POOL A BC ALTA NB NFLD Record    
  British Columbia —– 77-65 68-64 102-38 (3-0)    
  Alberta 65-77 —– 64-59 122-54 (2-1)    
  New Brunswick 64-68 59-64 —– 105-37 (1-2)    
  Newfoundland 38-102 54-122 37-105 —– (0-3)    
                 
  POOL B ONT QUE SASK MAN NS Record  
  Ontario —– 72-71 87-49 63-54 100-58 (4-0)  
  Quebec 71-72 —– 73-84 89-56 86-59 (2-2)  
  Saskatchewan 49-87 84-73 —– 70-81 82-65 (2-2)  
  Manitoba 54-63 56-89 81-70 —– 70-58 (2-2)  
  Nova Scotia 58-100 59-86 65-82 58-70 —– (0-4)  
                 
  Semi British Columbia 73 Quebec 69
  Semi Ontario 70 Alberta 67
  9th Nova Scotia (automatic)
  7th Manitoba 95 Newfoundland 56
  5th Saskatchewan 85 New Brunswick 74
  Bronze Alberta 105 Quebec 84
  Final Ontario 77 British Columbia 65
     

In pool A play: …………………………………………………… B.C. defeated New Brunswick 68-64 as Steve Ross scored 31 and grabbed 20 boards. ……………………………………………………

In pool B play: …………………………………………………… In the tiebreaker between Quebec, Saskatchewan and Manitoba each are (1-1) in games between the trio. In goal average, Quebec is +22, Saskatchewan is even and Manitoba is –22. …………………………………………………… 9th place finisher Nova Scotia (coached by Jeff Paris, assisted by Mark Parker and Les Berry) included Mike Budreski, Rob Levey, Bill Robinson, Stuart Josselyn, Matt Brooks, Mike Olsen, Jeff Saxby, Colin Franz, Dennis Humpreys, Greg Van Ostrum, Greg MacDonald and Gabriel Goree.

In the 7th place playoff, Manitoba stomped Newfoundland & Labrador 95-56. Manitoba (coached by Joel Themmen, assisted by Grant Richter) included Paul Alao, Braden Hammond, Paul Lodewyks, David Morgan, Ryan Dulder, Matthew Davis, Jon Lundgren, Ernest Nortey, Brian Markwick, Tosin Opanubi, Brad Leroux, David Wiebe, Aaron Blouw and Nathan Jacob. Newfoundland & Labrador (coached by Randy Ash, assisted by Sharon Ash and David O’Keefe) included Joey Wadden, David Wickens, Mike Ash, Tommy McCarthy, Stephen Barker, Danny Mullins, Mathew Roberts, Gordon Power, Jonathan Collins, Brad Doyle and Ian Delaney.

In the 5th place playoff, Saskatchewan defeated New Brunswick 85-74. Saskatchewan (coached by Greg Jockims, assisted by Glenn Szabo) included Seth Lang, Dave Robinson, Tori Sealy, Ashley Yeaman, Brenan Schwartz, Courtney Kolla, Scott Graham, Derek Boechler, Sean Homenik and Jon Salgado. New Brunswick (coached by Dwight Dickinson, assisted by Richard Cotter) included Nick Donald, Scott Foster, Joseph Thompson, Andrew Olscamp, Joel Kennedy, Doug Jamer, Barry Brennan, Andy Cotter, Kurt MacAlpine, David Meyers, Danny White and Wes Levesque.

        In the bronze medal match, guard Phil Scherer tossed in 24 as Alberta throttled Quebec 105-84. Scherer and Junior Patrick each drilled treys as Alberta sprinted to a 17-7 lead. With Mike Melnychuk aggressively driving the paint, Shawn Trusty posting up, while Eddie Richardson and Bruce Dunham nailed three-pointers, Alberta expanded its lead to 52-37 at the break. Point guard Bruce Dunham was dazzling, repeatedly setting up his teammates for easy buckets as Alberta quickly outclassed Quebec in the second half and romped. Richie de la Pena added 19 for Alberta, Dunham 14, Patrick 14, Melnychuck 12 and Tim Ross 10. Eugene Ambrose paced Quebec with 17. Samuel Audet-Sow added 16 and Lunzaya Nlandu 14. Quebec (coached by Nevio Marzinotto, assisted by Carlo Galli and Guy Pariseau) also included Philippe Cote-Jacques, Manix Auriantal, Shaun Doherty, Djibril Bah, Randy Alexandre, David Cibiel-Dubois, Claude Delmas, Neil Zembo, Marc-Antoine Horth and Tshibuy Bunema.

        In the final, it was third time lucky for Ontario. Avenging two successive championships losses to BC, Ontario stomped Quebec 77-65 at Montreal’s Pierre-Charbonneau Center. On the ropes with six minutes to play, gritty point guard J.S. Esposito drilled a pair of critical three-pointers to rally Ontario from an eight-point deficit and trigger a late 26-6 run which sealed the province’s win. Although B.C. gamely fought back to within three with two minutes to play, the diminutive 5-9 Esposito completely deflated the two-time defending champs’ chances at a three peat by driving into a crowded lane with the shot clock expiring and flicking a pinpoint pass to wide-open teammate James Gillingham in the corner for a three-pointer. Esposito said the squad was determined to avenge the losses of the past two junior championship finals. “We wanted to win for ourselves and prove to everybody that we are the best team.” Although the situation appeared dismal late in the contest, “everything finally started to click,” Esposito said. “We hit a few big shots and we executed down the stretch. It’s a great feeling.” Head coach Dave Smart said Brantford-born Esposito, whose ballhandling skills were central to Ontario’s three-point overtime win over Alberta in the semi-finals, demonstrated why he’s considered the finest point guard in his age group in the country. “He makes the game a whole lot easier for me as a coach.” Smart also attributed the victory to the team’s sterling defensive play in the second half. “Our game is just good, steady, hard-nosed defence,” which eventually took its toll. B.C. has got “an awful lot of talent and they made some tough shots and I was very happy the last 26 minutes that we only gave them maybe two, three good looks. We got through so much in our training camp and these kids have worked so hard, it’s just nice to see them get what they deserve. They’ve gone through a lot and they deserve to win the gold. They won the way we practice, which is just working as hard as they possibly can. They just gutted it out and we made the plays at the end of the game.” With Steve Ross, Jeff Dallin and Scott Fraser-Dauphine dominating the paint on both ends of the floor, BC took a 16-point lead in the first half before Ontario found its mark from the perimeter and closed out the frame with a 12-0 run to trim the margin to 39-35 at the break. BC soon stretched its lead to eight and appeared to have the game under control before Esposito’s heroics, as well as some aggressive rebounding by Thomas Hope and Mike King, ensured Ontario of its first junior crown since 1996. Gillingham led Ontario with 22 points and was subsequently chosen tournament MVP. King added 18, Esposito 13 and Hope 9. Brendon Johnson scored 8, Mike Smart 2, Livity Clarke 2, Ben Doornekamp 3. Ross paced BC with 27. Jordan Mason added 9, Pat McKay 7, Scott Fraser-Daphnee 6, Gil Cheung 6, Mike Burak 2.

        The all-tourney selections were: MVP James Gillingham (Ontario); Phil Scherer (Alberta); Mike King (Ontario); Ashley Yeaman (Saskatchewan); Lunzaya Nlandu (Quebec); Steve Ross (BC).

Honorable mention selections were: Manix Auriantal (Quebec); Jeff Saxby (Nova Scotia); Joseph Thompson (New Brunswick); Joey Walden (Newfoundland); David Morgan (Manitoba); Brandon Schwartz (Saskatchewan); Junior Patrick (Alberta); Scott Fraser-Dauphine (BC); J.S. Esposito (Ontario); David Wiebe (Manitoba)

        The bronze medalists from Alberta: Mike Melnychuk; Bruce Dunham, Tim Ross; Phil Scherer; Jr Patrick; Nathan Deklerk; Eddie Richardson; Shawn Trusty; Richi de la Pena; Ian Ferguson; Mustafa Cetin; Shaun Plesuk; coach Mark Dobell; assistant Clayton Spence.

        The silver medalists from British Columbia: Steve Ross; Atnas Maeko; Jordan Mason; Pat McKay; Dan Boticki; Jeff Dallin; Scott Fraser-Dauphine; Neil Morrison; Gil Cheung; Mike Burak; Jarami Reid; Brian Host; coach Virgil Hill; assistant Simon Dykstra

        The gold medalists from Ontario: James Gillingham; J.S. Esposito; Brendon Johnson; Thomas Hope; Ben Doornekamp; Mike Smart; Matt Ross; Jon Popofski; Livity Clarke; Mike King; Paul Larmand; Sagar Desai; Oscar Cielewicz; Nate Doornekamp; Deon Williams; Jesse Young; Byron Mitchell; coach Dave Smart; assistant Tim Elcombe; assistant Brad Campbell