In the opening round: …………………………………………………… The Fort Qu’Appelle Bert Fox Lakers dumped the Churchill-La Ronge Chargers 96-75 after leading 36-25, 59-45 and 82-62 at the quarters. Craig Kinvig paced the Lakers with 25. Jayden Wright added 22 and John Lowe 21. Johnny Sanderson led the Chargers with 26. Todd Thompson added 23. …………………………………………………… The Unity Warriors defeated Kamsack Spartans 72-63 as Benton Gieni scored 28 and Daniel Herrick 23. Jared Cottenie led Kamsack Spartans with 16. Tyson Larson added 14. …………………………………………………… The Warman Wolverines whipped the Hudson Bay Riders 91-69 as Bobby Anderson scored 22 and Nathan Lynchuk 14. Bret Zurba led the Riders with 33. …………………………………………………… The Moosomin Marquis defeated the Rosetown Royals 76-51 after leading 30-29 at the half. Matt Lecomte paced Moosomin with 16. Ben Cressman led Rosetown with 23. …………………………………………………… The Clavet Cougars crushed the Macklin Sabres 93-32 after leading 5014 at the half. Brad Blahun paced Clavet with 19. Josh Kochan added 12. Tyler Mullen led the Sabres with 8. …………………………………………………… The Assiniboia Rockets nipped the Birch Hills Marauders 61-59 after leading 35-31 at the half. Nathan Rust paced the Rockets with 18. Will Richards added 17. Landon Gaudet led Birch Hills with 20. Landon Markling added 19. …………………………………………………… The Caronport Cougars dumped the Esterhazy Warriors 71-53 as Bryn Olmstead scored 14, Garett Fradette 12 and Graden Childerhose 12. Andrew Sugden led the Warriors with 15. Eduardo Sepulveda and Eric Clairmont each added 13. …………………………………………………… The Humboldt Mohawks clipped the Dalmeny Cougars 57-41 as Brandon Angle scored 23 and Nathan Abbs 12. Scott Sonmor and Nicholas Furi each scored 12 to lead Dalmeny.
In the quarterfinals, the Fort Qu’Appelle Bert Fox Lakers stomped the Unity Warriors 75-48 after leading 17-11, 30-16 and 49-37 at the quarters. Craig Kinvig led the Lakers with 23. Jayden Wright added 15. Benton Gieni paced Unity with 17. Daniel Herrick added 7.
The Moosomin Marquis clipped the Warman Wolverines 93-78 as Lucas Johnson scored 25 and Mike Lecomte 23. Aden Wilson paced Warman with 21. Bobby Anderson added 20.
The Clavet Cougars crippled the Assiniboia Rockets 70-49 after leading 14-10, 37-21 and 51-21 at the quarters. Brad Blahun paced Clavet with 20. David Robinson added 14. Will Richards led the Rockets with 17. Paul Thomson added 14. “This is kind of a surprise for everybody in our classification, maybe even a little bit of a surprise for us,” Cougars coach Kathy Maki (spouse of then-Holy Cross Crusaders coach and later University of Saskatchewan coach Barry Rawlyk) told the Saskatoon Star-Phoenix. “We graduated pretty much all of our starters from our gold medal winning team last year. You’re never quite sure how the other kids will fill the roles but they’ve really stepped up and worked on their game during the off-season. So, we’ve surprised a lot of people coming back to be at this level again.”
In the last quarterfinal, the Humboldt Mohawks edged the Caronport Cougars 75-73 in overtime. Humboldt build a 16 point in the second half but Caronport rallied back to force overtime. Bradon Engel led Humboldt with 24. Chris Henry added 16, Evan Greff 16 and Nathan Abbs 12. Bryn Olmstead led Caronport with 22. Graden Childerhose and Kaleb Leskiw each added 20. Mohawks assistant coach Dave Guilbault told the Saskatoon Star-Phoenix that when guard Daniel McCord dislocated his shoulder, “we lost half of the crowd when he came off with his shoulder hanging. And then we lost the other half when we popped it back in. That’s the kind of spirit they have. We scratched and clawed to beat Caronport, which hadn’t lost to a 3A team all season.”
In the semis, the top-seeded Fort Qu’Appelle Bert Fox Lakers defeated the 4th-seeded Moosomin Marquis 78-47 as Craig Kinvig scored 25 and Jayden Wright 17. Colby Davidson paced Moosomin with 13. Ian Adair added 9. “We’re not a rich school,” Lakers coach Geoff Schmidt told the Regina Leader-Post. “We have a kind of small gymnasium, and we duct tape our backboard in place for the playoffs. But we don’t care about the shirts, we don’t care about the fancy shoes, we just play basketball. Craig Kinvig and Jayden Wright are finally the captains, the go-to guys. All of our Grade 12s have worked very hard. The Hoopla final is a great way to end the season.” Wright said “we’ve been working hard at practice. … I’m crazy out there. Sometimes a wild layup might go in for me, crazy fouls, jumping over chairs, hair flying around … I don’t give up.”
In the other semi, the 2nd-seeded Clavet Cougars crushed the 3rd-seeded Humboldt Mohawks 63-39 as Aaron Haight scored 16, David Robinson 14 and Jordan Bradford 12. Brandon Engel paced Humboldt with 29. Evan Greff and Nathan Abbs each added 4. The turning point appeared to come late in the first half, the Saskatoon Star-Phoenix reported. Clavet led 28-26 with 24 seconds remaining when Humboldt turnover over the ball, leading to a Cougars bucket. A second bucket gave Clavet a 32-26 lead at the half. “I give them tons of credit,” said Cougars coach Kathy Maki. “They haven’t been here before. Sometimes, to turn the corner, it takes that kind of experience. We had a really slow start. Maybe nerves and kids get uptight, but we’ve been here before and, at half-time, we just said, ‘Let’s just settle in and it will happen for us.’ Our point guard (David Robinson) finally hit some shots and it seemed to be the key in the game.” Robinson finished with 14 points. Aaron Haight led Clavet with 16. Jordan Bradford had 12. Mohawks coach Kevin Grieman said “the biggest thing is that we haven’t been here as a team before. The pressure was getting to these guys. Some guys played very well, but all of us together didn’t play well.” Mohawks assistant Dave Guilbault added that “we were like deer in the headlights.”
In the bronze medal match, the Moosomin Marquis defeated the Humboldt Mohawks 65-49 as Lucas Johnson scored 18 and Ian Glasser 16. Brandon Engel and Evan Greff each scored 12 to pace Humboldt. The Mohawks (coached by Kevin Grieman, assisted by Dave Guilbault)
In the final, the Clavet Cougars nipped the Fort Qu’Appelle Bert Fox Lakers 65-62 to capture their third consecutive provincial title and ninth overall. David Robinson paced Clavet with 16. Aaron Haight and Jordan Bradford each added 14. Craig Kinvig led Fort Qu’Appelle with 23. Jayden Wright added 14. The Cougars trailed by 13 at the half. Bradford notched a key bucket to give the Cougars a 61-60 lead after Qu’Appelle had regained the lead, 60-59, with 3:08 remaining. A trey by Robinson with 39 seconds left gave the Cougars a four-point cushion, 64-60, with 39 seconds on the clock. Jayden Wright scored a deuce for the Lakers to make it 64-62, but after five straight misses by the Cougars on the free-throw line, Levi Williams sunk a foul shot to make it 65-62. “It was intense,” Bradford told the Saskatoon Star-Phoenix. “We played amazing in the second half and pulled it through. We just starting taking it to the hole and we got our confidence back. Our coach gave us an inspirational speech (in the dressing room). It was all a team effort out there.” Cougars coach Kathy Maki said she used Clavet’s loss in provincial six-man football as motivation. “We lost a heart-breaker in football. We went back to that feeling, saying, ‘We don’t want to go out without giving it our best shot, ever.’ We knew we had to step up. Our man-to-man defence had to be a lot better. We came out way more hard-nosed on defence. We hit a few shots and clawed our way back. … I never allowed myself to think that (would be possible) after graduating most of our starters from last year. It’s always in the back of your mind, but I never wanted to say it out loud. It’s a pretty exciting feeling for us and great for our program. I’m so proud of our players.”
The bronze medalist Moosomin Marquis: Matt Lecomte; Colby Davidson; Ian Adair; Lucas Johnson; Ian Glasser;
The silver medalist Fort Qu’Appelle Bert Fox Lakers: Craig Kinvig; Jayden Wright; John Lowe; coach Geoff Schmidt
The gold medalist Clavet Cougars: Brad Blahun; Josh Kochan; David Robinson; Aaron Haight; Jordan Bradford; Daniel Cox; Levi Williams; coach Kathy Maki