Victoria 100            
  Wilfrid Laurier  79 Victoria 79        
  St. Mary’s  92 St. Mary’s 82 St. Mary’s 99    
  Manitoba  81         —–ST. MARY’S  
  York  84            
  Bishop’s  74 York 71 Acadia 91    
  Acadia  71 Acadia 82        
  Laurentian  65            

Erratic all year, St. Mary’s qualified for the national tourney as the host wild card after finishing second in the AUAA and getting knocked off in the semis of the conference’s postseason tourney by St. Francis Xavier. With tourney MVP Ron McFarland acting as a point guard because Huskie Mark Vickers, a transfer from U.P.E.I. was forced to sit out the tourney because of the three-import rule (a mid-season ruling by the CIAU changed Vickers’ status to import, forcing the Huskies to rotate Vickers, McFarland, John Brown and Frank White through the line-up). In the quarterfinals, St. Mary’s knocked off number one ranked Manitoba, which had entered the tourney with a 31-1 record. The Bisons took the early lead but McFarland and 6-7 centre-forward Tom Kappos, who’d also transferred to St. Mary’s from U.P.E.I., led the larger Huskies to a 42-34 halftime lead. Bisons chopped it to three but kept missing easy shots that would have given them the lead. McFarland and Kappos pulled it out 92-81. McFarland led the Huskies with 27. Kappos added 24. Grant Watson paced Manitoba with 27. Martin Riley added 22. St. Mary’s coach Brian Heaney said he expected the win. “Personally, I felt that Acadia would win the championship (rather than Manitoba) if we didn’t get to the final. I don’t want to be boastful but we play in one tough league. They (the Bisons) didn’t face the intense competition we faced all year. I think the tough competition in our league prepared us for this.”

       Second-ranked York Quebec champ Bishop’s 84-74. York burned the nets in the opening half, shooting 60% and sprinting to a 52-39 lead at the half. But Bishop’s guards Dave Thornhill and Wayne Hussey began hitting uncontested jumpers and cut the lead to 4 before Lonnie Ramati hit a pair of free throws to pull out the York victory. Ramati scored 27 and David Coulthard 26. Ron Kaknevicius added 11 and Ted Galka 10. Hussey scored 24 for the Gaiters. Dave Thornhill added 21 and Trevor Bennett 17. Augured York coach Bob Bain after the contest: “If we play like that against Acadia we will get beat by 30 points,” he told Canadian Press. “Bishop’s wanted this game more than we did. Defensively, I was really disappointed, especially at our guard spots. They didn’t challenge anyone all game. And I don’t think our forwards played well.” The smaller Gaiters outrebounded York 36-33. Bain told The Excalibur “it was a lack of execution basically.”

       Acadia, ranked third and coached by Dick Hunt, defeated fourth-ranked wild card selection Laurentian 71-65 when Mike Hazard shut down Mike Moser winner and ballhandling wizard Charlie Wise, holding him to 16 points in the contest. Wise, an import from Cape Maine, N.J., and Ontario conference eastern division scoring champ Bruce Burnett, who’d averaged 24.3 ppg through the season, had led the Voyageurs to their third straight national tourney appearance. The Voyageurs took a 31-30 half time lead paced by Burnett, Mark Bennett and Mike Mulvihill. But Acadia, paced by 6-7 centre Vic Soares, went on a 19-4 run early in the second half to take a 14-point lead with 14 minutes to go. Soares finished with 23 points, including 13 in the second half. Alvin Jessamy hit for 16 points. Both teams were perfect from the line, with Acadia finishing 9-9 and Laurentian 1-1. Acadia had only 5 fouls in each half. Bruce Burnett led Laurentian with 24. Charlie Wise added 16 and Varick Cutler 11. All three of the Voyageurs leading scorers were American.

       In the last quarterfinal, Canada West champ Victoria whipped Ontario west representative and the eighth-ranked Wilfrid Laurier Golden Hawks 100-79. The Golden Hawks were led by Loren Killion, the nation’s top scorer, who’d averaged 31.8 ppg through the year. But Killion scored only four points in the first half, picking up three quick fouls in six minutes of play, while Billy Loos hit 20 for Victoria, pacing them to a 53-38 half-time lead. Victoria hit a blistering 72% from the field in the first half. But with Loos on the bench for most of the second half in foul trouble, Killion came back to score 26 in second half but by then, the game turned into a Viking rout, marking the first time a Canada West Team had won a game in the national tourney since 1972. Loos finished with 22, Chris Hebb 18, Robbie Parris 15, Rene Dolcetti 9, Lorne Dakin 8, Chris Higgins 8, Ted Anderson 6, Brian Sutherland-Brown 6 and Mickey Welder 4. Killion scored 30 for the Golden Hawks, Don Whaley 19, Ken Dougherty 9, Gord Caldwell 8, Fred Koepke 6, Ken Doughtery 6, Fred Zwort 4, Greg Palini 4 and Larry Label 2. Victoria coach Ken Shields credited Loos with the victory. “He did an excellent job on Killion and everybody came off the bench and did well.” Golden Hawks assistant coach Chris Coulthard told The Cord that “we thought that we had a good chance against Victoria but they came out flying and proved to us that they’re a strong team.” Warriors coach Don Smith told the Kitchener-Waterloo Record that “we didn’t move the ball and we didn’t have any momentum. What can you do with your top scorer on the bench for 15 minutes in championship competition? We managed to stay close for a while but we broke down. We didn’t do any rebounding but then again, the way they (Vic) shot, there weren’t many rebounds to get.”

       In the semis, Acadia stunned York 82-71. The Yeomen had expected to dominate the boards with centre Lonnie Ramati and 6-7 forward Paul Layefsky. But Ramati picked up three quick fouls and Layefsky was forced to leave the game with strained knee ligaments after crashing to the floor in a battle for a rebound. Substitute 6-6 Frank Zulys had quit the team a week earlier in a dispute over playing time, leaving 6-3 Chris McNeilly as York’s primary rebounder. Acadia took a 37-26 halftime lead on a late first half rally and Mike Hazzard’s 14 points. York cut it to within six in the second half but Acadia centre Vic Soares, a second-team All-Canadian, dominated the boards, pumping in easy lay-ups on the offensive end of the floor. Soares finished with 24 points. Hazard added 19, guard Ted Upshaw 17 and forward Alvin Jessamy 12. Dave Coulthard scored 24 for the Yeoman, Bo Pelech 14, along with 10 boards, Ramati 12, along with 8 boards, Chris McNeilly 8, Ted Galka 6 and Ron Kaknevicius 5. Acadia coach Dick Hunt noted “we didn’t convert a number of foul shots and altogether, it was not one of our better efforts.” York coach Bob Bain noted that “even though Lonnie got in foul trouble, and Paul got injured, we still fought them every inch of the way. We put Chris out in the middle and he did a fantastic job but he’s never played centre before.” Bain added that with Ramati on the bench, the Yeoman could not counter the Axemen’s interior strength. “They do simple things but they do them well. You can’t afford to press them much because they’re so strong.” Acadia outrebounded York 40-39. Acadia hit 32-90 (.360) from the floor, while the Yeomen were 30-73 (.410). York coach Bob Bain told The Excalibur “we’re a finesse team and when we played their style, we had to give up something. … We gave it our best shot. We didn’t get that many breaks in the game but I guess you’ve got to make your own breaks and we didn’t. Acadia is very tough up front and we’re not as quick as they are in the forward positions. At times, we weren’t playing that well on offence but I’m really proud of the way we played.” Ramati picked up three quick fouls in the first half. Reserve Chris McNeilly notched 4 defensive boards but York’s offence sputtered in Ramati’s absence.

       In the other semi, St. Mary’s defeated Victoria 82-79, led by Kappos’ 21 points and 11 rebounds. The Huskies had pulled ahead early 18-7 but Billy Loos rallied the Vikings later in the half to within two. The Huskies rallied back to pull ahead by eight, and held the lead through the second half until a late flourish keyed by Loos and Reni Dolcetti drew Victoria to within two, 79-77, with 2:46 to go. St. Mary’s fumbled the ball out of bounds and the Vikings had a chance to tie the game but a bad pass into the lane gave the ball back to the Huskies. A missed shot allowed Victoria’s Hebb to hit a layup to tie the score with 40 seconds to go. Rick Plato missed an uncontested layup for the Huskies and Vic brought the ball back up court with a chance to take its first lead. But Dolcetti fumbled it out of bounds with 15 seconds remaining on the clock. Kappos missed a free throw but it was rebounded by Mt. Allison-transfer Quackenbush who missed an easy tap-in. Victoria nabbed the rebound but against fumbled the ball out of bounds. Huskie Derrick Lewis was fouled on the in-bounds play and hit both free throws with seconds to go to ice the game 82-79. Shields called a time out, the team’s sixth. SMU missed the technical but retained possession of the ball and ran out the remaining seconds on the clock to seal the Huskie victory. Shields later noted “we had our chances and we blew them. But I’m really proud of them. We could have been blown out after being down eight points.” While Kappos finished with 21 points, Mike Solomon (it was also reported that Frankie White scored 15, while Solomon was scoreless) added 15 and Ron McFarland 14 for the Huskies. Rick Plato added 8, John Brown 8, Ross Quackenbush 6 and Ron Blommers 4, while Roger Tustanoff, Art Screaton and Bruce Holmes were scoreless. Loos paced the Vikings with 30. Reni Dolcetti and Chris Hebb each added 14, Craig Higgins 12, Lorne Dakin 5 and Robbie Parris 4, while Ian Hyde-Lay, Grant Boland, Mickey Welder, Ted Anderson and Brian Sutherland-Brown were scoreless.

       In the bronze medal match, York defeated Victoria 94-81. The Yeomen trailed 55-47 at the half but opened the second frame with a 14-0 run to take command. “We had a long talk about defence between halves,” Lions coach Bob Bain told The Excalibur. “Our guards had to force to the middle rather than the outside and we had to block out more on rebounds. Then things started to go on offence and we took it away from them on defence. … I thought in the second half, we played our best half all year.” Lonnie Ramati led York with 26. Dave Coulthard added 20, Bo Pelech 14, Chris McNeilly 11, Ted Galka 6, Harry Hunter 6, Paul Jones 6 and Ron Kaknevicius 5, while Mike Willms and Frank Zulys were scoreless and Paul Layefski, who’d injured his right knee in the semis, did not play. Billy Loos led Victoria with 20. Lorne Dakin added 15, Craig Higgins 14, Reni Dolcetti 10, Robbie Parris 9, Chris Hebb 7, Ted Anderson 4 and Brian Sutherland-Brown 2, while Mickey Welder and Grant Boland were scoreless.

       The all-AUAA final was held before 10,600 screaming fans in the newly-minted Halifax Metro Centre, featuring the hometown St. Mary’s and the Wolfville-based Axemen from 100 kilometres up the road. Fans waved signs declaring that it was “Huskie Night in Canada’. Actually, it was McFarland’s best night in Canada. The Ansonia, Connecticut-born McFarland, nicknamed the Hawk, hit 1727 from the floor en route to his 38-point showing as St. Mary’s prevailed 99-91. Replacing Vickers at the point guard spot, McFarland set-up a ‘bombs away’ offence which seemed primarily to feature either himself or guard Frank White firing away from long-range. In first half, Acadia took an early six-point lead 14-8 on the strength of Hazzard and Ted Upshaw’s outside shooting. “I just said, ‘please, dear God, don’t let this be a blowout. Just keep it close,” said St. Mary’s coach Brian Heaney. McFarland and White began bombing from outside to pull the Huskies back in striking distance. Hazzard responded with outside jumpers for the Axemen to pull Acadia ahead 52-49 at the half. At the intermission, McFarland had scored 18 for St. Mary’s while Hazzard had hit for 17 for Acadia. The Huskies and McFarland took control in the second half, stretching their lead to 13-point margin before Acadia closed the gap to five with only a few minutes to go in the up-tempo contest. But McFarland hit another bomb and three free throws to ice the game. A 40-piece band broke into the theme from Rocky. St. Mary’s coach Brian Heaney later lamented that he feared the worst when Acadia closed the gap: “I was out of tricks. My bag was empty.” McFarland said he was in a zone. “I really wanted this game bad. This is the first time I’d ever had a chance to win anything big and I wasn’t going to let it slip out of my grasp,” McFarland told reporters. McFarland finished the game with 38 points. The Boston-born White scored 26, Tom Kappos redeemed himself from a disappointing season by scoring 16 and 6-9-centre John Brown scored 11. Collectively, those 3 Americans scored 75 of St. Mary’s 99 points. Ross Quackenbush scored 8. For Acadia, Alvin Jessamy and Hazzard each scored 25 and while second-team All-Canadian centre Vic Soares scored 23. Collectively those 3 Americans scored 75 of Acadia’s 91 points. Ted Upshaw added 14 and Tony Aker 4. “No matter what we did, it wouldn’t have been any good,” said Acadia coach Dick Hunt. “They were just shooting so well that every time we came close, they’d hammer one in from way out. No matter how far we pushed McFarland out, he still hit. It was like the ball had eyes on it.” Heaney said he was proud of his troops. “As a team they were able to overcome a great deal of adversity when it would have understandable to fold. It was their tenacious will as a group that I admired most in them.” Heaney told Canadian Press that “Ron had a super game. He has an ambition to be a pro and he knew this would be a good opportunity to prove something. This game could change his life.” The Huskies featured three Americans in McFarland, Brown and White, Mount Allison transfer Ross Quackenbush; PEI transfer Tom Kappos, Ontario high school products Derrick Lewis, Ron Blommers, Mike Solomon, Bruce Holmes and Roger Tustanoff and one local product, rookie Art Screaton of Dartmouth. At Christmas, the status of point guard Mark Vickers was changed from non-import to import. St. Mary’s finished (25-8) on the season. Huskie coach Brian Heaney told the Saint Mary’s University Journal that “I wouldn’t trade (McFarland) for anybody.” Hunt said “everything they threw up dropped in. They shot exceedingly well and didn’t have a cold streak. It was a great game by two great teams and it was just a matter of who could get the momentum.”

       The all-tourney team featured MVP Ron McFarland (St. Mary’s); David Coulthard (York); Bruce Burnett (Laurentian); Vic Soares (Acadia); Billy Loos (Victoria); and Tom Kappos (St. Mary’s)

       The bronze medalist York Yeomen: David Coulthard; Bo Pelech; Lonnie Ramati; Ted Galka; Paul Layefsky; Frank Zulys; Harry Hunter; Chris McNeilly; Mike Willins; Ron Kaknevicius; Paul Jones; coach Bob Bain

       The silver medalist Acadia Axemen: Vic Soares; John Grimmer; Alvin Jessamy; Dave Moffat; Ted Upshaw; Chris Wentzell; Gord West; Mike Hazzard; coach Dick Hunt

       The champion St. Mary’s Huskies: Ron McFarland; John Brown; Frank White; Ross Quackenbush; Tom Kappos; Rick Plato; Bruce Holmes; Derrick Lewis; Ron Blommers; Mike Solomon; Roger Tustanoff; Art Screaton; Mark Vickers; coach Brian Heaney; assistant Brian Burgess; assistant Willie Follette; manager Hector Corkum; manager John Landry; manager Calvin Smith; manager Allan Wentworth