| (1) | U.B.C. | 98 | ||||||
| (8) | Concordia | 79 | U.B.C. | 67 | ||||
| (4) | McMaster | 77 | Alberta | 84 | Alberta | 72 | ||
| (5) | Alberta | 106 | ||||||
| (2) | Brandon | 71 | —–BRANDON | |||||
| (7) | Acadia | 62 | Brandon | 70 | Brandon | 79 | ||
| (3) | Dalhousie | 71 | Toronto | 62 | ||||
| (6) | Toronto | 78 |
In the quarterfinals, the top-seeded U.B.C. Thunderbirds rolled past 8th-seeded Concordia 98-79 in an altogether sloppy contest which saw second-team all-Canadian point guard Ken Morris in foul trouble early in the first half. The two teams committed 55 turnovers between them, leading Concordia coach John Dore to later remark that, “if I were a fan, I think I’d ask for a refund, that’s how bad we were.” The Stingers finished with a season high 33 turnovers. But U.B.C. was only marginally better with 22 and looked very jittery throughout the first half. “To be honest with you, it was not one of our better performances in that some of our better players did not have their strongest games,” said U.B.C.’s Bruce Enns, the CIAU coach of the year. U.B.C. opened quickly with three treys in the first five minutes but the Saskatoon-born Morris took two early fouls and a cut in the mouth in the first half, limiting his playing time to 21 minutes. The Stingers were within nine, 45-36, at the break. But the Thunderbirds opened the second half on a 11-1 run to essentially finish off the Stingers. They soon pulled ahead by 19 and maintained the margin through the remainder of the contest, shooting a blistering 64% in the second half. Morris, the nation’s third leading scorer, averaging 26.9 ppg, finished with only 11 points but his replacement of the bench, 5-11 rookie guard Darcy Deutsch added nine. Forward Mark Tinholt led all Thunderbirds with 19 points, with guard David Buchanan adding 17, including 3-4 from the arc. Buchanan was selected player of the game for the T-Birds. Rookies Joel Nickel, 2 points, and Vital Peeters, 4 points, played for starter Eric Butler, who missed the national championships because of a stress fracture in his right foot, as U.B.C. played deep into its bench, with nine players in for at least 14 minutes apiece. The Birds scored 18 points of the break. Mepham scored 9, Dumont 9, Cole 12, Ibbetson 5 and Deutscher 9. UBC shot 38-69 from the floor, 8-20 from the arc and 14-30 from the line while grabbing 35 rebounds, led by Mepham’s 7. Second-team all-Canadian and QSSF player of the year Maxime Bouchard, who’d averaged 24.0 ppg through the regular season (the nation’s seventh leading scorer) was held to 15 points for Concordia, fouling out with 10 minutes to play. Gaetan Prosper added 10, while Concordia player of the game Justin Padvaiskas finished with 11. J.P. Reimer added 5, Arsenault 2, Franklyn 8, Yotis 9, Jay Prosper 14 and Peddie 5. Concordia shot 26-66 from the floor, 6-24 from the arc and 21-35 from the line, while grabbing 52 boards, led by Reimer’s 9. “We’re glad to get through this game,” said Enns. “We weren’t sure how we’d react. People came off the bench to perform well, as some of our big players did not perform as well as they could.”
The 5th-seeded wildcard Alberta Golden Bears dusted the 4th-seeded McMaster Marauders 106-77. The heavily favoured Marauders were fresh from an 80-75 victory over the Toronto Varsity Blues in the Wilson Cup. But prepped by coach Don Horwood’s playing of video highlights (set to music) from the Bears’ two previous championships, and returning five players from those title teams, including 1995 final eight MVP Greg Devries and 1994 tourney MVP Murray Cunningham, the Bears thrashed the Marauders after breaking open a tight game early in the second half. But the first 20 minutes were close, when Cunningham was forced to the pines with two quick fouls, as both teams shot torrid floor percentages of nearly 60%. At the break, the Bears were up by one, 43-42. But in the second half, Alberta’s inside game took over, and the Bears blistered the nets with a 75% field goal percentage. Alberta out-rebounded the Marauders 46-31, with Peter Knechtel dominating inside and grabbing 15 boards. Cunningham, who scored 25 in only 25 minutes of play, was selected the Bears player of the game. He later noted that the Bears’ rebounding finally wore down the Marauders. “All that Peter and I work on every game is rebounding. That’s all we feel we have to do to win the game. If we can out-rebound a team, we feel we can beat them.” Devries added 22 points and reserve guard Greg Sale came off the bench for 21. Devries, a first-team all-Canadian who’d averaged 25.5 ppg through the season (5th best in the CIAU) added 22 points, forward Darren Semeniuk hit for 12, and reserve guard Greg Sale came off the bench to hit 21. Peter Knechtel scored 9, Collier 3, M. Semeniuk 6, Schmidt 5, Gerhardt 3. Alberta shot 37-56 from the floor, 8-12 from the arc and 24-39 from the line while grabbing 46 rebounds led by Knechtel’s 14. Newton pitched in 12 for McMaster, Johnson 11 and Wesolowski 18. Second-team all-Canadian Titus Channer was held to 14 points, well below his season average of 22.9ppg. Piccini scored 8, Olauson 2, Akrong 4, Rusic 2, Jamie Girolametto 3 and Jeremy Storry 3. The Marauders shot 28-73 from the floor, 6-27 from the arc and 15-24 from the line, while grabbing 31 rebounds, led by Newton’s 10.
The 2nd-seeded Brandon, which had won its second straight GPAC title with two straight victories over the Regina Cougars, clocked wildcard Acadia 71-62. The Axemen had been defeated in the AUAA semis by U.P.E.I., which wasn’t invited. Nor was the U. of Western Ontario, which had given McMaster a stiff battle in the OUAA Western Final. The decision had smacked of box-office draw and was seen by many as a sop to the AUAA, which the previous summer had advocated that the national tourney be revised in favor of a system which eliminated wildcards and awarded two berths to the AUAA, three to Ontario and one each to Quebec, the CWUAA and GPAC. In exchange, U.P.E.I. athletic director Barb Mullaly said the AUAA would pay the CIAU an additional $25,000-yr on top of the $40,000-yr it shells out for the right to stage the national final in Halifax. The AUAA argued that it would help marketing of the tourney. But in Dec-95 the CIAU board of directors shot the proposal down. Also nixed was a subsequent AUAA proposal to award two berths to its teams, two to Ontario, one to each of the QSSF, CWUAA and GPAC, and one wildcard. In short, the second national wildcard would always go the AUAA. But the Western teams strongly opposed the proposal as it would likely mean that only their champion would ever be selected for the tourney. A frustrated Mullaly told the Globe & Mail: “I would have thought the CIAU could have used the money, and I’m the chair of the finance committee. …They must not like the money.” Shamelessly lobbying aside, the CIAU did agree to consider the possibility of expanding the tourney to 10 or 12 teams in the future. In the interval, notably, Acadia was selected as a 1996 wildcard and was promptly eliminated by the Bobcats. Led by Vassell, CIAU player of the year, first-team all-Canadian and two-time GPAC player of the year Keith Vassell, who’d averaged 23.6ppg through the season (8th best in the CIAU), who scored 21, the Bobcats were in control throughout the contest. Vassell set the tone early with a couple of thundering dunks and Brandon breezed to a 38-30 halftime lead. The Bobcats burned the nets through the game shooting roughly 56%, but Acadia kept the contest close, with AUAA rookie of the year Geoff Scott, scoring 13, Marcus Jamieson adding 12 and Adam Griffin eight points and 11 assists. Griffin was chosen player of the game for Acadia. Bobcat forward Shawn Gray, who dominated the lane and the glass, finished with a double-double, scoring 18 and grabbing 11 boards. Reserve Demetrius Floyd added 11 points and 8 rebounds.
In the last quarterfinal, the 6th-seeded Toronto Varsity Blues dumped Atlantic conference champion and 3rd-seeded Dalhousie 78-71. The Tigers were playing in its first ever national tourney in its hometown and coached by Tim McGarrigle. They had won their first AUAA title in 37 years after knocking off U.P.E.I. 98-95 in double-overtime, led by Reggie Oblitey’s 28 points. The Blues were led by guard Carl Swantee. Dalhousie controlled the tempo for the first 20 minutes, shooting .500 from the floor and .920 from the line, as all-Canadian Brian Parker lit up the floor. Dal led 45-37 at the break and looked in control as Toronto lost guard Eddy Meguerian, who was sent to the hospital after taking a charge and losing a few teeth in the process. Toronto took command of the boards in the second half and all-Canadian honorable mention Carl Swantee caught fire. The Dressler twins took control of the paint. Toronto was leading by three 73-70, when Swantee drained a three pointer with 46 to go seal the victory. “He’d done it all year for us,” said Blue coach Ken Olynyk. Jason Dressler scored 12 for the blue, adding 14 boards. Lars Dressler scored 10 and grabbed 7 boards. Andrew Rupf added 12. Swantee finished with 24. Eddie Meguerian scored 6, Jason Gopaul 4, Lombardi 8. Toronto shot 28-78 from the floor, 3-12 from the arc and 19-32 from the line, while out-rebounding Dalhousie 56-44. Oblitey scored 12 for the Tigers and grabbed 8 boards. Stephen Parker, selected player of the game for the Tigers, hit 23, Jeff Mayo 15 off the bench, Currie 8, Shannon 5, Howe 2 and Maloney 6. Dalhousie shot 22-58 from the floor, 4-17 from the arc and 23-31 from the line. Swantee noted that the Blue were energized by the hostile crowd. “I have to play with emotion to play well and tonight I had lots of it.” Jason Gopaul added that “it’s great to hear 8,000 screaming fans but for us, it was even better to hear 8,000 silent ones.” The Dalhousie Gazette said the Tigers lost “focus, direction, strength and stamina” in the second half.
In the semifinals, Alberta knocked off U.B.C. 84-67. A week earlier, the Thunderbirds had twice defeated Alberta in the CWUAA playoffs. The Bears were 1-5 against UBC through the year. The Bears jumped out to a 9-0 lead never looked back. They led 16-6 after four minutes and were ahead at the half 45-34 after shooting .680 in the first half. Ken Morris rallied UBC back to within five early in the second half but then Alberta shifted gears and re-opened a double-digit lead. First-team all-Canadian Devries scored 30, hitting 10-18 from the field and grabbed eight rebounds. He was chosen player of the game. Backup centre Jeff Collier put in a sterling effort after Cunningham fouled out. Point guard Darren Semeniuk hit for 20 and handed-out 11 assists, while Knechtel scored 13 and nabbed 9 rebounds. All three played the entire 40 minutes. “They were playing well,” Horwood said. “There was no reason to sit them. Our experience playing these games has been you don’t get tired. Conditioning isn’t even a factor. … We started the season with one goal in mind and that was to be playing Sunday afternoon in Halifax.” The Thunderbirds Ken Morris countered with 34, many of them from long-range, and was chosen UBC’s player of the game. Curtis Mepham added 12. Horwood attributed victory to defence. “UBC is a penetrate and pass team. … You have to control it and make them shoot over you. In the first half, I don’t think they took any shots that weren’t contested.” Enns noted that the T-Birds looked “a little bit rattled. We got off to a bit of a sloppy start and were never able to catch up.” Devries said “it was just a matter of coming out and saying: ‘this is what counts. It doesn’t matter what happened last time, this is what counts’.” Knechtel said he “was shaking all day. But we’ve been here before. We knew what had to be done and how to do it. We know how to play.”
In the other semi, Brandon took out Toronto 70-62, with Vassell hitting for 21 points. Eddy Meguerian scored 15 for the Varsity Blues. Toronto dominated the glass but shot the ball poorly. In the opening 20 minutes, Carl Swantee was hot, scoring 17, which kept the Blues within 35-32 at the break. But the athleticism of Keith Vassell, Euan Roberts and Demetrius Floyd was too much for Toronto. Swantee cooled off from the perimeter, forcing the Blues inside, where they struggled. Toronto got 27 offensive boards but even the putbacks didn’t fall. Vassell added 8 boards for Brandon. Roberts scored 17 and grabbed 9 boards and was selected Brandon’s player of the game. Demetrius Floyd, who was chosen the game MVP, added 14, Wayne Taylor 12 including what Blues coach Ken Olynyk called “two huge threes, that were keys to the game.” Toronto shot .300 from the floor so 60 boards were irrelevant. Swantee finished with 22 points. Lars Dressler added 15 and grabbed 21 boards. Eddy Meguerian scored 15, grabbed 16 boards and had 7 assists. He played all 40 minutes despite losing two teeth in the quarterfinals. “That game had a definite street ball feel – our game is a lot smoother than what we showed today,” Vassell said. Blues coach Ken Olynyk told the Montreal Gazette that “I felt we matched up really well against Brandon. but there were two key situations that occurred which I felt were instrumental in the game. The first was when Wayne Taylor came down and hit a three-pointer (during the ‘Cats’ 9-2 late first-half run) and Taylor again hit a three in the second half (for a 61-58 Brandon lead with 2:14 left in the game). We seemed to back off each time after Wayne hit those shots. I also disagreed with the call late in the game by the referee (Guy Cipriani). There was certainly no intention by our player to create an intentional-foul situation at that time or possibly injure the Brandon player.”
In the final, the Brandon Bobcats prevented Alberta from winning a third consecutive title by dumping the Golden Bears 79-72. The final, played before a relatively sparse crowd of 5,146, was prefaced by overtones of racism. After the semi-final with U.B.C., in which he’d scored 30, Greg Devries had described the Bears as “just white hicks from Alberta.” Observers billed it as a classic confrontation between the more up-tempo, athletic Bobcats, playing a classic inner-city, individual game, versus the methodical and disciplined Bears, who were led by five graduating seniors, and they’d easily handled the Bobcats earlier in the season the final of the Golden Bear Invitational. But the seemingly more experienced Bears came out flat, twice turning the ball over in the first minutes of play, while the Bobcats appeared the more veteran, poised team as they pulled ahead 24-13. But 5th-year guard Greg Sales settled the Bears down, hitting nine of Alberta’s first 11 points to tie the game five minutes into the contest, and the Bears switched from a man-to-man defence to an extended zone at the nine-minute mark and brought in guard Tally Sweiss. The Bears promptly went on a 11-0 run, to tie the game at 24. The contest seesawed for a while, and Alberta drew to within one at 35-34 with four minutes to go. But an 8-0 run by the Bobcats late in the first half stretched the margin to six at the break, 43-37. Alberta kept within hailing distance through the second half, although Brandon stretched its margin to 11, with 5:55 to play, leading 68-57. When Vassell and Bobcat forward Shawn Gray, the team’s two leading scorers, fouled out with just under four minutes to play, the Bears appeared poised for a last-minute rally. Devries hit a three-pointer to pull the Bears within three, 71-68, with 1:59 on the clock. The Bobcats brought the ball the downcourt and when Brandon’s Wayne Taylor missed a jumper, Floyd soared into the air to slam down the rebound and turn the game’s momentum around. Later named the game’s MVP, Floyd said: “my teammates needed a bucket. … I just crashed the boards and I was lucky that the ball bounced my way.” Added Hemmings: “you won’t see a better play than Demetrius Floyd had in the NCAA. What a gorilla dunk. Was that sweet to see go down.” Floyd finished with 14 points and was selected the championship game MVP, Vassell hit for 12 before fouling out with 5:20 to play; and Gray hit for 10, nabbed 7 boards and blocked six Bear shots before taking a seat on the bench with 3:48 left on the clock. The Bobcats were a perfect six-for-six from the line in the final minute as the Bears pressed to close the margin, including four by Brandon native Jason Scott said the Bobcats determination made the difference. “We’ve just been here too many times to lose this much …Lately I haven’t been playing very well, and I knew in this game I’d have to step up,” said Scott. “When Keith and Shawn went out, I knew I had to pull it off.” He finished with 15 points, including seven of Brandon’s last 11, and a perfect two-for-two from the three-point line. Scott also held Devries to 2-9 from the field in the second half after he’d hit four of his first nine shots. The title was Brandon’s first since 1989 and sweet revenge for 1995, which saw them fall in the first round despite entering the tourney as the nation’s top-ranked team. “I wasn’t there at the end, but the team gave me the win,” said Vassell, who was named the tourney MVP. “I don’t know what more to say.” The Kansas City-born Floyd, who’d joined the team in December, added that “we’ve been on a mission all year long. We were never given credit as a basketball team. We were given credit as a tremendous athletic team. There’s so many varieties to the team. We can play slow offence. We can run it up and down the courts. And fortunately, our game worked out for us today.” That game featured a stifling Bobcat defence which effectively neutralized Cunningham’s size and strength in the low post and limited Devries’ outside shooting. Scott literally manhandled and outmuscled Devries throughout the contest, holding the Bears star guard to 2-for-9 from the floor in the second half. He later gave credit to Scott for his tenacity. “The refs let him hold and clutch and grab down low. I couldn’t get free. When you’re allowed to do that, you got to keep doing it and I commend him for that.” Hemmings said he told Scott before the game that Devries was his primary responsibility. “You don’t leave him. …He goes to the bathroom, you got to the bathroom. He goes to the water fountain, you go with him. You just play him and don’t worry about weak side help. There’s a real wrong perception of our basketball team. I think a lot of people say, because we have a lot of black players, all we do is run and gun. Every national championship, we’ve won with discipline. We’ve won with defence. And that’s exactly what our kids did.” Alberta coach Don Horwood said that “Brandon simply outplayed us. They hit all the key shots they had to make. If we had lost to a team that played ugly, I’d be disappointed. But I thought Brandon earned the victory. I don’t think we threw it away. They just hit really key shots that hurt us. It seemed like every time we got a chance, they answered it.” Knechtel added that the Bears “thought it would be our year with five seniors leaving. I don’t know what to say. It’s just crushing.” Cunningham saw the slow start hurt the Bears. “I don’t think we can out as strong as we should have. We just couldn’t get over the hump.” Greg Devries said they appeared tired. “It took a lot to beat UBC. I think it wore us out.” Vassell noted that the Bobcats were bent on achieving their dream. “Every goal I set for myself in the CIAU I’ve accomplished. I never wanted anything as much as this. It’s a great feeling.” Jason Scott paced Brandon with 15 points on 2-6 from the floor, 2-2 from the arc and 2-5 from the line. Euan Roberts scored 14 on 7-11 from the floor and 7 boards. Wayne Taylor scored 14 on 3-5 from the floor, 2-6 from the arc, 2-2 from the line and 5 assists. Demetrius Floyd notched 14 on 7-8 from the floor. Keith Vassell scored 12 on 6-9 from the floor. Shawn Gray added 10 on 4-7 from the floor, 2-3 from the line and 7 boards. Martin was scoreless. The Bobcats shot 33-56 from the floor, 4-10 from the arc and 9-12 from the line, while garnering 34 boards, 18 assists and 20 fouls. Greg Sales paced Alberta with 21 points on 3-6 from the floor, 4-6 from the arc and 3-4 from the line. Devries added 18 on 4-11 from the floor, 2-7 from the arc and 4-5 from the line. Murray Cunningham scored 15 on 5-7 from the floor and 5-7 from the line. Peter Knechtel notched 14 on 5-10 from the floor and 8 boards. Darren Semeniuk scored 2 while dishing 7 assists. Tally Sweiss added 2, while also dishing 7 assists. M. Semeniuk, Collier and Humphrey were scoreless. The Bears shot 19-37 from the floor, 6-17 from the arc and 16-20 from the line, while garnering 25 boards, 20 assists and 17 fouls. The Bobcats finished (27-3) on the season.
The all-tourney team featured: MVP Keith Vassell (Brandon); Shawn Gray (Brandon); Greg Devries (Alberta); Peter Knetchel (Alberta); Geoff Kott (Acadia); and Lars Dressler (Toronto)
The co-bronze medalist British Columbia Thunderbirds: Mark Tinholt; Curtis Mepham; John Dumont; Ken Morris; David Buchanan; Gerald Cole; Brady Ibbetson; Joel Nickel; Darcy Deutscher; Jeff Sharma; Vital Peeters; Paul Unruh; Eric Butler; coach Bruce Enns
The co-bronze medalist Toronto Varsity Blues: Andrew Rupf; Lars Dressler; Jason Dressler; Carl Swantee; Eddy Meguerian; Jason Gopaul; Vidak Curic; Joe Lombardi; Anthony Daly; Glen Selkirk; Arbi Shahnazarian; Anthony Alexiou; coach Ken Olynyk
The silver medalist Alberta Golden Bears: Greg Devries; Murray Cunningham; Peter Knechtel; Greg Sale; Darren Semeniuk; Marc Semeniuk; Mikel Schmidt; Tally Sweiss; Jeff Collier; Mark Humphrey; Stephen Curran; Vern Gerhardt; coach Don Horwood
The champion Brandon Bobcats: Keith Vassell; Shawn Gray; Euan Roberts; Jason Scott; Wayne Taylor; Demetrious Floyd; Roger Martin; Greg Walker; Donald Phillips; Garfield Parker; Jamie Blake; Scott Wallace; Dave Brown; Larry Dudevoir; Jacob Hall; Mark Plamondon; coach Jerry Hemmings; assistant Bill Gordon; assistant Brett Nohr; assistant Nigel Escoffery; trainer Lennie Davis; manager Jason Kroetsch