. Then we went on a roll and outscored them 12-1.” Martin opened the second half with an 18-10 run to take a 54-34 lead. Burgess said “our defence was the key to our turnaround. Our press took LeBoldus out of their offensive flow. We’ve done that all year and are confident we can execute the press. We went 18 minutes with a zone defence in the second half – no man-to-man. LeBoldus is too quick for us to go man and our big guys fouled out – that’s going to happen when you press.” Indeed, post Dan Salowski and forward Scott Mcleod fouled out. Jordy Wihak and Rob Moser hit back-to-back buckets to draw the Golden Suns within 68-64 with 3 minutes to play. But Kelvin Ericksen hit 3 buckets and Thomson another as Martin rebuilt its lead to 76-64. Biegler hit a trey, a field goal and a free throw, while Brent Kopp hit a bucket, to draw LeBoldus to within 76-74. LeBoldus then fouled Shalley, who missed 2 free throws, setting the stage for Biegler’s miss. Golden Suns coach Ron Pettigrew said “it was a tough loss because we came back so well at the end. We turned the ball over and took away our opportunities in the offensive end.” The Golden Suns (coached by Ron Pettigrew) also included Norm McLaughlin, Dave Foord, Brent Koop. …………………………………………………… In the final, the Archbishop M.C. O’Neill Titans clipped the Martin Monarchs 68-57 as Kim Seifert scored 18 and Ivor Abraham 18. Speed triumphed over height as the Titans led 8-0 at the start and 16-4 early. Titans coach Al Collins told the Regina Leader-Post that “we wanted to run and didn’t think Martin’s press would be as impressive her as on the smaller courts. Although we’re not as tall, the team can jump. I was concerned with Martin’s height and we did make adjustments to help each other.” The Monarchs trimmed the margin to 31-21 at the half. Monarchs coach Gord Burgess said “in the first half, we were too uptight. We did too many things out of character for the team. We didn’t show patience on offence – no patience on shooting or passing.” Martin opened the second half with an 8-0 run on a pair of buckets by Don Salowski and one by Darren Thomson. But then Slawoski and Thomson each had to sit out with four fouls. Burgess said “it really hurt us when Slawoski sat out because we were effective getting the ball inside to him. When he went down, we were behind by only 3 and then fell behind by 8. The way we played the game, we didn’t deserve to win it. O’Neil capitalized on every mistake we made.” Titan Kim Seifert said “we outran them and took the pace up fast. We set a fast pace and thought we might have an advantage if we tired them out. And it showed at the end of the game.” Don Salowski led the Monarchs with 20. Darren Thomson added 15. The Monarchs also included Rob Brown, Dave Tullman, Kevin Erickson.
In the Saskatoon city quarterfinals (Holy Cross and Evan Hardy received byes): …………………………………………………… The 5th-seeded Holy Cross Crusaders dumped the 4th-seeded Bedford Road Redmen 62-56 as Ted Sarich scored 20 and Ken Ostertag 19. Crusaders coach Dave Hardy told the Saskatoon Star-Phoenix that “we took away a lot of their seconds shots and conversed some of them into easy baskets.” Redmen coach Kelly Bowers said “they hustled. They shot well. … wanted it more.” Ken Krivoshen led the Redmen with 16. The Redmen also included Doug Prokop, Daryl King, Mike Lukian, Wayne Nelson, Rob Sotnikow. …………………………………………………… In the other quarterfinal, the 3rd-seeded E.D. Feehan Trojans dispatched the 6th-seeded Walter Murray Marauders 69-61 as Ed Povhe scored 40. The Marauders included Tom Leakow, Curtis Bamber, Rob Pekush, Kevin Hoffman, Shawn Stadnyk, Darren Lundy. …………………………………………………… In the semis, the top-seeded Mount Royal Mustangs dispatched the 5th-seeded Holy Cross Crusaders 76-65 after leading 34-27 at the half. Dean Wiebe paced the Mustangs with 25. Mustangs coach Nick Patola told the Saskatoon Star-Phoenix that “five members of the team had the flu bug during the week. I knew that if we ran with Holy Cross, we were going to die. Because I anticipated our health problems, the only thing you can really do is get the guys ready mentally for the game.” Holy Cross ripped off a 9-0 run in the second half. But Patola inserted Kerry Miller. “The insertion of a taller fellow gave us an advantage on the inside and more ball control,” Patola said. “He got us some rebounds and scored some points.” Ted Savich led the Crusaders with 17. The Crusaders also included Kelvin Sander, Dean Powell, Dean Yurkowski, Lorne Keen. …………………………………………………… In the other semi, the 2nd-seeded Evan Hardy Souls edged the 3rd-seeded E.D. Feehan Trojans 55-50 after leading 34-22 at the half. Paul Robinson led the Souls with 22. Ed Povhe paced the Trojans with 22. The Trojans also included Kelly Cherneski, Andy Stepaniuk. …………………………………………………… In the final, the top-seeded Mount Royal Mustangs clipped the 2nd-seeded Evan Hardy Souls 67-61. The Mustangs led 35-28 at the half and by as many as 20. Mustangs coach Nick Patola told the Saskatoon Star-Phoenix that “the lead should have us the confidence to do the things we can do well. We just seemed to freeze.” Souls coach Ron Stinson said “twenty points is a lot to come back from … Mount Royal didn’t get there with bad defence and people getting runs on them.”
In the provincial semis, the Regina Archbishop M.C. O’Neill Titans edged the Saskatoon Evan Hardy Souls 74-71. The Titans trailed 22-15 early when Ivor Abraham hit a bucket, Mickey Frolick two field goals and Abraham two free throws to give them a one-point lead. They led 37-36 at the half. “Our plan was to run them,” Titans guard Garth Kuchinski told the Regina Leader-Post. “We didn’t press too early because we thought it would be a close game.” The Titans shifted to a press in the second half and it appeared to rattle the Souls. Kuchinski said “they were keeping two men back and three guys were deep. We were trying to make them throws the long pass and it was effective.” Colin Hughes caught fire late in the fourth quarter to rally the Souls to within 72-69 down the stretch. Titans coach Al Collins told the Saskatoon Star-Phoenix “actually, I think it was the press (early in the second half) that did it. It was a guess. Not knowing much about them, we were only hopng good things would happen … and they did.” Kim Seifert led the Titans with 15. Ivor Abraham added 11, Mickey Frolick 10, Garth Kuchinski 10 and Peter Lewis 10. Colin Hughes paced the Souls with 33. Paul Robinson added 18 (also reported as 16). Souls coach Ron Stinson said “we came with a halfcourt press in the first half to slow O’Neill down. We called it off in the second half. Perhaps we should have kept it going.”
In the other semi, the Saskatoon Mount Royal Mustangs clipped the Regina Martin Monarchs 57-49. The Mustangs led 43-23 at the half but then appeared to lose focus. Coach Nick Patola told the Regina Leader-Post that “we were shooting relatively well and then we got cold. If the shots don’t start going in, the saliva dries up in the mouth and the guys started getting tentative. Martin gambled by using big pressure to catch up and we allowed them to come at us.” Patola told the Saskatoon Star-Phoenix “whew, I’m getting too old for this.” The Mustangs almost squandered a 45-23 lead. Patola said “sure we wanted to spread things out and we looked cute as hell moving the ball around. But each time we pass, we’re supposed to gain a bit of real estate. We didn’t. So we’re stuck on the perimeter, the shot (clock) is winding down and we start to panic.” Mustang James Phillips said “we don’t give up the easy things. That’s understood. Besides, I could afford the foul (on a late block of a Mike Hillsdon shot). So I went for the pin (to the backboard) and ended up getting a piece of him. He fell and pulled a little Hollywood.” Dean Wiebe led the Mustangs with 16 (also reported as 18). Trevor Winfield added 16 and Bob Anderson 11. Darren Thomson paced the Monarchs with 10. Rob Brown added 10. Monarchs coach Gord Burgess said “we fell behind the eight-ball. In the last seven minutes of the first half, we were behind 21-18 and then they outscored us 16-0. Mount Royal played aggressive man-to-man and it took us out of sync. I told the team Mount Royal was hot in the first half but they couldn’t shoot that well in the second half. We just ran out of time.”
In the bronze medal match, the Saskatoon Evan Hardy Souls dispatched the Regina Martin Monarchs 82-76 as Paul Robinson scored 25, Bruce Rempel 24, Colin Hughes 15 and Bill Johnson 10. Dan Salowski led the Monarchs with 16. Darren Thomson added 14 and Dave Shalley 10 The Monarchs (coached by Gord Burgess) included Rob Brown, Scott McLeod, Kelvin Erickson, Dave Tollman, Mike Hillsdon.
In the provincial final, the Saskatoon Mount Royal Mustangs defeated the Regina Archbishop M.C. O’Neill Titans 68-50 after leading 38-18 at the half. Mustangs coach Nick Patola told the Regina Leader-Post that “we practiced and thought what we had to do against O’Neill. I told our kids not to leave the floor because O’Neill has jumping ability, so we can’t give them the second shot. We stayed on the ground and got inside position. We spent a lot of time on bread-and-butter basketball, handing, the ball, layups and jump shots. We didn’t do anything cute.” Patola told the Saskatoon Star-Phoenix that “as I told the kids, pound for pound, inch for inch, they did as much learning and played as well to their potential as any group I’ve ever had. If you’re a teacher, that’s the real reward. I could have been content if we lost. I would have felt sorry for the kids. But as a coach, I’d have been fulfilled. … I don’t know where I picked it up but each year, I tell the kids ‘all the losses are mine; all the wins are yours’. So when the final buzzer went, it was theirs. They can have it. They deserve it.” James Phillips led the Mustangs with 25. Trevor Winfield added 14 and Dean Wiebe 13. Phillips said “we just kept hitting O’Neill. We were like a battering ram – hitting, hitting, hitting – getting them to fold. They buckled and gave us easy shots.” Phillips told the Star-Phoenix “no way, we weren’t going to lose this one.” Peter Lewis led the Titans with 16. Dan Fleming added 9 and Kim Seifert 9. O’Neill coach Al Collins said “Mount Royal’s pressure hurt us. It’s just that they’re a better team than us. They shot better than us and we’d didn’t get into our offence because of their pressure. We tried to press but they came back to beat us on the fastbreak. The pressure gave us no uncontested shots and Mount Royal constantly controlled the boards.” Collins told the Saskatoon Star-Phoenix “unbelievable. They took us completely out of our offence. And nobody has shot that well against us all year. … Gawd, they raked the boards. Rebounding destroyed us … We couldn’t get shot so naturally. We couldn’t score, so we couldn’t press. We simply ran out of options.”
The bronze medalist Saskatoon Evan Hardy Souls: Colin Hughes; Paul Robinson; Bruce Rempel; Bill Johnson; coach Ron Stinson
The silver medalist Regina Archbishop M.C. O’Neill Titans: Peter Lewis; Kim Seifert; Ivor Abraham; Garth Kuchinski; Dan Fleming; Mickey Frolick; Peter Lewis; coach Al Collins
The gold medalist Saskatoon Mount Royal Mustangs: James Phillips; Trevor Winfield; Dean Wiebe; Kerry (Carey?) Miller; Bob Anderson; Tony El; coach Nick Patola