1973-74 Waterloo – uSports men

	St. Mary’s	66
	Manitoba	65	St. Mary’s	79
	Waterloo	88	Waterloo	71	St. Mary’s	72
	Alberta	54					—–GUELPH
	Sir Geo. Williams	96	Sir Geo. Wms.	94	Guelph	74
	Ottawa	85	Guelph	104
	Guelph	71
	Acadia	70

Perhaps the most improbable of all CIAU champs, the Guelph Gryphons (fourth-place finisher in the OUA West division) were invited to the tourney as a wild card only after host McMaster U. declined an invitation. McMaster coach Bill Fowler turned down the invitation after learning that Windsor, second place finisher in the OUAA West, had not been considered for the berth. Nor had OUA bronze medalist Laurentian received consideration. The CIAU justified the selection because of Guelph’s “proximity to the tourney site.” The Gryphons were coached by Garney Henley, who was then playing football for the Hamilton Tiger Cats during the football season. Windsor coach Paul Thomas noted that it’s “tough to see the fourth place finished in our division picked over ourselves, or McMaster, for that matter.” Told that neither Laurentian nor Windsor were even considered for the wildcard, which was awarded to St. Mary’s, Thomas said “this is even more shocking. I feel that it is hard to justify any team with a 7-5 record to represent our division.”

In the quarterfinals, held in Waterloo, Guelph, barely over .500 (7-5) in league play, with only the 7th best record in OUAA play, the Gryphons opened with a 71-70 upset of second-ranked Acadia on a field goal by Al Grunys with 13 seconds to go in the game which gave Guelph its first lead of the contest. With six seconds to go, Acadia’s Joey Wells was fouled by Guelph centre Dennis Krawchuk. But Wells missed both of his free throws and Guelph won it as Phil Smith grabbed the rebound and ran out the clock. Grunys told the Kitchener-Waterloo Record that “Phil Smith was behind me and he somehow got the ball ahead to me. There wasn’t much time for thinking. I just looked up, shot, and it went through.” Acadia broke to a 10-0 lead and led 39-32 at the half. Paul Allen paced Guelph with 17. Bob Sharpe added 15, despite missing most of the second half with an ankle sprain, Grunys 8 and Dennis Krawchuk 8. Badgers coach Garney Henley said “we missed Sharpe, no doubt about that but it brought a little extra out of some of our other guys.” Rick Cassey led Acadia with 24. Wells added 15, Jon Beausang 14 and Gord West 10. Acadia had jumped to a 10-0 lead at the start and appeared poise to coast.

       Top-ranked Manitoba bit the dust as St. Mary’s scored a surprising 66-65 victory. Mickey Fox and Lee Thomas each scored 23 in the St. Mary’s victory. The Bisons were led by Angus Burr 20, Darry Rumsey 14, Martin Riley 11 and Doug Freeth 10. But leading scorer and star forward Rick Watts was injured and only made a token appearance in the game. The Bisons led 40-35 at the half. But Manitoba had difficulty handling the Huskies press in the second half and frittered away an 11-point lead, missing transition layups, committing several traveling violations and tossing the ball to imaginary teammates on the sidelines. “It was just a complete mental breakdown,” said Bisons coach Don Hunter. “We’ve always been able to handle the press before. I just don’t know what happened.” St. Mary’s coach Brian Heaney, with 8 Americans on his team, who scored 64 of his team’s 66 points, said “I’m really proud to have been able to beat them. It could have gone either way.” Hunter said his team began to collapse when 6-5 forward Doug Freeth got into foul trouble. Angus Burr ‘The Ghost’ went cold in the second half. Manitoba was ahead 61-59 with 3:40 to play. Fox tied it with a jumper from the top of the key. The Huskies then went into a stall. Manitoba went ahead 65-64 on a Rich Stefanyshyn 15-footer with 48 seconds to play but Fred Perry tipped in a rebound with nine seconds to play and the Huskies hung on for the upset. At the start of the game, officials ruled that headbands worn by Rumsey and Burr were illegal. Headbands must be solid white and cannot be more than two inches wide. Hunter told the Kitchener-Waterloo Record that “we were unable to handle their press and that hurt us in the late stages. WE made them take that shot by Thomas and it hurts to think that (Fred) Perry, who had only scored a couple of points up to then, would pick off the rebound and get it down.” Huskies coach Brian Heaney said “we were down 10 points, I was thinking about recruiting. Seriously, thouh, we went with the press just at the right time as it turned out. We were fortunate to get that basket but we’ve been in some tight ball games during the course of the season, so the pressure didn’t bother.”

       Waterloo opened with an 88-54 thrashing of Alberta after taking a commanding 52-33 lead at the half on the inside play of Mike Moser and deadly perimeter shooting by Trevor Briggs. Mike Moser led the Warriors with 22 and Trevor Briggs scored 18, Bob Simms 11, Steve Ignativicius 9, Phil Schlote 8, Jeff Scott 6, Phil Goggins 6 and Mike Zuwerkalow 6. Warriors coach Don McCrae told the Kitchener-Waterloo Record that “we were afraid a little at the beginning because we didn’t know what they would do. But our guys went out and took control of the boards and we had some hot shooters.” The Golden Bears were paced by Terry Valeriote 11 and Steve Panteluk 10. The Warriors hit .660 from the floor in the first half, while the Bears hit .200. The Bears trailed 25-10 after one quarter as Mike Frisby quickly got in foul trouble. Waterloo ripped a 16-0 run to build the insurmountable halftime lead. Golden Bears coach Barry Mitchelson said his troops wre “out-physicaled.”

       In the last quarterfinal, the Sir George Williams Georgians defeated the Ottawa Gee-Gees 96-85 as Zan Pelzer scored 31, Eddie Fields 25, Charlie Chambers 16, Tom Brethel 15, Randy Phillips 8 and Jeff Neiman 1. The Georgians led 56-37 at the half and completely dominated the boards. Merv Sabey led the Gee-Gees with 25. Mike Davis added 12, Dave Cronin 11, Pat Woodburn 9, Barry Mosley 8, John Hoff 6, Todd Plaskacz 6, John Plaskacz 4, Paul Hubbard 2 and Frank Papai 2. “How do you explain,” Gee-Gees coach Bob O’Billovich told the Ottawa Journal. “That first half was terrible. We didn’t rebound. We didn’t hustle. We didn’t get a single loose ball. We were terrible. Why a half like that had to come at a time like this, I don’t know. If we play like we did in the second half for the whole game, we’ll win by 20.” Georgians coach Mike Hickey said “we like to think we can play ball without fouling. And we think that way because we have to. But we were worried about the fouls those final few minutes. But that’s how we hoped to play it: build a big lead and then worry about the fouls.” The Gee-Gees were whistled for 32 fouls and the Georgians 18. “Ottawa plays an aggressive style of game, especially their guards,” said Hickey. “It’s sort of like ‘bump and run’ in football.” Hickey told the Montreal Gazette that “it was like bump-and-run football out there. Bob (O’Billovich) figured rightly that we have no bench and he was tried to tire us out.” Ottawa was whistled for 33 fouls and the Georgians 16. Zan Pelzer said “they were hacking and chopping out there. That one dude, number 15 (Dave Cronin), he made me so mad, I just had to play the best ball I could.” Charlie Chambers said “I couldn’t get set up out there. I had two guys on me and they were slapping and hacking.” Hickey said “we couldn’t play defence in the second half. We had too many fouls.” The foul trouble allowed the Gee-Gees to draw within five down the stretch.

       In the semis, Guelph’s improbable run to the title continued with a 104-94 double-overtime defeat of Sir George Williams. Two field goals by Bob Sharpe forced overtime as the teams were knotted at 73 in regulation play and at 83 after the first extra frame.  Bob Sharpe scored 34 while teammate Dennis Krawchuk added 19. The Georgians were led by Zan Pelzer 27 and Eddie Fields 24. Randy Phillips added 15, Tom Brethel 13, Charlie Chambers 10 and Jeff Neiman 3. Bob Sharpe led Guelph with 34, primarily on 15-foot jumpers. Guelph took a 39-36 lead at the half but allowed a five-point lead with two minutes to play to dissipate. Georgians forward Eddie Fields knotted the score at 73 with a pair of free throws and 16 seconds on the clock. In the first overtime, the Georgians built an 81-75 cushion but the Gryphons rallied to tie it as Sharp stole the ball and laid it in with two seconds on the clock. The game was knotted at 83 after the first overtime. In the second session, Guelph notched a three-point play to take the lead. But Sir George Williams rallied back to tie the game before losing it on a pair of free throws by 6-8 centre Dennis Krawchuk after a technical foul was called against Phillips. The Gryphons hit 22-30 from the line. Georgians coach Mike Hickey told the Montreal Gazette “we blew it.” Gryphon Bob Sharp said “my ankle was bothering me. I like to drive much more. I really don’t consider myself just a shooter.” Guelph coach Garney Henley slowed the game to a crawl. “I hate to play that kind of game. It’s a dead game but we had to slow them down.” Georgians assistant Mike Rawson said “we took bad shots. We took the wrong shots at the wrong time. We had no patience out there. We usually get a lot of layups on fast breaks. But we couldn’t do it against that zone tonight.”

       In the other semi, wildcard St. Mary’s overcame a 43-29 halftime deficit to defeat Waterloo 79-71 as Mickey Fox scored 32, Gary Redding 21 and Lee Thomas 15. Mike Moser led Waterloo with 31. Ed Dragan added 11 and Don Larman 7. The Huskies rallied with a 22-0 run to open the second half and held on for the win. Fox’ shooting, Rick Cassey’s rebounding and Greg Redding’s playmaking proved the difference in the decisive run. Fox hit seven consecutive field goals and eight points from the line in the second half, while stealing the ball three times. Waterloo was completely outdone after the Huskies shifted to a full court press at the start of the second half. They soon led by eight. Waterloo rallied to within four with 1:22 to play and had a chance to trim the margin further but Bob Smeenk threw the ball away on an inbounds play and St. Mary’s prevailed. Fox hit eight consecutive shots in the second half. Fox told the Kitchener-Waterloo Record that “I took some silly shots in the first half. … You know just putting the ball up without really concentrating. Coach (Brian) Heaney told me to take man more to the hoop. I’m not a polished ball player yet.” Heaney said that Greg Redding “did a good job on Mike Moser who I consider the top college player in the country. He stayed with Mike and maybe upset him a little. … We just didn’t capitalize on our opportunities in the first half, as we did later on.” That full-court press we used in the second half allows us to run quite a bit more too. It’s tiring on the players when you don’t substitute a lot but the guys did a great job.” Warriors coach Don McCrae said “we were beaten. We didn’t blow it. They won it. We also made a lot of funny turnovers. In a situation like that, mistakes kill you. However, that’s the pressure and anxiety of it all. They were taking all the shots they wanted and we let them shoot.”

       In the bronze medal match, Waterloo outdistanced Sir George Williams 93-66 as Mike Moser scored a CIAU record 44 points. Moser hit 20-33 from the floor and 4-4 from the line. Zen Pelzer paced the Georgians with 22. Charlie Chambers added 21. Georgians assistant Mike Hickey said “it was a long season. The players were just too depressed from last night’s loss.”

       The final was another buzzer beater, in which the Gryphons defeated heavily favored St. Mary’s 74-72 with the winning bucket scored by Stayner, Ontario-native Jeff Smith with three seconds to play on a driving layup that bounced three times off the backboard and rim, almost teetered out and then fell in to send 5,000 local fans into bedlam. Smith told the Kitchener-Waterloo Record that “I put a lot of spin on it and hoped. I couldn’t believe it when it finally went down.” Paul Allen blocked the ensuing inbounds pass to deny the Huskies a chance to tie the contest. Coached by Garney Henley, a former Schenley Award winner in the Canadian Football League, Guelph was paced by tourney MVP and Guelph native Bob Sharpe, who scored 30, including 9 field goals and 12-14 from the line. “We didn’t have anything to prove,” Sharpe told Canadian Press. We were cool all the time we were here.” Henley noted that “I told the boys you never know how far you can go. We had some injuries during the season that hurt us but I knew we had a good club.” Grunys added 12 for the Gryphons, while P Smith scored 9, Jeff Smith 9, Paul Allen 8, Vandenberg 2, Krawchuk 2 and Henry 2, while Campana, Juzenas, McKinnon and Wolkowski were scoreless. The Gryphons hit 20-27 from the line. Mickey Fox scored 28 to lead St. Mary’s before fouling out with 3:55 to go. “Maybe our guys depended on him too much,” said St. Mary’s coach Brian Heaney. “When he left we lost our poise offensively.” Lee Thomas added 21 for the Huskies, Greg Redding 10, Johnson 5, Perry 4, Gallinaugh 2 and Taboski 2, while Collins, Waters, Halpin, Follette and Millard were scoreless. Guelph had led 37-34 at the half. “I’ve gotta say this is the best, even better than those Grey Cup wins,” said Henley. “Of course, it’s a different kind of thing. But seeing the desire that all my kids had.” Smith was supposed to pass the ball. “I saw Bill Henry and Bob Sharpe were boxed in so I just had to put it up.” The ball bounced on the rim three times before dropping through. “I sure am glad it did bounce around there for a while. If it had gone right through it might have given them enough time to get the points back.” Jeff Smith told the Montreal Gazette that “Sharpe was trapped in the corner. As I went up, I saw the clock and knew I had to take the shot. I tried to put a lot of spin on the ball so that if I missed it would come right back out. Still, my hand went stone and I pushed the shot.” Gryphons coach Garney Henley said “the game was never in doubt as far as I was concerned. We controlled the game for the most part, although we did lose control a couple of times. I was worried in the last minute of play when we had a couple of turnovers, but they did too.” Huskies coach Brian Heaney said “we didn’t play our best basketball. You have to if you want to win the nationals. … We were really in trouble when we lost Fox. The rest of the team seemed hesitant to take up the scoring slack when he fouled out. I think more than anything, they key to this game was rebounding. We’ve faced that kind of press several times this year and we knew we could handle it.” Gryphon Bob Sharpe said “we were loose. … We had nothing to prove. We weren’t nationally ranked. We came here just trying to play our best. Thank God we did.” Henley told the Record that he called timeout with 33 seconds to play because “we wanted to set up a double pick for Bob (Sharpe) but somehow, he got caught in the corner with very little time left. It seemed like that ball hopped around that rim for an eternity before going down. … There wasn’t any time all season that we had serious trouble with a press so I felt we’d be okay against them too. We got a lot of mileage from many players.” Sharpe said “I really don’t think we realize yet just what we have done. Maybe the fact that we were invited her as the host area team had something to do with us winning this championship. AT now time was there ever any pressure on us. We went out and just played as a team every game. Everybody contributed something.” Heaney said that after Fox fouled out, “no one else on the team seemed willing to take the shots. Maybe it was our own fault. I had other good shooters still out there but nobody was willing to show their scoring ability. That was the first time Mickey has fouled out all season. It was something we hadn’t faced before, not having him in there at the finish.” Huskie Greig Redding said “we didn’t get many breaks out there and foul trouble sure hurt us. They played a great game and we lost, it’s as simple as that.” Lee Thomas said “we were up for the game but the blal just wouldn’t go through the hoop. Being behind most of the game seemed to hurt too. They were hitting their open shots and we weren’t.”

       The all-tourney team featured: MVP Bob Sharpe (Guelph); Angus Burr (Manitoba); Lee Thomas (St. Mary’s); Mickey Fox (St. Mary’s); Mike Moser (Waterloo); Bob Sharpe (Guelph)

       The bronze medalist Waterloo Warriors: Trevor Briggs; Mike Moser; Ed Dragan; Phil Goggins; Jim McLean; Franklin Moskal; Phil Schlote; Jeff Scott; Bob Simons; Robert Smeenk; Ed Talaj; Mike Zuwerkalow; Don Larman; Fred Dimson; coach Don McCrae

       The silver medalist St. Mary’s Huskies: Mickey Fox; John Gallinaugh; Lee Thomas; coach Brian Heaney

       The champion Guelph Gryphons: Bob Sharpe; Jeff Smith; Paul Allen; Phil Smith; Dennis Krawchuk; Al Grunys; Henry Vandenberg; Bill Henry; Gene Wolkowski; Ambrose Campana; Vic Juzenas; Greg Leon; Bob McKinnon; Scott Taylor; coach Garney Henley