| (4) | Western | 79 | ||||||
| (5) | Saskatchewan | 78 | Western | 65 | ||||
| (1) | Brandon | 82 | Brandon | 73 | Brandon | 81 | ||
| (8) | Carleton | 69 | —–BRANDON | |||||
| (3) | Acadia | 77 | ||||||
| (6) | Bishop’s | 58 | Acadia | 86 | Acadia | 68 | ||
| (2) | Victoria | 101 | Victoria | 83 | ||||
| (7) | U.P.E.I. | 74 |
Prior to the tourney, the CIS announced that it forcing team to pare travel rosters to 10, even though it meant that players who’d toiled for a team all year wouldn’t be able to attend nationals. Director of marketing John McConachie told Canadian Press that “we had a situation in the past where some schools were bringing more than the allowable number of players. It got a bit out of control. The line had to be drawn somewhere, at a level that may not be ideal in the coaches eyes.” McConachie added that the move would reduce the cost of bringing a team to nationals.
In the quarterfinals, Brandon dumped Carleton 82-69. The Bobcats, said coach Jerry Hemmings, had good depth despite having lost star John Carson to graduation. The squad included Brandon native Dave Nackoney, Tulane transfer and New Iberia, Louisiana-native David Dominque and New Orleans native Whitney Dabney, the GPAC’s leading rebounder. The point guard was Courtney Bailey, while Marvin Russell was the defensive specialist. Toronto native Patrick Jebbison, named the country’s top player, scored 21 points to lead the Bobcats to their 28th straight win. Guard Stephane Barton had 21 points in a losing effort for the Ravens, who trailed 39-26 at halftime. Dominique had left Tulane University after its basketball program collapsed in a point-shaving scandal. Dominique originally was charged with two counts of sports bribery and four counts of conspiracy. On Jan. 5, 1987, he avoided a trial on the felony charges by pleading guilty to a lesser charge of misdemeanor theft. “We didn’t play well,” said Bobcats coach Jerry Hemmings. Bobcats Robert Clarke, who scored 12, said that “I think we were playing at their level.” David Dominique scored 22 and Whitney Dabney 8. “Dabney probably had his poorest basketball game of the year,” said Hemmings. The Ravens were within 48-41 early in the second half. “I think we proved that if you slow them down, you can play with them,” said Ravens coach Paul Armstrong. “Defensively, we were happy with it. We wanted to keep the first half under 40. “If you can’t slow them down, it’s game over. … But we didn’t execute inside and part of that was intimidation. And you can’t go five minutes without scoring any points (from the start of the game).” Peter Ruiter added 12 for Carleton and Mike McInrue 10. Carleton outrebounded Brandon 32-25. Robert Clarke was chosen player of the game for the Bobcats. Ravens coach Paul Armstrong told the Dalhousie Gazette that a five-minute scoring drought undid his troops. “We really had a good chance to win. We mixed them up defensively in the first 15 minutes.”
The Acadia Axemen stomped the Bishop’s Gaiters 77-58 as Kevin Veinot scored 19 and Grant McDonald 17, while nabbing 14 boards. Pierre Tibblin led the Gaiters with 22. David King added 16 and Nick Van Herk 12. Acadia led 41-38 at the half. Bishop’s coach Eddie Pomykala said “we just weren’t prepared for this type of game. We weren’t able to cope with the intensity of the Acadia team and we weren’t prepared to deal with the crowd.” Pomykala added that playing in the QUBL was too inhibiting. “We just get too comfortable playing the same three teams (McGill, Concordia and Trois Rivieres) over and over again. Earlier in the season, when we went 13-3 before our league started, we were playing all kinds of team. We just weren’t ready for this.” Acadia dominated the boards on both ends of the floor. “The referees let the kids play tonight and there was a lot of banging going on,” said Pomykala. “They let it go both ways but, in that kind of game, we’re going to be the losers because we don’t have that kind of team. They out-rebounded us 38-20 and a lot of those rebounds came on the offensive boards.”
The Western Ontario Mustangs edged the wildcard Saskatchewan Huskies 79-78 as John Giles hit a short baseline jumper with seven seconds to play and cap a rally from a nine-point deficit with three minutes to play. Terry Thomson led Western with 20. John Stiefelmeyer added 15. The score was knotted at 40 at the half. David Karwacki scored 26 for Saskatchewan while hitting a tournament record 8 treys. Greg Jockims added 15 and Byron Tokarchuk 14, along with 9 boards. The Huskies, whose starting unit boasted 25 years of university experience compared to just 12 for Western, took control of the game in the second half and built a 70-59 lead with eight minutes left. But the Mustangs refused to panic and methodically cut into the margin. “I think more than anything our man-to-man defence caught up with them,” said Western coach Doug Hayes. “We used some good shot selection down the stretch, and they had trouble with our defence.” The Mustangs 6-2 centre Terry Thomson wove his way past a big Huskies front line for 20 points despite injuring an ankle late in the first half. Stiefelmeyer scored five of his points in the final two minutes and had a key blocked shot against Tokarchuk. Saskatchewan coach Guy Vetrie was disappointed by his team’s performance. “We played out there like we were trying not to lose instead of win, and we just turned over the ball too many times.” Huskie John Cleland had a shot to win it at the buzzer but the ball bounced off the rim. “It was extremely heartbreaking,” Vetrie told The Sheaf. “We had come a very long way and to be so close is frustrating. It was a difficult loss for us. Generally, this year, we had played pretty well with a lead.”
In the last quarterfinal, 2nd-seeded Victoria stomped the 7th-seeded wildcard UPEI Panthers 101-74. The Vikes led 51-45 at the half and took command of the paint in the second half. Spencer Mckay and Graham Taylor each scored 24 to lead Victoria. Cord Clemens added 20, Geoff McKay 15, Jerry Divocky 8, Vito Pasquale 6 and Alan Phillips 4, while Colin Brousson, Wade Loukes and Dale Olson were scoreless. Steve Ruiz led the Panthers with 24. Peter Gordon added 17, Delroy Adams 14, Mark Roberts 7, Winston Duncan 5, David Dunn 4 and Alonzo Wright 2, whiel Duncan Shaw, Brett Wood and Bobby O’Brien were scoreless.
In the semis, Acadia knocked off 2nd-seed Victoria 86-83 as Tyrone Carvery scored 25, Peter Morris 22, Kevin Veinot 20, while nabbing 14 boards, G McDonald 8, W Taylor 8, T Byrne 2 and C Ikejiani 1, while D Steele, C Mesher and C Adams were scoreless. The Axemen completely dominated the paint on both ends of the floor. Graham Taylor led the Vikings with 28. Cord Clemens added 25, Spence McKay 17, Geoff McKay 9, Vito Pasquale 2 and Jerry Divocky 2, while Colin Brousson, Al Phillips, Wade Loukes and Dale Olson were scoreless.
In the other semi, Brandon prevailed 73-65 over the University of Western Ontario Mustangs. The Bobcats led 42-25 at the half and romped. Patrick Jebbison paced the Bobcats with 21. Whitney Dabney added 18.
In the final, Brandon avenged its only loss of the year to Canadian competition by whipped Acadia 81-68. Although the Bobcats appeared lackadaisical in the quarterfinals and semis, and were playing before 7,143 rabid pro-Acadia fans, they easily handled the Axemen as Whitney Dabney scored 29 points and grabbed 21 boards. “They sealed me up pretty good. They were physical,” Dabney said. ‘But I managed to hold them off, finish off and make the basket.” Patrick Jebbison added 17 points. “They’re a strong team and go to the boards heavy,” Jebbison noted. “But we concentrated on blocking them out before rebounding. All year, we’ve seemed to play to the level of our opposition. We didn’t blow out a lot of teams but we did what we had to do to win.” Freshman Guard Tyrone Carvery led Acadia with 21 points, Forwards Peter Morris, Kevin Veinot and Grant McDonald, who scored 14, ran into early foul trouble. Morris fouled out with four minutes to go. Brandon coach Jerry Hemmings noted that “a lot of people thought we wouldn’t be that strong this year. This was our 30th win in a row this year, and what a great one.” Dabney scored 21 points in the first half as Brandon built a 40-33 lead. The Axemen rallied back in the second half, pulling within three on several occasions but never get over the hump. “We made sure that we got some high percentage shots and fortunately, we made them when they started to come back on us and I think that took the wind out of their sails a little bit,” said Hemmings. The win was Brandon’s 30th in a row. Losing coach Dave Nutbrown was disappointed but realistic. “Let’s face it. They were a better team. They beat us three out of four times this year. We were worried about getting into early foul trouble against them and that’s exactly what happened.” Hemmings said Dabney stepped up when it mattered. “We’ve stressed balance all year and while Whitney got 29 we usually get five people into double figures in scoring. This team may be better than our championship squad of last year because we’ve relied on John Carson so much (in the past). David Dominique, a transfer from scandal-rocked Tulane University in New Orleans where he’d been involved in a point-shaving scheme, added 15 for Brandon. Hemmings had quipped that his undersized troops needed rocks in their pockets to play with the bigger Axemen. But the Bobcats were just as physical as Acadia. “We knew with Acadia there’d be some heavy bumping in there and I thought Dabney did a good job with body.” The 6-8 centre said “I just found I could concentrate more today and I moved to the ball better.”
The all-tourney team featured: MVP Whitney Dabney (Brandon); Peter Gordon (U.P.E.I.); Cord Clemens (Victoria); Patrick Jebbison (Brandon); Peter Morris (Acadia); and Tyrone Carvery (Acadia)
The co-bronze medalist University of Western Ontario Mustangs: John Stiefelmeyer; Terry Thomson; Brian Does; James Green; Jeff Petter; Kyle Rysdale; John Giles; Dave Omerod; Mario Tarantino; John Pensa; Rob McAleer; Alex Kapassouris; John Giles; Ed Spera; coach Doug Hayes; assistant Craig Boydell; assistant Dan Rajnovich; trainer Karen Johnson; manager Kevin Condon; manager Darlene Seguin
The co-bronze medalist Victoria Vikings: Cord Clemens; Geoff McKay; Spencer McKay; Graham Taylor; Jerry Divocky; Wade Loukes; Vito Pasquale; Rob Kreke; Colin Brousson; Gord Schmidt; Allan Phillips; Dale Olson; coach Ken Shields; assistant Kelly Dukeshire; assistant Joey Weisbrodt; athletic director Ken Shields; SID Mona Ghiz
The silver medalist Acadia Axemen: Kevin Veinot; Skeeter Mower; Danny Steele; Peter Morris; Wayne Taylor; Ted Byrne; Grant McDonald; Tyrone Carvery; Chris Adams; Charles Ikejiani; Dave Moody; Chris Mesher; Donovan Dill; Doug Lawrie; Sea Tidd; Wayne Taylor; coach Dave Nutbrown; assistant Chuck Goreham; athletic director Don Wells; SID Bruce Cohoon
The champion Brandon Bobcats: Patrick Jebbison; Whitney Dabney; Marvin Russell; Courtney Bailey; Robert Clarke; David Dominique; David Nackoney; Frank Bojarski; Doug Carmichael; Andy Henry; Gary Latty; Dave Malowski; Jim Lamond; coach Jerry Hemmings; assistant Murray McLeod; assistant Tom Price; manager Anna Neufeld; therapist Steve Dzubinski; manager Sam Munro; manager Bill Haycock; manager Warren Nickerson