In the semis, the Whitehorse Porter Creek Rams dispatched the Whitehorse F.J. Collins Warriors x-x.
In the final, the Whitehorse Vanier Crusaders clocked the Whitehouse Porter Creek Rams 86-73 by dominating the second half. Crusaders captain Jon Koltun told the Yukon News that was par for the course. “We’ve been doing this all season. We’ve been starting out flat, having troubles at the start of games. Our whole team is just super-resilient. We just keep fighting. There’s no quit on our team.” Ram guard Breyin Weins hit a trio from beyond the arc as Porter Creek build a 19-8 lead. The Rams led 22-15 after one quarter and 36-31 at the half. The Crusaders opened with an 8-2 run and never looked back as Josh Tobias and Louis Aguinaldo drilled treys. John Apostol sunk a free throw and a jumper to give the Crusaders a 44-40 lead and they pulled away through the half. The Rams had gone winless in their first 12 games of the season, getting their first victory in mid-February before making the run to the provincial final. Apostol led the Crusaders with 30. Aguinaldo added 14. “They started firing,” said Rams coach Paul MacDonald. “They must have been 65 per cent for the first couple minutes. They were making outside shots. [Vanier’s Sean] McCarron is an awesome coach, he picked apart our little zone down there. So they were hitting outside and when they weren’t there, they were pounding the ball inside. We had nothing left in the tank. We won the two playoff games; we beat F.H., we beat Vanier. That took everything we had. We never gave up, but they have more firepower on that team. We had more hustle the other night, they had more hustle tonight. That’s what it comes down to.” Tournament MVP Koltun, who scored 7, said “it feels great. It was unexpected; I thought someone else on the team was going to get it. But I’ll take it.” The Grade 12 player just returned to action for the playoffs after missing two months with a concussion. “I could notice it in the cardio, that’s for sure,” said Koltun. “The guys were setting me up for easy shots. …
Lowes led the Rams in points with 22. Breyin Wiens added 17. “These guys stepped up big the whole season. They’ve been playing great ball without me. There’s no team that I’d rather do this with. These guys, I’m friends with all of them. I think it will hold (special significance) once I realize … once it (the gym) is gone. It’s pretty sweet to finish on such a good note in this gym. I’ve played lots in this gym.” Crusaders coach Sean McCarron said “we had never played against this 2-3 zone until two days ago. It really messed us up. We just could not get spacing. We could not attack their openings and their gaps. … We’ve been down by 10 points or more in the last five games we’ve played. We’ve come back to win all but one. There was no worry, really. We know that it’s a long game. It’s 40 minutes and it was just a matter of getting it to the second half and hopefully not picking up more fouls on the way. It was a very satisfying win. … All three teams had legitimate chances of winning. There really wasn’t a favourite. We never took anyone for granted at all.” Rams coach Paul MacDonald said making the final was “among the proudest of now 18-plus years of coaching. We were 0-13, and now we end up the season 3-14,” he said. “I didn’t think we’d get a win this season. We’ve got a lot of athletes disguised as basketball players. I’m proud. … Vanier came out with a lot of firepower. They made a lot of shots right off the start. It took our boys everything they had to get into this game. We just couldn’t get back over that hurdle. … Sean’s a great coach. He picked apart our zone defence. They made the outside shots. They made the inside shots. You’ve got to be intense in every play. It’s the team that hustles the most in any given night. That was us the last two nights. It was them tonight.”
The bronze medalist Whitehorse F.J. Collins Warriors: Ken Valdez; Bryan Hermosa; Dominic Korn;
The silver medalist Porter Creek Rams: Scott Peterson; Breyin Wiens; Peter Jensen; J.J. Paul; coach Paul MacDonald
The champion Whitehorse Vanier Catholic Secondary Crusaders: Jon Koltun; Breyein Wiens; John Apostol Josh Tobias; Louis Aguinaldo; Zachary Giczi; coach Sean McCarron