In the opening round: …………………………………………………… The top-seeded Meadow Lake Carpenter Spartans whipped the Wilcox Athol Murray College of Notre Dame Hounds 91-38 as Jeremy Svenkeson scored 23. Meadow Lake led 52-20 at the half. Coach Jesse Shakotko said the team played very well. “They didn’t take any game they played last weekend lightly,” he said. “Everyone came out to play, and were there for each other calling the ball and following through on their plays. They rose to the challenge.” The Hounds included Lee Jean Francois, Byron Lemley. …………………………………………………… The Prince Albert Carlton Crusaders edged the Moose Jaw Vanier Vikings 67-64. Vanier led 37-36 at the half. …………………………………………………… The Moose Jaw Central Cyclones stomped the Yorkton Sacred Heart Saints 108-70 after leading 31-12, 55-29 and 79-53 at the quarters. Colby Erikson paced Central with 33. Jeff Beuert paced Yorkton Sacred Heart with 30. …………………………………………………… The Lloydminster Holy Rosary Raiders crushed Regina Martin Monarchs 111-79 as Stuart Sholter scored 22. Jake Senff paced Martin with 17. Holy Rosary led 20-18, 52-39 and 88-60 at the quarters. The Monarchs (coached by Mark Penno, Mike Penno and Brent Hales) also included Billy Dulong, Dautong Athel, Jason Yanoshewski, Eric Burlock, Jordan McIntosh, Andrew Banerjee, Matt McIntyre, and Matt Tice. …………………………………………………… The North Battleford Vikings clubbed Balgonie Greenall Griffins 77-54 after leading 19-16, 37-23 and 59-40 at the quarters. The Griffins included Alex Guenther, Tyrel Lindskog, A.J. Waldahl. …………………………………………………… The Prince Albert St. Mary Marauders dumped the Swift Current Colts 64-53. St. Mary led 17-13 after one quarter. Swift Current led 33-31 at the half and 45-43 after three quarters. The Colts led after the first and second quarters, but a cold three for 11 shooting effort in the fourth quarter was the team’s undoing. Jordan Harper led the Colts with 14 points followed by 12 from Thomas Judiesch. …………………………………………………… The 3rd-seeded Moose Jaw Peacock Toilers whipped the Melfort Comets 98-45 as Cody Rosnes scored 20 and Levi Steinhauer 18. Shawn Baptiste led Melfort with 17. Justin Weisberg added 14. The Comets also included Jeff Pereyma. …………………………………………………… The Regina F.W. Johnson Wildcats defeated the Saskatoon Centennial Chargers 74-60. The game was a very tight defensive one with Johnson up 26-24 at half. The game was as close as 6 with 3 minutes but Johnson shot the ball very well from the line to put the game away. Josh Okeadu led Johnson with 15. Shoruh Noraliev added 14. Matt Smith paced Centennial with 14. Mike Klassen added 10. The Chargers (coached by Kory Dawe) also included Dylan Thorpe, Drew Golding, Hasib Karimi, and Ryan Schmidt.
In the quarterfinals,
the top-seeded Meadow Lake Carpenter Spartans clipped the Prince Albert Carlton
Crusaders 55-39 after leading 31-21 at the half. “We had a pretty amazing
crowd, which always helps things,” said coach Jesse Shakotko. “The support from
the community was amazing. There was about 100 plus people at both games we played.
It really makes a difference to the players knowing that there’s people out
there who believe in them.” “We had beat them twice before, and they had beat
us twice,” said Shakotko. “Tim (Johnstone) and I just told the boys to stay
focused and concentrate on the little things. They played really well defensively,
and even when the offense wasn’t there, they were protecting our basket very
well.” The team managed to keep a ten-point lead on Carleton throughout the
majority of the game. “That cushion was consistent through most of the game,”
he said. “Even when they started to close the game, we had that eight-to-10-point
gain on them. We dealt with the challenges during the game with poise and
maturity. There were no easy baskets for Carleton, that’s for sure.”
The Moose Jaw Central Cyclones
outlasted the Lloydminster Holy Rosary Raiders 108-99. Holy Rosary led 28-22
after one quarter and 51-43 at the half. The Cyclones led 75-60 after three
quarters. The Raiders included Tom Hall, Stuart Sholter.
The Prince Albert St. Mary Marauders edged the North Battleford Vikings 57-51.
In the last quarterfinal, the 3rd-seeded Moose Jaw Peacock Toilers stomped the Regina F.W. Johnson Wildcats 71-56. Peacock led 37-31 at the half. Brock Overs paced Peacock with 21. Matt Pitts added 20. Josh Akeadu led Johnson with 19. Tyson Whitehouse added 10. The Wildcats also included Shohruh Noralieu, Joe Inglis.
In the semis,
the 3rd-seeded Moose Jaw Peacock Toilers defeated Prince Albert St. Mary
Marauders 78-63. Led by the trio of Josh Huschi — who led all scorers with 18
— Brock Overs and Levi Steinhauer, who each had 17, Peacock led nearly from
start to finish. “We were quietly confident coming in,” Toilers coach Bryan
Adams told the Saskatoon Star-Phoenix. “We’re a young team, but we’re playing
the best basketball we’ve played all year right now, so we had high hopes
coming in.” Peacock opened up the game in the second quarter with some fine
outside shooting. Overs, who sunk four three-pointers in the contest and finished
with 17 points, made two treys and a long-range jumper to give Peacock a 32-16
lead. An 8-0 run by Prince Albert late in the half closed the gap, but Moose Jaw
took a 38-28 lead into the half. Peacock again came out flying in the third
quarter, going on a 12-4 run in the opening three-and-a-half minutes to take a
50-32 lead. Prince Albert closed to deficit to 10 points midway through the
final quarter on the strength of three consecutive three-pointers, part of an
11-0 run, but Peacock regained its composure and Overs’ final three-ball with 45
seconds remaining sealed the win. “I think some people didn’t think we’d be
here because of all the graduates we had from last year, said Adams. “Our guys
have worked extremely hard all year to get themselves back in it and we’re
going to come out in the final and work the best we can.” Nathan Peeteetuce
topped Prince Albert’s offence with 16 points. The Toilers speed and rebounding
proved the difference. “We heard about their penetration … and it was true,”
said St. Mary coach Dale Regel. “And we heard about how hard they hit the
boards … that was true, too.” For the first three quarters, the Toilers
controlled the tempo of the game. They sliced to the hoop, played tough on the
glass and used effective long-range shooting to build a 60-43 lead. Then in the
fourth quarter – with the game all but out of reach – the Marauders sprang to
life. “In the last quarter we really started to press them,” said St. Mary
senior Nico Michel. “We probably should have started doing that earlier.” Over
the final 10 minutes the Marauders – who were heavy underdogs heading into the
game – outscored the Toilers 20-18, but it wasn’t enough. “The scoreboard may
have said it’s a loss,” said Regel, “but I just told the guys that this is like
a win. At the beginning of the season those guys would have blown us away, but
today we played well. Everyone who went on the floor worked their butts off.”
In the other semi, the Moose Jaw
Central Cyclones defeated the top-seeded Meadow Lake Carpenter Spartans 61-59.
Moose Jaw Central pulled off an upset when Riley Brydges made the
game-clinching shot with 5.5 seconds on the clock. “It was pretty exciting and
down to the wire there and I’m just glad our guys were able to hang on,” Central
coach Leigh Pethick told the Saskatoon Star-Phoenix. Brydges topped all Central
scorers with 13. Jeremy Svenkeson led Meadow Lake with 18. Meadow Lake led
after every quarter, but took a slim 46-44 advantage into the final quarter.
After Brydges slashed his way to the hoop to give Central its first lead since
early in the first quarter, Meadow Lake’s Landon Nadon hit a jumper to make it
58-57 Central with 55 seconds left in the fourth quarter. From there, it was
all Brydges. The Grade 12 power forward made a deft outside jumper under
pressure to tie the game at 59-59 with 30 seconds remaining. An air ball from
downtown by Nadon gave Central possession. Off the inbounds, Brydges weaved
through a pair of defenders before pulling up and draining the winning shot. “I
was looking to make a good shot,” said Brydges. “They left me open and luckily
they went in.”
In the bronze medal match, the Meadow Lake Carpenter Spartans nipped the Prince Albert St. Mary Marauders 67-65 as Brian Brander scored 21 and Taylor Lajeunesse 20. Nathan Peeteetuce led St. Mary’s with 22. Wade Merasty added 17. The Marauders (coached by Dale Regel) also included Colby Apps, Lamine Dabo, Marcin Halczuk, Josh Jalbert, Colton Link, Nico Michel, Brandon Parasuik, Kohlton Parenteau, Brock Pilon, Dan Rathgeber, Casper Read, Adam Wendt.
In the final, the Moose Jaw A.E. Peacock Toilers defeated the Moose Jaw Central Cyclones 74-66 in overtime. Brock Overs paced Peacock with 17. Levi Steinhauer added 15. Bryce Warner led the Cyclones with 19. Riley Brydges added 14. The teams were tied at 60-60 at the end of regulation. The rematch of the 2007 final came down to five free throws were taken in the last two seconds of overtime. “After 31 years of coaching I’ve had endings that have been absolutely dramatic,” Peacock coach Bryan Adams. “There’s been lots of dramatic stuff, but I don’t if anything was crazier than that.” After a slow first 30 minutes, the game went from average to classic rapidly. The Toilers went on a 10-0 run to cut the Cyclones’ lead to 54-52. Still with 6.5 seconds left Central was up 58-57. Riley Brydges made a free throw to extend the lead and with 3.5 seconds left Gurdip Mall made another to put the Cyclones up three. With less than two seconds left Peacock’s Josh Huschi was fouled as he tried to throw up a three-point shot. With ice water in his veins, the Grade 10 would sink all three free throws to tie the game. “I could barely stand my legs were shaking so bad,” said Huschi who had 12 points. “I thought this is for a provincial championship. I’ve got to make these. The first one was the hardest.” Overtime looked a certainty until Central’s Brandon Hasmatali was fouled by Peacock senior Matt Pitts at the buzzer. With no time on the clock Hasmatali earned two free throws with the score tied 60-60. “My heart stopped,” said Huschi. “It just stopped beating.” Many players couldn’t bear to watch the free throws. Pitts crouched at centre court and covered his face with his jersey. “My head was down. I started to feel some tears coming,” said Pitts who has been the Toilers’ point guard for three years. “I heard that ‘ooooh’ both times and that was a big relief. It gave us another chance. That was good because I wouldn’t have been able to live with myself.” Central coach Leigh Pethick said “we did exactly what we needed to win the game. Our guys played their hearts out. The only thing I can say is that the basketball gods weren’t with us.” In overtime Brock Overs, another Peacock Grade 10 player, scored 10 of his team high 17 points to cap the comeback. Both teams had two starters foul out and Central’s Bryce Warner did everything he could to keep his team in the game. Warner finished with 19 but it wasn’t enough. “We came out (in overtime) and it was no mercy,” said Pitts who finished with a dozen points. “We knew we had one job to do — hard D and push the ball and get some points on the board and finish it up.” The Toilers started three Grade 10s and a Grade 11 in overtime. “I was putting the guys out there who I thought would give us the best chance to win. And they did,” said Adams. With a combination of nerves, good defence, key players in foul trouble and a spate of traveling calls neither offence could get going early. The Cyclones took a 28-21 lead into the half and a Brydges buzzer-beater put them up 45-36 after three. “We never stopped working,” said Huschi. “All of the credit goes to our coaches who made sure we never gave up.” Adams gave credit to an unsung hero. Chad Sunde went crashing heavily into the scorer’s table and sliced his arm open. Sunde finished the game but needed stitches to close the wound. “That was not our best game and credit to Central for a lot of that. But we came out flat and the kid that got us going was Chad Sunde,” said Adams. “Not a lot of points and the rest of it, but he D’d up on Riley Brydges and he dove for that ball and sliced his elbow open. He was our emotional charge.” Peacock’s Levi Steinhauer scored 15 points before fouling out. Brydges had 14 and Mike Seida had 10 for the Cyclones.
The bronze medalist Meadow Lake Carpenter Spartans: Brian Brander; Jeremy Svenkenson; Taylor Lajeunesse; Landon Nadon; Jared Fingler; Devin Aubichon; Dustin Colbert; Kyle Cummings; Sean Harman; Nyden Iron; Michael Jordan; Ahmad Kariem; Kale Lajeunesse; Cam Leskowski; Shawn Martin; Dustin Robertson; Kane Summerfeld; Matthew Spence; Chad Stene; Dean Villeneuve; coach Jesse Shakotko
The silver medalist Moose Jaw Central Cyclones: Brandon Hasmatali; Gezim Zymberi; Gurdip Mall; Bryce Warner; Colby Erickson; Riley Brydges; Mike Seida; Kyle Kwan; Devin Johnson; Jason Rattee; Austin Miller; coach Leigh Pethick; assistant Troy Setter
The gold medalist Moose Jaw Peacock Toilers: Matt Pitts; Cody Rosnes; Levi Steinhauer; Brock Overs; Josh Huschi; Adam Bachiu; Chad Sunde; Jared Bachiu; Lance Forbes; Jordan Gottselig; Dolton Johnson; Jordan Lys; Karson Smith; coach Bryan Adams; assistant Lorne Armstrong; assistant Ryan Boughen