| (1) | Western | 85 | ||||||
| (8) | Laurentian | 72 | Western | 87 | ||||
| (4) | Victoria | 87 | Victoria | 77 | Western | 78 | ||
| (5) | Concordia | 80 | —–WESTERN | |||||
| (3) | Guelph | 99 | ||||||
| (6) | Brandon | 91 | Guelph | 82 | Guelph | 69 | ||
| (7) | Acadia | 81 | Acadia | 59 | ||||
| (2) | U.B.C. | 73 |
In the annual wildcard controversy, St. Francis Xavier, ranked third in the nation, was snubbed in favour of Victoria and Guelph. “Strip away the almost pathetic official explanations of why the Guelph Gryphons are in and the X-Men are out and the conclusion must be drawn that St. FX was derricked,” Halifax sports columnist Pat Connolly wrote. “The question becomes one of whether St. FX, which has lost only four games over the entire season, deserves a wild card rather than Guelph, which it has beaten twice in home-and-home exhibition games.” Bob Pugh, executive director of the CIAU, sees it differently. In a television interview earlier this week, he said it was St. FX’s 75-67 loss to unranked Acadia in the Atlantic regional final last weekend that led to the CIAU decision.
“Over the year St. FX has run a little hot and cold,” Pugh said. “They’ve been up and down in the rankings all year. I think when they looked at the other two schools (Victoria and Guelph), it was decided that they finished up higher.” But even Acadia coach Dave Nutbrown doesn’t accept that argument. “I think what happened this year is the AUAA has gotten three wild cards in a row and somebody said ‘Hey that’s enough, it’s going somewhere else’,” he said. “St. FX deserved a wild card this year . . . their record being what it was. They won 16 consecutive games before we beat them last week.” Connolly smells politics at play. “The fact is, the AUAA is not universally loved in the Canadian college confederacy,” he wrote. “St. FX had better adjust to the reality that they are paying the price of regional jealousies running rampant through the product of this country, sports included.”
In the quarterfinals, top-seeded Western dumped the 8th-seeded Laurentian 85-72, re-affirming Voyageurs coach Peter Campbell’s pre-game assessment that his squad was a “short, all-white team that’s deceptively slow and capable of hiding in more places on the court than other teams are.” It certainly appeared that way early as the hustling Voyageurs built a 29-4 lead with 11:40 play in the first half after hold the Mustangs without a field goal for almost seven minutes. But as Campbell noted, “there was about 31 minutes more minutes to go and it wasn’t going to stay like that.” Indeed, the Mustangs, led by four fifth-year players, ripped off a 29-10 run as they rallied to within 41-38 by the half and moved ahead 47-46 with 17:25 to play in the second half. They never looked back. Mustangs coach Craig Boydell said he felt there were two teams out there, “the team that was out there for the first six or eight minutes and the team that came out after that. What happened in the first part of the game I really almost can’t explain.” All-Canadian forward John Stiefelmeyer finished with 26 points, forward Peter Vandebovenkamp added 15. The Voyageurs were led by forward Rod Gilpin’s 21 points. Guard Norm Hann, a second team all-Canadian, added 13. Boydell said “I was concerned that I wasn’t hearing any talk among our players on the floor. We finally picked up our defensive intensity and we stuck to our game plan. Early on, we were just too passive.”
The 3rd-seeded wildcard Guelph Gryphons eliminated the 6th-seeded Brandon Bobcats 99-91 as 5-5 guard Darren Thomas scored 29, including seven from beyond the arc. A former star with Toronto’s Runnymede Collegiate, Thomas had played three years at Simon Fraser before heading to Guelph. A late rally by the GPAC champs but the Gryphons held them off. Guelph led 29-28 at half. The lead was cut to one 68-67 with 6:25 to go but guard Ray Darling hit a three pointer, Thomas hit a three pointer and scored off a steal to key a 13-point run. “That little water bug was just too quick for us,” said Brandon coach Jerry Hemmings. “He made some big hoops when they needed them and that, plus the job they did on the backboards, was something else. May and Hammond really did a job on us in the second half.” Second-team all-Canadian Mau scored 19 and 15 rebounds. Brent Barnhart added 19. Hammond scored 13 and 15 rebounds. All-Canadian Joey Vickery paced the Bobcats with 39 points, keeping the Bobcats in the game with splendid outside shooting. Guelph coach Tim Darling expressed outrage that his Gryphons had been harangued by Halifax residents who’d felt St. FX deserved a wild-card berth. “I’d occurred enough that it’s worth mentioning. I’m not talking about people coming out of bars. I’m talking about businessmen in suits approaching a 19-year-old kid and saying he’s an (expletive deleted) and saying he doesn’t deserve to be here. We certainly have a lot of respect for Halifax and the people here. We’d just like the same back.” Hemmings said “the game came down to rebounding and our lack of offensive discipline. We just dug ourselves a hole.”
The 7th-seeded Acadia Axemen knocked off the 2nd-seeded U.B.C. Thunderbirds 81-73 on the basis of 21-point performance by Danny Eveleigh. U.B.C. had led 49-41 at the half but Acadia held CIAU most valuable player J.D. Jackson to three points in the second half after he’d scored 23 in the first half. “We just choked,” Jackson later noted. U.B.C. simply could not find its rhythm. Acadia, smaller and slower, had finished 10-10 in AUAA play but coach Dave Nutbrown pulled his troops into a tight zone in the second half, forcing U.B.C. to shoot from the outside. U.B.C.’s 24 points in the second half was their lowest on the season. Jackson finished with 26, Jason Leslie 17, Al Lalonde and Derek Christiansen, each 9. Eveleigh hit 7-13 from the floor in scoring 21, Ted Byrne added 21 and 18 rebounds while hitting 8-16 from the floor, Eric James 18 and Kevin Lee 17 and 10 boards. The Axemen ripped off an 18-4 run to start the second half and led 59-53 with 14 minutes to play. The T-Birds cut the margin to 73-71 with just over two minutes remaining but Eric James hit a long jumper and Danny Eveleigh added a trey as Acadia pulled out the win. Acadia coach Dave Nutbrown noted that “what you saw was two games in one. We made no bones about the face we weren’t going to outscore them if they managed to hit their 100-point average. When we saw 49 points on the scoreboards at halftime, I told the guys, if they do that in the second half, our season is over. If we hold them to 15 points, we’ll win this game. We held to 24.” U.B.C. coach Bruce Enns said Eric James “did a heckuva job for them. He completely dictated the tempo and we lost our focus. We ran into a team that was well prepared and very disciplined.”
In the last quarterfinal, the 4th-seeded wildcard Victoria Vikings eliminated the defending champion and fifth-seed Concordia Stingers 87-80 in overtime after rallying from a 73-66 deficit in the final minutes. Veteran guard Tom Johnson hit a three-pointer at the buzzer to tie the game at 76 and send it into overtime. Vic had led 44-41 at half but Johnson hit three treys in the final two minutes of the second half to erase Stingers seven-point lead. Johnson finished with 30 points, including six three-pointers, while Dave McIntosh added 19, Dave Lescheid 14, Spencer McKay 9 and Willis Parnell 7. Concordia was paced by Dino Perrin 18 points and 10 boards. Robert Ferguson added 15, Michael Cohee 14, Nick Arvanitis 14 and Dexter Johnson 13. Concordia had appeared to take command late, leading twice by five points in the final two minutes. The Stingers had overcome a 13-point deficit to take a 61-59 lead midway through the second half. They’d led 44-41 at the break but went scoreless for three minutes and fell behind 54-41 but coach John Dore switched defenses to ignite a 20-5 run. Guard Michael Cohee had hit a pair of free throws to give the Stingers a 76-73 lead with 14 seconds to play but Johnson hit a trey with three Stingers hanging on him to force the extra session. “It wasn’t a desperation shot,” Johnson told the Montreal Gazette. “We’ve been in that situation before and I know I’m the guy who has to take the shot in that situation. I didn’t feel any pressure. It was a prayer.” Stinger point guard Robert Ferguson said “we tried to execute but nothing worked for us. But we had a chance to put the game away in regulation and didn’t. After the tremendous high we felt last year after winning, this is a tremendous low.” Forward Nick Arvanitis added that “the game was in our hands and they took it away from us.” Coach John Dore noted that Johnson “hit a desperation shot, a great shot. He was covered. When a team hits a shot like that to go into overtime, you can’t expect to have momentum going your way.” The Stingers hit 20-30 from the line but couldn’t get their running game going. “We didn’t run the ball well,” said Arvanitis. “The game was too slow for our style of play. Still, we had their big men in foul trouble and did enough things right to win. But Johnson earned that one for them.”
In the semis, Western defeated Victoria 87-77 despite a 38-point performance from guard Tom Johnson, largely by hitting 30-34 free throws. John Stiefelmeyer paced Western with 22. Western led 39-33 at the half but relinquished an 11-2 run as Victoria knotted the score at 51. The Mustangs responded with a 19-6 spurt to take a 73-62 lead with 4:16 to play. Victoria rallied with an 11-4 run to close the margin to 77-75 with two minutes to play. But Peter Vandebovenkamp hit a pair of buckets, including a crucial putback rebound to give the Mustangs some breathing space and they iced the win by hitting 6-6 from the line in the final seconds.
In the other semi, Guelph shot a blistering 55% to thrash Acadia 82-59. The Gryphons opened with a 7-0 run and led by 23 mid-way through the first half as they took a 31-8 lead. They controlled the offensive boards and neutralized star Acadia center Ted Byrne by getting him foul trouble early. They led 48-27 at the half. Acadia got no closer than 17 in the second half. Darren Thomas paced the Gryphons with 20, including four from beyond the arc. Tim Mau added 18, Eric Hammond 15 and Steve Cuevas 11. Ted Byrne led Acadia with 19. Kevin Lee added 16. Guelph coach Tim Darling surmised that fatigue was a factor. “Dave Nutbrown gets a lot out of his kids every night. Maybe they ran out of gas. They beat PEI, then St. FX, then B.C.. It was tough run for them so we came out with the intention of trying to wear them down. It’s certainly a feather in our cap to beat Acadia. We came out and wanted to take the crowd out of it early. When they did get some momentum going, we hit some big shots to stop it.” Mau said the Gryphons were determined to improve on a 1990 silver medal. “Last year’s loss was devastating for us. We took our semifinal win over Victoria as a championship and we didn’t play well in the final. But now we have the experience and we won’t come out stagnant this time.” The Gryphons shot .520 from the floor, while Acadia was .340. Nutbrown said the better team won. “Do you want to hear about how they beat us inside or how they beat us outside? When the opposition shoots the ball as well as they did, you have to hope your team is hitting some shots to stay in the game. We didn’t. Our kids gave everything they had. We are disappointed we aren’t going to win a title but I think we proved that anyone who thinks Copps Coliseum (in Hamilton) can draw this kind of fan support is living in the Dark Ages.” Nutbrown said “they beat us inside, they beat us at the perimeter. The better basketball team won tonight. “I can only say I’m really proud of our kids. … There was no quit in them. They gave what they had for the people down here.”
In the consolation final, U.B.C. defeated Laurentian 96-95 as Derek Christiansen scored 25, Al LaLonde 20 and J.D. Jackson 19. Laurentian, which led 49-46 at the half, was paced by Norm Hann’s 33 points, including seven from beyond the arc.
In the all-OUA West final, the Western Mustangs defeated the Guelph Gryphons 78-69. The Mustangs featured four veteran starts, John Stiefelmeyer, Peter Vandebovenkamp, James Green and Brian Does but a 47-year-old rookie head coach, Dr. Craig Boydell, a Western researcher, administrator and professor who noted “I came in as a 47-year-old rookie (coach) with a perspective on life, which I think helped me develop a system.” The Gryphons had beaten the Mustangs in the OUA West final but Western said it was out for revenge. The Mustangs experience proved the difference as they repeatedly withstood Guelph rallies. Tournament MVP Stiefelmeyer scored 18 and 11 boards. James Green scored 11 points and held guard Darren Thomas, who’d been averaging 24.5 ppg, to just seven points. Brian Does scored 14 and Glenn Eastland 13. Vandebovenkamp, returning to school after a three-year absence scored 16 points and snagged 8 boards. Eric Hammond paced the Gryphons with 18 points and 13 boards. Tim Mau added 15 and 10 boards. Western led 39-33 at the half. Guelph trailed most of the game and shot poorly, hitting just .370 (27-74), often going cold just when they were about to pull even with the Mustangs. Guelph hit 14-25 from the line. The Gryphons took the lead only once, at 50-49, with 11:21 to play. But the Mustangs quickly regained by command with a pair of buckets. Guelph fought back to tie it at 55 but Western had the answers. Steifelmeyer dropped in eight points during a 14-4 run to give the Mustangs a 69-59 lead with 4:31 on the clock. Trailing by six with 1:57 to play, Brian Moore stole the ball at midcourt and was fouled driving in for a layup. The ball rimmed around and fell off. Hit only one free throw. Instead of trailing by three, the Gryphons were still down by five. The loss marked the second year in a row in which Guelph had lost in the final. Boydell noted “it’s a little unbelievable. …There was no mystery going in. We’ve played each other for a few years now. It’s not like somebody’s going to throw out something new. I felt the key factor to decide the game would be discipline. Our team maintained its discipline at critical times. … Our defence was just phenomenal. We went one game at a time all year and we came ready to play today. The keys for us were emotion and preparation. These two teams knew each other, so there so mysteries out there. I’m glad we maintained our discipline and kept our emotion in check until after the game.” Guelph out-rebounded Western 46-36 but shot a woeful 14-25 from the line. Guard Darren Thomas said “they just outplayed us. Nothing was dropping.” Eric Hammond scored 18 points and grabbed 13 boards for the Gryphons. Guelph coach Tim Darling said the Mustangs executed well. “They did an outstanding job. We felt it would come down to the wire and whoever executed the best and stuck to their game plan would win.” Stiefelmeyer was elated. “In this league, a player strives for a national title. It took five years but I finally got one. They were much bigger than us so we just tried to get in there and hold our own. We kept our composure and played our game.” Guelph coach Tim Darling said “I’ll say now what I said after last year’s final: ‘what do you say when somebody dies?’ I think after missing out on a wild card berth last year, Western was on a mission from the beginning of this season.”
The all-tourney team featured: MVP John Stiefelmeyer (Western); J.D. Jackson (U.B.C.); Tom Johnson (Victoria); Tim Mau (Guelph); Peter Vandebovenkamp (Western) and Ted Byrne (Acadia).
The co-bronze medalist Victoria Vikings: Spencer McKay; Tom Johnson; David Lescheid; David McIntosh; Willis Parnell; Bruce Crowle; Chris Schriek; Rich Mesich; Clint Hamilton; Andrew Wilmot; Rick Gill; Todd Langley; Greg Pierce; Colin Brousson; coach Guy Vetrie; athletic director Wayne MacDonald
The co-bronze medalist Acadia Axemen: Eric James; Danny Eveleigh; Ted Byrne; Kevin Lee; Rob Henry; Shawn Thorburne; Lars MacDonald; Mike Dixon; John Shoemaker; Peter Baldauf; Joe Walker; Mike Oransky; Serge Casas; Ian McGinnis; Scott Reid; coach Dave Nutbrown; athletic director Donald Wells; SID Bruce Cohoon
The silver medalist Guelph Gryphons: Dave Sherwood; Eric Hammond; Brent Barnhart; Tim Mau; Kurt Vanclief; Shawn Taras; Steve Cuevas; Brian Moore; Ray Darling; Chris O’Rourke; Kevin Larose; Jason Myles; Ken Ferguson; Garnet Williams; Steve Hinkson; Scott Bales; Darren Thomas; coach Tim Darling; assistant Dave MacNeil; assistant Larry Macdonald; assistant Ray Kybartas
The champion University of Western Ontario Mustangs: John Stiefelmeyer; James Green; Brian Does; Dave Ormerod; Glenn Eastland; Ryan Smith; Aaron Czaja; Peter VandeBovenkamp; Steve King; Mike Yuhasz; Mike Partridge; Mike Lynch; Bob Hitchon; Brendan Noonan; Brian Does; coach Craig Boydell; assistant Jim Allen; assistant Carl Grindstadt; trainer Terri Todd; manager Marli Pinneau; manager Cindy Mar