In the opening round: …………………………………………………… The Moose Jaw Central Cyclones defeated the Meadow Lake Carpenter Spartans 94-49 as Nelson Towriss scored 18. Braden Sarauer paced Meadow Lake with 16. Central led 50-25 at the half. …………………………………………………… The Lumsden Devils dumped the Yorkton Sacred Heart Saints 83-38 as Kevin Ulmer scored 21. Jeff McPhee paced Yorkton with 12. Lumsden led 51-23 at the half. …………………………………………………… The Regina Martin Monarchs whipped the Rosetown Royals 105-73. …………………………………………………… The Prince Albert St. Mary Marauders crushed the Lloydminster Holy Rosary Raiders 101-73. …………………………………………………… The Caronport Cougars dumped the Esterhazy Warriors 64-52. …………………………………………………… The Moose Jaw Vanier Vikings defeated the Melfort Comets 84-74. …………………………………………………… The North Battleford John Paul II Crusaders thumped the Humboldt Mohawks 73-30. …………………………………………………… The Regina F.W. Johnson Wildcats nipped the Balgonie Greenall Griffins 79-75. Johnson led 45-33 at the half. The Griffins (coached by Bill Weir) included Jeff Folk, Trevor Kozlowski, Kent Shaw, Brennan Pentelluck.
In the quarterfinals, the Moose Jaw Central Cyclones dumped the Lumsden Devils 77-61 as James Avery scored 19. Mike Morrow led Lumsden with 18. Central led 43-31 at the half. The Devils (coached by Drew Schenk) also include Kevin Ulmer, Jeff Eberts, Taylor Douglas.
The Prince Albert St. Mary Marauders defeated the Regina Martin Monarchs 63-51. The Monarchs (co-coached by Ian McKillop and Paul McGregor) included Robin Parker, Jeff Lander, Spencer Larocque, Jared Baker, Jeremy Braun.
The Caronport Cougars dumped the Moose Jaw Vanier Vikings 64-52.
In the last quarterfinal, the Regina F.W. Johnson Wildcats defeated the North Battleford John Paul II Crusaders 69-66 in overtime. The teams were tied at 59 after regulation. The Wildcats had lost to the Martin Monarchs in the Regina finals, yet they were the squad to qualify for Hoopla. “The nice thing about it is that you can lose a game and your season’s not over,” Johnson coach Jeff Perry told the Regina Leader-Post. “Our goal was to get back to provincials, because we were there last year. Had our season ended with a loss in the city final, we wouldn’t have been very happy.” Josh Kasper paced the Wildcats with 16. Ryan Burkholder added 13, Brandon Sweet 11, Logan Radway 10 and Rajnish Sharma 10. “It was a real team effort,” Perry said. “I’m really proud of them.”
In the semi-finals, Prince Albert St. Mary Marauders defeated the Moose Jaw Central Cyclones 78-72 as Dan Hall scored 16 and Caley O’Connor 15. Chris Holoien paced Central with 21. Leighton Heron added 12.
In the other semi, the Regina F.W. Johnson Wildcats defeated the Caronport Cougars 69-55 as Ryan Burkholder scored 17. Len Locken paced the Cougars with 18. “We made it to provincials last year, but we lost in our first game and then we lost in the third-place game,” Wildcats post Nolan Duguid told the Regina Leader-Post. “We’ve got a lot of returning players from last year’s team and we’re really looking for a medal.”
In the bronze medal match, the Moose Jaw Central Cyclones defeated the Caronport Cougars 73-62 as Chris Holoien scored 21 and Sang Becker 12. Collin Nerdahl paced Caronport with 21. James Thiessen and Denver Boldt each added 11. The Cougars were playing without leading scorer Justin Wolverton.
In the final, the Regina F.W. Johnson Wildcats nipped the Prince Albert St. Mary Marauders 55-52 as Josh Kasper scored 22. Shane Carriere led St. Mary with 15. “For our basketball program, this is huge,” coach Jeff Perry told the Regina Leader-Post. “We didn’t have a senior team two years ago, so we’ve been trying to put one together since then. We didn’t have enough bodies. We only had five or six guys to play at the senior level and, really, only two of them were basketball players. We had to make an executive decision. We decided to take some of those guys down to junior – even though they were in grade 11 – and really build from the ground up.” Forward Josh Kasper was elated. “This is what I wanted from the very beginning. Going out on top in my grade 12 year means everything to me.” Kasper scored a three-point play with just over one-minute left and then, with 14 seconds remaining and his team up 54-52, Kasper drew a charging foul that effectively sealed the game for Johnson. “I was nervous shooting that free throw but managed to keep it together,” Kasper told the Saskatoon Star-Phoenix. “When I took that charge, I just closed my eyes and hoped he hit me. It hurt, but it was so worth it.” Carriere told the Prince Albert Daily Herald that the loss “was kind of shocking. After about six years of playing ball, it comes to an end.” Carrier hit a trey with 15 seconds to play to knot the score at 52 but the Wildcats won it with a pair of free throws. Marauder guard Dan Quintal had driven for a potential tying layup with six seconds left, but was called for a charging foul. “We wanted it bad,” said Carriere. “It was pretty tough actually, just because we came all that way. We just couldn’t get the gold. We didn’t overlook them (Johnson). We knew they were a pretty good basketball team.” Carriere added that “the reffing was pretty fair, but it was brutal,” he said. “We were both getting missed calls and bad calls here and there.” Carriere added that the Marauders “kind of lost” their exposure at the end. Marauders coach Dale Regel said “this was more than what we anticipated at the beginning of the season. We have to be happy. We won three tournaments. We had a very successful season. It was one of our most successful seasons ever. How can you be disappointed?”
The bronze medalist Moose Jaw Central Cyclones: Nelson Towriss; James Avery; Chris Holoien; Leighton Heron; Sang Becker; Ryan Milligan;
The silver medalist Prince Albert St. Mary Marauders: Dan Hall; Caley O’Connor; Shane Carriere; Scott Kurytnik; Jess Harnette; coach Dale Regel
The gold medalist Regina Johnson Wildcats: Josh Kasper; Logan Radway; Ryan Burkholder; Brandon Sweet; Rajnish Sharma; Nolan Duguid; coach Jeff Perry