REGULAR SEASON

E-OTT-ST L       WEST        
  Concordia 15-3   John Dore Western 12-2 27-4 Doug Hayes  
  Bishop’s 15-3 19-9 Eddie Pomykala Guelph 11-3   Tim Darling  
  McGill 11-7 15-13 Ken Schildroth Brock  8-6 16-13 Ken Murray  
  Ottawa  6-12  8-22 Jack Eisenmann Waterloo  7-7 19-14 Don McCrae  
  Carleton  3-15  4-26 Paul Armstrong McMaster  7-7   Barry Phillips  
  E – CENTRAL       Lakehead  4-10 18-13 Lou Pero  
  Toronto 13-5 22-11 Ken Olynyk Windsor  4-10   Paul Thomas  
  Laurentian 11-7   Peter Campbell Wilfrid Laurier  2-12   Gary Jeffries  
  Queen’s  8-10   Barry Smith          
  York  4-14  6-32 Bob Bain          
  Ryerson  4-14   Terry Haggerty          
                   

Playoff non-qualifiers:

       Carleton Ravens: Michael Trought, Michael McInrue, Larry Elliot, Paul Chaplin, Michael Hatcher, Scott Wykes, John Newport, Mark Lacey, Peter Cruickshank, Cam Haszczyn, Gary Russell, Craig Chandler, coach Paul Armstrong, assistant Andy Cheam, assistant Joe Scanlon, assistant Hugh Reid

       Ryerson Rams: Mark Thompson, Andrew Taylor, Bill Price, Cleveland Lynch, Phil Holjak, Chris Colbeck, Roger Otto, Tracy Reece, Brian Rose, Ainsworth Slowly, Mark Somerville, Andrew Taylor, Peter Thomas, Mark Thompson, Steve Visser, Ricky Gairey, coach Terry Haggerty

Wilfrid Laurier: Mark Alessio, Dan Deep, Steven Duncan, Wayne Trudeau, Tim Smith, Brad Johnston, Tony Marcotullio, Ray Tone, Dave Kleuskens, Colin McGregor, Harry Kemperman, Frank Fox, Ian Tell, Shawn Plamondon, Julian Robbins, Chris Speyer coach Gary Jeffries, assistant Tom O’Brien

Windsor: Chris Daly, Dennis Byrne, Geoff Astles, Mike Ogley, Carlo Boniferro, Jeff Nekkers, Andre Morassutti, Theo Tsaprailis, Henry Valentini, Jason Idler, Kris Paulley, Brian Jonker, Kent Koyle, Bob Manor, Tony Iannetta, Brian Clark, Everton Shakespeare, coach Paul Thomas, assistant Nick Grabowski, assistant Wayne Curtin

In the Central semis, top-seeded Toronto thrashed 4th-seeded York 92-69 as Linas Balaisis scored 19 and Mark Harvey 15, along with 15 boards. Mike Puller paced York with 14. York trailed by 47-31 and by as many as 43 in the second half. The Yeomen shot 18-51 from the floor, 3-17 from the arc, while garnering 31 boards and 9 assists. The Blues hit 31-47 from the floor, while garnering 47 boards and 21 assists. The Yeomen (coached by Bob Bain, assisted by Mike Quigley and Charlie Simpson) also included Mark Bellai, Kevin Gallivan, Dan Taylor, David Lynch, Peter Sarellas, Marc Gottwald, Warren Harvey, Sean McCormick, Terry Ugwu, Jeff Raphael, Mike Cotte and Jeff Small.

In the other Central semi, 2nd-seeded Laurentian stomped 3rd-seeded Queen’s 93-68 as Norm Hann scored 23. The Gaels (coached by Barry Smith, assisted by Todd Hooper and John Sutton) included Denny Palarchio, Doug Laughton, Eric Stewart, Adam Fox, Gerry Groen, Mike Burleigh, Duff Trimble, Geoff Horton, Steve Monaghan, Roger Wheeler, Michael Ruscitti, Dean Medeiros, Peter Panopoulos and Mike Boydell.

In the Central final, top-seeded Toronto defeated 2nd-seeded Laurentian 87-81 as Nick Saul scored 26. Rookie coach Ken Olynyk said tri-captains Mark Harvey, Art Sharp and Nicholas Saul stepped up, as did the bench. The Blues took command with an 11-2 run midway through the first quarter, led 51-39 at the half and dominated every facet of the game. They shot .620 from the floor, while Laurentian was .420. Toronto had 16 more rebounds and won the game from the foul line, hitting 27 free throws to Laurentian’s 16. Rob Wilson added 21 and Mark Harvey 12 for the Blues. Norm Hann led the Voyagers with 32. After an (0-4) start to the season, the Blues went (15-1) to capture the Central title. The Blues had a 69-57 lead with ten minutes to play, but when Laurentian cut the lead to 79-72 with just under 4 remaining, Olynyk brought his starters back on and Toronto held on for the win. Blues coach Ken Olynyk told the Varsity that “we made some poor decisions with the ball down the stretch.” Rob Wilson concurred saying, “I think we might have let up a little. We were playing not to lose.” The Voyageurs (coached by Peter Campbell, assisted by Randy Wallingford and Mike Shkimba) also included Rod Gilpin, John Campbell, Walter Johnson, Derrick Des Vignes, Paul Falco, Brad Rollo, Dwayne Rivard, Mark Cain, Shaun Fraser, Kevin Perkins, Greg Sandblom and Dave Gomes.

In the Ottawa-St. Lawrence semis, top-seeded Concordia whipped 4th-seeded Ottawa 109-71 as Nick Arvanitis scored 20. Ottawa centre Chris Lemcke was ejected for rough play. Concordia led 49-34 at the half and turned it into a rout early in the second. Mike Cohee added 18 for the Stingers. Lemcke was tossed after collecting a technical for a blow delivered at Concordia guard Mike Baker’s head and then arguing with officials about the call. Bill Shane led Ottawa with 17. The Gee-Gees (coached by Jack Eisenmann, assisted by Dave Ablack and Brad Norris) also included Kevin McNamara, Dave Howell, Brian Samuel, Mark Gallagher, Adrian Bradbury, Paul Burnett, Arthur Kirkwood, Andrew Arthurs, John Oberthier, Jim Ross, Carleton Cheal, Pierre Renaud, Chris Lemcke and Brodie Osome.

In the other Ottawa-St. Lawrence semi, 2nd-seeded Bishop’s crushed 3rd-seeded McGill 85-65 as David King scored 34 including 5-7 from the arc, 9-9 from the line, 8 boards and 3 assists. “King played the best game I’ve ever seen him play,” McGill coach Ken Schildroth told the Montreal Gazette. “He took the game away from us and did exactly what he wanted to do.” Gaiters coach Eddie Pomykala noted that “the best players should rise when the pressure is on them.” King was nonchalant. “Well, you know, it is playoff time. All week, I’ve been running the suicides and practicing the drills, wondering about this game. My performance? I just felt like playing, something about this gym, I guess.” Bishop’s led 40-33 at the half as their pressure defence took away the perimeter game. The Gaiters led 60-52 and then held the Redmen scoreless for nearly six minutes, while adding 11 unanswered. McGill got no closer than 71-54 when David Steiner hit a pair of free throws. Steiner notched 15 for McGill. Paul Brousseau led the Redmen with 22. Pierre Tibblin added 17 for Bishop’s. The Gaiters seized command late in the first half by hitting five treys in a row, including two by King and another by Tibblin. Gaiters coach Eddie Pomykala said his troops were nervous early but eventually got on track. “We expressed simplicity and execution. There was no way I wanted to get into a chess game with McGill. I just told our guys to play as hard as they could, and they did.” The Redmen (coached by Ken Schildroth, assisted by Bernie Rosanelli, Alfie Paoletti and Vincent Lacroix) also included Jamie Simon, Bruce McElroy, Bruce Bird, Cam Matheson, Tim Bere, Paul Meyer, Amos Buriak, David Steiner, Mike Soussan, Jay Hiscox, Stephane Gauthier, Jon Campbell and Ariel Franco.

In the Ottawa-St. Lawrence final, top-seeded Concordia defeated 2nd-seeded Bishop’s 76-60 as Mike Cohee scored 20. Nick Arvanitis added 19 and Dino Perrin 17. Pierre Tibblin led the Gaiters with 16. Arvanitis told the Montreal Gazette that “we proved that we wanted it more than they did.” Bishop’s rolled to an early 8-0 lead and extended it 12-2 as Tibblin got hot. But Cohee ignited a 14-2 run to give Bishop’s a 16-15 lead. Rookie guard Robert Ferguson, who held David King to eight points, hit a pair from the line to give Concordia a 22-20 lead and they never again trailed. Concordia led 32-24 at the half and increased their cushion to 61-51 with five minutes to play. Bishop’s rallied to within 61-55 but the Stingers ripped off a 9-2 run to take a 7-57 lead with two minutes remaining. “We got down by eight points right off the bat because we were tentative and nervous,” said Arvanitis. “But heck, it was only eight and we knew we would be coming back. I think the turning point early in the first half when we went on that run and held them scoreless the same time.” Gaiters coach Eddie Pomykala said “the best team won.” The Gaiters (coached by Pomykala, assisted by Bob Laderoute, and managed by Paul Ciufo) also included David King, Scott Wilson, Warren Newberry, Jeff Harris, Mark McAuley, David Fisher, Tim Johnston, Ted Branch, Tom Van Alstine, Daniel Methot and Scott Ride.

       In the Central-Ottawa-St. Lawrence playoff, Concordia defeated Toronto 88-67 to repeat as East division champs, despite missing Mike Cohee, an OUAA East all-star who stayed at home to take three midterm exams. Rookie head coach John Dore told the Montreal Gazette that “from the start of the season, we told the players that school takes precedence over basketball. Tonight’s game was important for us but not as important as someone’s education.” Concordia was trailing by 13 and had two starters in foul trouble midway through the first half. But Dore went to his bench for third-year substitute Ernie Rosa, who responded with a career high 22 in the game. Rosa rallied the Stingers to within 47-46 at the half. “You could see the players regain their confidence at halftime,” said Dore. “We just went out in the second half and controlled both ends of the court for 20 minutes.” Dino Perrin added 18 for the Stingers, along with 9 boards. The smaller Stingers out-rebounded Toronto 46-30. A dejected Toronto coach Ken Olynyk gave the Stingers full marks for their victory. “Their sub (Rosa) came in and played like he was 7-foot tall while my guys played like they were 5-foot-2. We lost. Basically, they just kicked our butts. We’ve played very well the second half of the season, going 15-2. The only team we can’t beat is Concordia. Hopefully, somebody will beat them before we have to play them again in the nationals.” The Blues led by as many as 15 in the first half but quickly folded their tents in the second. Blues coach Ken Olynyk told the Varsity that “we didn’t look to the inside game. We have to be able to score inside. We were pressing on offence. The perimeter people started thinking they had to make shots. We had no co-ordination on offence. … If we would have controlled the boards it would have been a different story.” Blues guard Nick Saul, who fouled out, said “we just fell apart. We lost complete composure, and we lost our heart and desire. Concordia didn’t beat us on talent things, they beat us on heart things. … I played stupid. Most of the fouls were reaching in fouls, the kind you do when you’re not thinking. I don’t think it was a case of stage fright. I loved

it. There was a lot of energy in the crowd.” Allen MacDougall led the Blues with 20. Roland Semprie added 16.

       In the West quarterfinals, 3rd-seeded Brock defeated 6th-seeded Lakehead 78-66 as Frank Capretta scored 15, Gord Wood 14, along with 10 boards, and David Dennis 9. Lakehead took a 6-0 lead but Brock countered with a 24-5 run over 10 minutes ald led 37-27 at the half. The Badgers led by as many as 20 and hit 30-63 from the floor and 16-24 from the line, while garnering 41 boards and 21 turnovers. Dennis told the St. Catharines Standard that “once we got into our running game we settled down. But we weren’t moving on offence at first.” Rob DeMott added “that’s our game, aim and shoot.” John Laplante led the Thunderwolves with 28 on 6-14 from the arc. Leslie Ragguette added 13, Mike Lalonde 10, along with 10 boards, and Jeff Byerly 9. The Thunderwolves hit 27-77 from the floor and 2-4 from the line, while garnering 37 boards and 11 turnovers. The Thunderwolves (coached by Lou Pero, assisted by John Grace and Ron Ventrudo) also included Peter Buchan, Ray Foster, Chris Grace, Dave Pineau, Steve Riddle, Rodney Wells, Gord Bruyere, Doug Fenwick, Al Brinkert and Ed Collins.

In the other West quarterfinal, 5th-seeded Waterloo nipped 4th-seeded McMaster 67-65 as Pat Telford scored 18, Chris Troyak 16, Ron Braley 13 and Jason Poeg 8. Waterloo led 12-0 early and 36-24 at the half. But McMaster rallied to within two on an and-one by Jack Vanderpol with 1:49 to play. Rupert Wilson drew McMaster within 66-65 with 1:27 to play. Ron Braley countered with a free throw for Waterloo with 26 seconds to play. Marauder freshman Derek Howard’s desperation shot at the buzzer rolled around and out. Braley told the Kitchener-Waterloo Record that “we stayed with them on the boards this time and that really helped … I look forward to a pressure situation like that with the game on the line. One of them (foul shots) went down so that wasn’t too bad.” Warriors coach Don McCrae said “we set the tone early. It looked to me like they (McMaster) weren’t ready. They began like were just coming off a 30-hour bus trip, or something like that. We also played really good defence. Heck, the score was something like 12-4 and I thought it could have been 20-0 for us. We handled their zone and traps better tonight. But when they started to press, we had trouble because everybody wasn’t ready to play. We had guys standing still and you can’t things done properly with that.” Marauders coach Barry Phillips said “Waterloo came out running much faster than we thought they would, so it was a good strategy.” Phillips told the Hamilton Spectator that “we had a shot to win it at the end and there’s nobody I’d rather see take it than Howard. … That shot didn’t lose it, (the 12-0 early deficit did). You can’t do that, especially against a team like Waterloo. They’re well coached. … We didn’t get enough quality play from enough people.” Rupert Wilson led the Marauders with 25. Derek Howard added 15, Jack Vanderpol 11, Jeff Zownir 6 and all-star Ed Madronich 1. The Warriors hit 26-65 from the floor and 15-19 from the line, while the Marauders were 23-66 from the floor. The Marauders (coached by Barry Phillips, assisted by Craig Muir and Barry Mungar) also included Greg Caldwell, Shawn Till, Craig Connolly, Randy Hillmer, Michael Preocanin, Gord Leenders, Jay Olauson and Sheldon Laidman.

       In the West semis, 2nd-seeded Guelph defeated 3rd-seeded Brock 70-67 as Tim Mau scored 25, while nabbing 12 boards. Eric Hammond added 15, along with 10 boards, Ray Darling 10 and Steven Cuevas 10. Guelph took an early 12-2 lead but a Frank Capretta trey at the buzzer knotted the score at 35 at the half. Kevin Rome hit a trey to draw the Badgers within 68-67 with two seconds to play but Ray Darling iced the Gryphons win a pair of free throws. Gryphons coach Tim Darling told the Kitchener-Waterloo Record that “we started well but then we stopped playing defence. Eric (Hammond) and Tim (May) let Dave Dennis and Gord Wood do pretty well what they wanted. That turned into a cliff-hanger.” Guelph hit 28-72 from the floor and 12-19 from the line, while Brock hit 28-65 from the floor and 7-9 from the line. Brock outrebounded Guelph 41-35 and committed more turnovers, 18-16. Frank Capretta led the Badgers with 15. Gord Wood added 14, while nabbing 15 boards. Rob Demott 14, Kevin Rome 13 and David Dennis 10. Rob Demott told the St. Catharines Standard that the loss “was tough to take. A couple of bad calls killed us.” David Dennis added that “it’s tough to come so close and lose. We lost it on a couple of bad calls (against Gord Wood), and when Gord fouled out, that was it.” Badgers coach Ken Murray said “Gord was doing a little intimidating of his own. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him play with that kind of intensity. We had control of the backboards and he led the way.” The Badgers (coached by Ken Murray) also included Marc Vijh, Kevin Stevenson, Kevin Rome, Peter Kaija, Ken Karachi, Kevin Farrow, Karsten Purbs, Marc Vigh, Calvin Burnett and Stath Koumoutseas.

In the other West semi, top-seeded Western dumped 5th-seeded Waterloo 63-47 as John Stiefelmeyer scored 22 and centre Kyle Rysdale 11 and rookie Jeff Petter 10.  The Mustangs dominated the paint and led 28-26 at the half. Chris Troyak paced the Warriors with 15. Warriors post Ron Braley added just 2. Mustangs coach Doug Hayes told the Kitchener-Waterloo Record that “we really came up big defensively tonight and it seems Stiefelmeyer always comes through when there’s something special on the line. … We were concerned about containing Braley. … We had Kyle (Rysdale) pay more attention to Braley and he held him to two points, a pretty darn good job, I’d say.” Warriors coach Don McCrae said Steifelmeyer “elevated his game up about four notches and there was nothing we could do to stop him. There were danger signs late in the first half indicating that we were starting to unravel and then we did just that in the second half. McCrae said told the Imprint that “we played great defensively but played very poorly on offence.” The Mustangs led 13-5 early but the Warriors rallied to within 28-26 at the half. Western stiffened its interior defence in the second half and opened the frame with a 10-2 run including a trey by Jeff Petter and three Stiefelmeyer buckets. The Mustangs soon made it 23-9 run as they slowly pulled away from Waterloo. The Warriors (coached by McCrae, assisted by Mike Kilpatrick, manager Rob Dewar, trainer Scott Mark) included Andy Zienchuk, Jason Poag, Mike Duarte, John Hamilton, Chris Moore, Pat Telford, Lance Lockhart, Sean McDonaugh, Darren D’Aguilar, John Bilawey, Don Meace, Bruce Van Loon, Chris Troyak, Robert Baird and Ron Braley.

In the West final, 2nd-seeded Guelph stunned top-seeded Western 63-55 before 2,600 fans in London. Eric Hammond paced the Gryphons with 23 points and 13 boards, as well as 8 blocks. Guelph trailed 24-9 after 12 minutes but held Western to 21 points over the final 28 minutes. The win was Guelph’s first OUA West title.

       In the Wilson Cup, Guelph defeated host Concordia 90-89 in overtime as reserve Sean Kelly hit an 18-foot jumper with four seconds on the clock. Tim Mau paced the Gryphons with 22 points. Eric Hammond and Steve Cuevas each added 16. Nick Arvanitis led the Concordia with 24. Mike Cohee added 19. Despite the closeness of the match, Concordia coach John Dore was skeptical that there was a value to playing the second ranking team in the nation so close. “We gained nothing morally. We got this far on hard work and getting 100 per cent from everybody on this team and that’s how we’re going to go in the nationals. It was a one-point game that we lost in overtime. We did some good things and some bad things. We lost. It wasn’t decisive. We had our opportunities to win,” he told the Montreal Gazette. Ernie Rosa had given the Stingers the lead with a layup with 13 seconds to play in overtime. Rosa had also hit a trey with two seconds remaining in regulation to knot the score at 82. The Stingers appeared on ropes in overtime, as starters Mike Baker and Dino Perin had fouled out, while Rosa had four. But Nick Arvanitis and Mike Cohee kept them in the hunt. Still, they were undone by an anemic 1-5 effort from the line in the extra session, including a pair by Robert Ferguson with 25 seconds remaining and Concordia trailing 88-87. Perin said “we wanted to win this one real bad. But at the very least we showed a lot of people we can play and that teams at the nationals had better watch out.” Concordia trailed 39-37 at the half. The score was knotted 19 times, including 11 in the second half. Perin hit back-to-back field goals to snap a 58-58 tie but Guelph rallied to a 72-67 lead on buckets by Kelly and Eric Hammond. Mau said “we knew Concordia was a good team and we came in here expecting a tough game. However, we didn’t expect that we’d have to win it in overtime. We have a team with a lot of talent and athletic ability but we have had a tendency not to play as a unit down the stretch. We lost a lot of close ball games early in the season. We just try not to screw up and lose anymore.” Dore noted that referee Ken Cipriani of Hamilton failed to make a charge call on a Guelph player who mowed Rosa down on an in-bounds play with two seconds remaining. “We told one of the officials what the play was and asked him to watch it. It was a play designed to draw a foul and it was executed perfectly.”

       After the season, Paul Thomas retires as coach of Windsor and is replaced by assistant Wayne Curtin, originally from John L. Forster in the Windsor high school ranks. Curtin added Jerry Brumpton of Windsor Lowe and Don Hollerhead of Windsor Brennan as assistants. He was to last one year at the helm.

The co-bronze medalist University of Western Ontario Mustangs: Jeff Petter; Kyle Rysdale; John Vermeeren; John Stiefelmeyer; James Green; Brian Does; Dave Ormerod; Glenn Eastland; Ryan Smith; Aaron Czaja; Steve King; Jeff Neasmith; Jim Beard; John Giles; coach Doug Hayes; assistant Craig Boydell; assistant Hugh Meyer; trainer Cindy Mar; trainer Marli Pinnau-Cline; trainer Shari Richardson

The co-bronze medalist Toronto Varsity Blues: Allen MacDougall; Roland Semprie; Mark Harvey; Art Sharp; Linas Balaisis; Scott Bleue; Jason Ciceri; Dan Conrad; Peter Nkansah; Dave Sutcliffe; Rob Wilson; Paul Campbell; Dave Sutcliffe; Cargell Stewart; Oliver Chionglo; coach Ken Olynyk; assistant Harvey Singleton

       The runner-up Concordia Stingers: Trevor Williams; Michael Cohee; Nick Arvanitis; Dino Perin; Robert Ferguson; Ernest Rosa; Michael Baker; Patrick Sullivan; Charlie Mason; Robert Lavoie; Raphael Tyrell; Hugh Wallace; Ian Ployart; coach John Dore; assistant Harvey Liverman; athletic director Bob Philip; SID Trent Tilbury

       The champion Guelph Gryphons: Tim Mau; Eric Hammond; Ray Darling; Linas Azubalis; Rene Luypaert; Stephen Cuevas; Sean Kelly; Brent Barnhart; Brian Moore; Chris O’Rourke; Tim Sprung; Greg Scott; Shawn Taras; Ben Birstonas; Kevin Larose; Kurt Vanclief; Fred Wood; coach Tim Darling; assistant Gary Balogh; assistant Dave McNeil; assistant Ray Kybartas; manager John Beechy; manager Melissa Leiskau; trainer Kathy McKay; athletic director Dave Copp; SID Peter Barnsley