| Acadia | 55 | ||||
| U.B.C. | 36 | Acadia | 50 | ||
| Windsor | 103 | Windsor | 55 | ————WINDSOR | |
| Loyola | 44 | ||||
Bob Samaras, in his first year at the Windsor (then Assumption University of Windsor) helm, coached the Lancers (then the Purple Raiders) to the crown on their home court. A graduate of Wayne State University, Samaras had been hired to coach the Lancers from Detroit’s Eastern High, where he’d compiled an 80-7 record over five years, capturing a Michigan state crown and was twice named the state’s high school coach of the year by Michigan publications. The Lancers, who entered the draw with a 20-3 record, were a predominately Michigan-born team. They were led by all-Canadians Bob Horvath, a sophomore starting guard from Detroit, and Joe Green, a starting forward from the Detroit suburb of River Rouge. Other Americans on the team included starting guard Jack Kelly from Rochester, Bill Hassett from Detroit’s Holy Redeemer High, Bill Brown a junior starting centre from Rochester, and Bernie Friesmuth, a sophomore starting forward from Detroit. Canadian representation on the Lancer squad included Windsor-born Tom Henderson and Ed Petryshyn. Assumption had averaged 80.2 ppg in sweeping the Ontario-Quebec Athletic Association crown and was hosting the first CIAU tourney. Assumption, as host, and Acadia, by virtue of their 15-game winning streak were seeded on opposite sides of the bracket by the committee overseeing the event. A coin toss was them made to determine who U.B.C. would play. It came up heads, pitting the Thunderbirds against Acadia. The Axemen, led by Richie Spears, and coached by the legendary Stuart Aberdeen, in his fourth year at the helm, had captured the Maritime Intercollegiate Athletic Association postseason tourney by defeating U.P.E.I. They entered the draw with a 18-4 record and started Maryland native 6-10 Charlie Thomas at centre, 6-5 Pete Simmonds and 6-5 Jim Kreutzer at the forwards and Richie Spears and Ronnie Ayes at the guards. They entered the tourney with an 18-4 record. Loyola represented OSLIAA. They’d a record of 18-6 going into the tourney. U.B.C., coached by Dr. Peter Mullins had captured the western crown, with an 12-4 record, actually finished tied with Calgary for first place. But the Dinosaurs were forced to forfeit one game for using an ineligible player. The T’Birds entered the draw with an 18-9 record and were led by guard Laurie Predinchuk, a WCIAA all-star who’d led the league in field goal percentage. They’d lost their captain, Mike Potkonjak to a ruptured Achilles tendon two-thirds of the way through the season. The cost of the tournament was underwritten by an $18,000 federal grant given to the CIAU to run both their basketball and hockey postseason tournaments.
In the opening semi, Windsor used a press and its fast break style to great effect to completely outclass Loyola. The Lancers led 27-7 after 10 minutes as Loyola went nearly 10 minutes without scoring. Windsor was ahead 55-23 at the half and 81-32 at the three-quarter mark. The Lancers shot 43-95 from the floor, while Loyola was 14-54. The Lancers were paced by Bill Brown 18, Friesmuth 15, Bob Hanson 14, Tom Henderson 13, Joe Green 11, Bob Horvath 8, Jack Kelly 7, Greg McCullough 5, Billy Hassett 4 and Ed Petryshyn 8. Loyola was led by 6-3 forward Charlie Smith 11, 6-2 forward Ron Markey 8, 6-5 George Lengvari 7, Neil Lavoie 6, Mike Macey 2, Al Grazy 4 and Toussaint 4. Held scoreless were 6-7 centre Jim Bay, Harry Hus, Stan Wasserman and Jim Renehan.
In the other semi, which was delayed for 10 minutes while Acadia captain Peter Simmonds received a “shot of painkilling drug in his foot to counteract a nerve condition,” Acadia pasted U.B.C. 55-34, using a tightly knit 2-2-1 zone and slow down deliberate offence to stymie the Thunderbirds, disproving U.B.C. coach Peter Mullins assessment that his team could not be beaten by a zone. Although U.B.C. opened with a 6-0 run, the T’Birds’ simply couldn’t break Acadia’s zone and shot extremely poorly, finishing 14-56 (.250) from the floor and 8-11 from the line, while Acadia shot 15-38 (.394) from the floor and 25-30 from the line. U.B.C. opened quickly on three long shots by Cook, McDonald and Hartley. But Acadia rallied to tie the score at seven. U.B.C. added a bucket to take a 9-7 lead at the quarter but after Acadia tied it at 11, U.B.C. failed to score in the final nine minutes of the first half as Acadia took a 22-11 lead into the lockers. U.B.C. was unable to draw closer than eight in the final half. Acadia took a 38-28 lead into the final frame. Richie Spears led the Axemen with 22. Charlie Thomas added 15 on 9-9 from the line, Charlie Thomas 15, Pete Simmonds 5, Jim Kreutzer 5, Dan Parrinelli 5, Steve Konchalski 2 and starting guard Ronnie Ayes 1. Scoreless were John Olinto, Ian McMillan and Paul Caron. U.B.C. was led by guard Ken McDonald’s 11 points, 6-7 Keith Hartley 8, guard Gordon Betcher 8, c Ron Erickson 2, 6-4 forward John Cook 3, 6-5 forward Norm Vickery 2 and Gordie McKay 2. 6-3 forward Court Brousson, Predinchuk and guard Jack Lusk did not score. “Acadia has a fine ball club,” said U.B.C. coach Peter Mullins. “Our shooting was bad tonight and we ran into that scoring famine late in the first half. Put the two together and you can see why we were beaten.” U.B.C’s shooting was so bad that even the Axemen took pity on them. Jim Kreutzer went up for a rebound and tipped the ball into his basket in the fourth quarter. The two points were credited to Gordie McKay.
In the bronze medal match, U.B.C. pasted Loyola 75-50 as John Cook scored 13, Laurie Predinchuck 8, Court Brousson 8, Gordon Betcher 8, Norm Vickery 7, Gordie McKay 7, Ken McDonald 6, Ron Erickson 5 and Keith Hartley 5. Ron Markey led Loyola with 11. George Lengvari added 9, Charlie Smith 8, Neil Lavoie 6, Stan Wasserman 4, Jim Renehan 4, Harry Hus 3, Mike Macey 2, Al Grazy 2 and Toussaint 2. The Warriors (coached by Jack Winters and managed by Bob Daily) also included Jim Bay.
In the final, before 2,300 rabid fans on Windsor’s home court, the Lancers took the first CIAU crown by beating Acadia 53-50 as Bill Brown hit a field goal and a free throw with 61 second to go to break a 49-49 tie and cap a brilliant second half rally. Acadia had opened the contest on a 6-0 run on two field goals by Charlie Thomas and one by Richie Spears. The Axemen thoroughly dominated the first half, leading 15-9 at the quarter and 29-22 at the half, using their slow down tempo to great advantage, often holding the ball for at least two minutes before even attempting a shot. Windsor rallied in the second half, as Bill Brown shut down Thomas. With Acadia ahead 34-19, Hassett and Kelly each scored a bucket to cut the lead to one. Kelly stole the ball from Spears and sank a layup to give Windsor its first lead at 35-34. Both Samaras and Aberdeen later dubbed it the key play of the game. Brown then hit a field goal for Windsor; Ayes responded with a free throw for Acadia and Dan Parinelli added a field goal to tie the game at 37. Although Horvath fouled out with 7:45 to go, Windsor pulled ahead by six with three minutes remaining. But Konchalski came off the bench to hit a free throw, Spears canned another, and then Konchalski hit again to tie the game at 45 with 1:25 to go. Brown put Windsor ahead with a field with 1:01 on the clock. With 21 seconds to go, Konchalski fouled Brown, who hit a free throw to put Windsor ahead 52-49. With seven seconds to go, Brown was called for a foul on Parrinelli, who hit the first and deliberately missed the second. Brown grabbed the rebound and passed it to Hasset who dribbled out of bounds with one second to go. Acadia called a time out, but it was their sixth of the game and the Axemen were promptly hit with a technical. Kelly hit the free throw to ensure the Windsor victory. Aberdeen later admitted that calling the time out was a “desperate gamble. Whether or not Kelly sank the shot, Assumption had the ball on a throw-in. Our only chance was for Assumption to commit an offensive foul before the ball was put into play, (as the clock would not start until the ball was touched by an Assumption player) and we’d go to the foul line on a one-and-one situation with one second still remaining.” Samaras noted after Windsor had been awarded the W.P. McGee Trophy, name in honor of a great Assumption coach of the mid-1940s, that “it’s a great thrill to win any championship but being Canadian champs is a thrill I’ll never forget. I was fortunate enough to be surrounded by a great bunch of ballplayers. They were talented and eager and accomplished everything we set out to do at the start of the season.” The 34-year-old Detroit native added that Acadia “are a great team too. They were well-coach and played a strong game throughout. We didn’t play one of our best games but their ball control and a good zone defence had much to do with that.” As for Windsor’s poor start, Samaras noted that “we were over-anxious, even lackadaisical at times. We didn’t move around enough in the first half. We had a few adjustments at halftime.” Bill Brown led Windsor with 14 points. Bernie Friesmuth added 12, Joe Green 7, Jack Kelly 6, Billy Hassett 5, Ed Petryshyn 5 and Bob Horvath 4. Windsor shot 21-66 from the floor and 11-19 from the line Charlie Thomas and Richie Spears each scored 12 for Acadia, while Dan Parrinelli notched 9, Peter Simmonds 7, Steve Konchalski 6, Ronnie Ayes 4 and Jim Kreutzer 0. Acadia shot 21-46 from the floor and 8-15 from the line. Windsor closed out the season with a (22-3) record.
The all-tourney team featured MVP Richie Spears (Acadia); Dan Parrinelli (Acadia); Bill Brown (Windsor); Jack Kelly (Windsor) and John Cook (U.B.C.).
The bronze medalist University of British Columbia Thunderbirds: John Cook; Ken Macdonald; Keith Hartley; Gordon Betcher; Norm Vickery; Court Brousson; Gordie McKay; Ron Erickson; Jack Lusk; Mike Potkonjak; Laurie Predinchuk; coach Peter Mullins; manager Mel Galloway
The silver medalist Acadia Axemen: Ritchie Spears; Ronald Ayes; Jim Kreutzer; Pete Simmonds; Charlie Thomas; John Olinto; Dan Parrinelli; Steve Konchalski; Ian MacMillan; Paul Carson; Travers; Forsythe; Andy Kranack; coach Stu Aberdeen; manager Frank Pires, manager Harris; manager Phil Wright
The champion Windsor Purple Raiders: Bob Horvath; Jack Kelly; William Brown; Bernie Freismuth; Joe Green; Ed Petryshyn; Tom Henderson; Bill Hassett; Greg McCullough; Bob Hanson; George Bahrynowski; coach Bob Samaras; assistant Eddi Chittaro; manager Bob Carron; athletic director Dick Moriarty