1999-2000 OUA – men

REGULAR SEASON

	EAST				WEST
	Ryerson	17-3	24-5	Terry Haggerty	Western	13-1	27-3	Craig Boydell
	Laurentian	16-4	24-9	Peter Campbell	McMaster	12-2	25-10	Joe Raso
	Carleton	11-9	13-14	Dave Smart	Brock	8-6	18-16	Ken Murray
	Queen’s	10-10	15-17	Scott Meeson	Guelph	7-7	13-14	Chris O’Rourke
	York	10-10	14-16	Bob Bain	Lakehead	5-9	8-17	Lou Pero
	Toronto	6-14	9-20	Ken Olynyk	Waterloo	4-10	11-19	Tom Kieswetter
	Ottawa	5-15	6-22	Jack Eisenmann	Windsor	4-10	9-14	Mike Havey
					Wilfrid Laurier	3-11	7-19	Mike Kilpatrick

At the start of the season, the Gee-Gees were thrown from a loop as star point guard Clint Dunning fell while showering at his home in Montreal, striking his head on the bathtub, suffering a cerebral hemorrhage and dying instantly.

       Playoff non-qualifiers:

       Ottawa Gee-Gees: Clint Dunning, Chet Wydrzynski, Chibuzoh Ehirim, Faisal Docter, Rob Lawlor, Kevin Bakker, Gordini Valery, Patrice Bernard, Matt Koeslag, Jason Pace, Fraser Veevers, Wes Oswald, Rob Dawson, Maxime Charbonneau, coach Jack Eisenmann, assistant Andy Waterman, assistant Andre Desjardins

       Toronto Varsity Blues: Sherwyn Benn, Arbie Shahnazarian, Jon Reid, Chris Skeaff, Toby Scott, Jonathon Taweel, Matt Sturgeon, Louis Pahis, Tom Grochmal, coach Ken Olynyk

       Wilfrid Laurier Golden Hawks: Robert Duffey, Jeff Dunning, Argentino Filia, Luke Johnson, Kevin Johnson, Sean Kask, Matt King, Rhadi Knapp, Bob Papadimitriou, Predrag Radovic, Nicholas Ritchie, Adam Rogers, Chris Scott, Darren Veira, coach Mike Kilpatrick, assistant Tim Elcombe, manager Josh Forler

       Windsor Lancers: Anthony Rizzeto, Geoff Stead, Kwame Boamah, Steve Allen, Mike Baggio, Jeff Mulligan, Seju Bernard, Mark Paterson, Adam Wydrzynski, John Veljanovski, Ryan Cummings, Dwayne Hamilton, coach Mike Havey

       York Yeomen: Ryan French, David Tyczynski, Tom McChesney, Everton Thomas, Tom Romas, Mike George, Dean Labayen, Paul Nixon, coach Bob Bain, assistant Tom Oliveri

In the West quarterfinals, 5th-seeded Lakehead defeated 4th-seeded Guelph 70-57. The Gryphons (coached by Chris O’Rourke, assisted by Dave West, Stephen Krajcarski and Mark Grant, manager Dan Anstett, manager Chris Brown, trainer Laurie Halfpenny-Mitchell, trainer Kara Reid, trainer Jocelyn Sitland) included Aaron Giberson, Geoffrey MacNeil, Aharon Brown, Mark Allen, Paul Beecher, Bennet De Brabandere, Mark Halfpenny, Tom Jovanovic, Mark Melehes, Koven Padayachee, Curtis Seeley, Stefan Selkirk, Toffer Treiguts and Jason Wenczler.

In the other West quarterfinal, 3rd-seeded Brock dusted 6th-seed Waterloo 82-67 as Martin Smieszek scored 22, Jamie Duncan 21, Vince Policella 12, Ryan Dudley 11, Craig Emuss 10, Trevor Harding 4 and David Sidenberg 2. Badgers coach Ken Murray told the St. Catharines Standard that Duncan “is back on track. He’s playing right on his game and it couldn’t have happened at a better time. (And Vince Policella) is a different player now. You can see he wants to play and when he misses a shot, he gets down on himself. He gives us five potent offensive players and not many teams have that.” John Quinlan led the Warriors with 19. Mike Zavershnik added 13, along with 10 boards, and Dan Schipper 11. Zavershnik told the Kitchener-Waterloo Record that “I really thought we had a chance until the last few minutes. It did get a little frustrating when we kept making the same mistakes over and over, though.” Waterloo outrebounded Brock 37-32. The Warriors (coached by Tom Kieswetter, assisted by Curt Warkentin, Angelo Provenzano and Sean Van Koughnett) also included  Paul Larsen, Shane Cooney, Conrad Kreek, Marc Rigaux, Paul Kwiatkowski, Gerard MacDonald, Ryan Evans, Vinson Francis, Mike Nolan, Jamie Birrell, Josh Van Wieren and Mike Nolan.

       In the West semis, top-seeded Western defeated 5th-seeded Lakehead 79-74. The Mustangs played inside-out beautifully in the first half as they exploded to a 44-29 lead at the half on 8-12 from beyond the arc. Micah Bourdeau hit 4-6 from three-point land while Jim Grozelle hit 3-4. But Lakehead got hot from the perimeter in the second half and rallied back to take a 61-60 lead on all-Canadian Ramon McElmurry’s play in the paint and guard Brent Bradshaw’s perimeter shooting. McElmurry scored 17 in the second half and grabbed 7 offensive rebounds, while Bradshaw drilled a pair of threes when the Mustangs collapsed on McElmurry. But Western’s depth and defensive intensity prevailed. Chris Brown scored 20 on 7-9 from the floor, 6-9 from the line and 11 boards. Grozelle had 18 on 4-7 from the arc and 7-8 from the line. Matt Tweedie added 12 including two buckets down the stretch. Bourdeau, playing with an injured back, scored 14, including 5-7 from the arc. Western’s top defender Chedo Ndur suffered a hip pointer early in the first half and played limited minutes. Bourdeau’s inclusion in the line-up was a last-minute decision. “We decided we’d let him give it a shot and see what happened in the first couple minutes,” Mustangs coach Craig Boydell told the Western Gazette. “Bourdeau had a phenomenal game, given the situation. He could barely walk unaided in the middle of the week. … I thought our play was impressive, given the fact that we had our top defender and our top offensive player both incapacitated. I think the other guys really stepped up big.” Chris Brown said “all year we’ve had no problems with depth. We’ve got guys who can step up. … We just wanted it really badly. We really want to get back to [Canadian Interuniversity Athletics Union championship site] Halifax.” Lakehead coach Lou Pero said “we missed some easy things we should have made,” he said. “In the last four or five minutes, [if it were not for] a couple of breaks and missed lay-ups, we could be playing in the conference finals against [McMaster] next weekend.” The Thunderwolves (coached by Lou Pero) also included Dan Zapior, Andrew Stevenson, Jeff Rosar, Steve Reid, Jeremie Clarke-Okah, Eric Kauranen, Ryan Sinninghe, Matt Coulson, Jeff Langley, Gavin Gilles, Mark Burtenshaw and Joey Barrett.

       In the other West semi, 2nd-seeded McMaster defeated 3rd-seeded Brock 75-73 in a thriller featuring excellent defence. Mac took a 29-20 lead on a 6-0 run before Brock ripped off 11 unanswered points to take a 31-29 lead. The game was tied at 31 at the half. Brock moved ahead by six early in the second half but then Mac ripped off 8 straight points as part of an 18-4 run to take a 63-55 edge. The Badgers rallied back to within three with 1:41 on the clock, drilled two free throws to cut to one. McMaster turned the ball over. But then Rodney Baptiste deflected successive Brock inbounds passes, the final into the hands of teammate Doug Doyle, who was fouled and hit one of two free throws with 10 seconds on clock. Badgers star point Jamie Duncan launched a three-pointer to win it at the buzzer, but Baptiste promptly swatted it back in his face. “I was proud of our guys and I was proud of Brock,” said McMaster coach Joe Raso. “Everyone who went on the floor, left everything out there.” Steve Maga led McMaster with 25 points on 9-14 from the field, including 5-7 from beyond the arc. Baptiste hit 19 and was chosen player of the game. Doyle added 18, Graham Hewitt 7, Emmanuel Ostojic 4 and Jeremy Storry 2. Justin Boye was scoreless, while nabbing 14 boards, along with Goran Franjisevic, Kevin McKenna, Mark Maga, Anthony Aiello and Phil Vayalmukal. McMaster hit 30-56 (.536) from the floor, 5-11 (.455) from the arc and 10-17 (.588) from the line, while garnering 39 boards, including 14 on the offensive glass, 17 fouls, 15 assists, 21 turnovers, 2 blocks and 8 steals. Jamie

Duncan scored 25 for Brock. Ryan Dudley added 23, Martin Smieszek 6, Craig Emuss 5, Conor MacSweeney 4, Trevor Harding 4 and Vince Policella 3, while David Sidenberg, Jason Pearson and Dan Bouchard were scoreless. Duncan told the St. Catharines Standard that “it was very disappointing because we had an opportunity to win the game with 10 seconds left … Craig was hung out to dry and there was no one to pass to. It was a lack of communication by everyone on the team.” Dudley said “it’s a tough way to lose but we gave them everything we had. A couple of small mental errors at the end really cost us.”

 Brock (coached by Ken Murray) shot 26-55 (.473) from the floor, 6-17 (.353) from the arc and 15-17 (.882) from the line, while garnering 26-55 (.473) from the floor, 6-17 (.353) from the arc and 15-17 (.882) from the line, while garnering 20 boards, including 6 on the offensive glass, 15 fouls, 10 assists, 15 turnovers and 12 steals.

       In the West final, 2nd-seeded McMaster toppled top-seeded Western 74-69 at Alumni Hall in London. Mac took an early 14-4 lead but the Mustangs ripped off 8 unanswered points and took a 19-18 edge and expanded their lead to double digits before heading into the lockers with a 37-30 edge. Third-year post Chris Brown was practically unstoppable in the first half as he scored 17 and grabbed 8 boards. McMaster cut the margin to four early in the second half but Western maintained that slim margin until five minutes remained. Mac cut it to three and then two, and then Steve Maga hit a long bomb from beyond the arc with 1:35 on the clock to give Mac its first lead since early in the first half. Western brought the ball down the floor and missed. Maga hit a jumper to make it 72-69 with 35 seconds to play. Matt Tweedie was short on a three to tie with 18 seconds to play. Goran Franjesevic missed two free throws for Mac but Graham Hewitt grabbed the rebound, kicked it back to Maga, who was fouled and drained both free throws to ice it. Franjesevic led Mac with 22 points including 15 in the second half. “Goran gave us a great spark off the bench,” said Maga. “He can be an offensive forced and we needed his contribution.” Maga scored 18 and handed out 4 assists. “That’s why Steven’s not only our captain but a captain on the junior national team,” said coach Joe Raso. “He’s the guy you want running the show in a big game.” Raso was ecstatic. “This is a bunch of over achievers. They believe in each other. I jump up and down on the sideline but our guys never lost their composure.” Doug Doyle finished with 15 points and 5 rebounds, while Rodney Baptiste had 11 points and 9 boards. Justin Boye scored 3 but had 10 rebounds. Graham Hewitt scored 3, Jeremy Storry 1 and Mark Maga 2, while Jeremy Storry, Emmanuel Ostojic, Kevin McKenna, Philip Vayalumkal and Jay Egbo were scoreless. The Marauders hit 28-67 (.418) from the floor, 4-15 (.267) from the arc and 14-24 (.583) from the line, while garnering 38 boards, including 13 on the offensive glass, 16 fouls, 7 assist, 15 turnovers and 8 steals. Chris Brown paced Western with 23 points and 9 rebounds for Western. Micah Bourdeau, still showing the effects of a back injury, finished with 18, Jim Grozelle 15, Matt Tweedie 4, Chedo Ndur 2, Mark Porte 3 and Rich Tamminga 2, while Kelsey Green, Stephan Barrie, Tim Shanks, Konrad Cieslewicz and Mark Nielsen were scoreless. Western hit 26-58 (.448) from the floor, 4-16 (.250) from the arc and 13-16 (.812) from the line, while garnering 29 boards, including 4 on the offensive glass, 19 fouls, 14 assists, 17 turnovers, 6 blocks and 7 steals. Raso told the Western Gazette that “the point is, the guys believed. We knew we had to win today. We did what we had to do. … We beat what I thought was the best team in the country in here tonight, in their gym and I feel good about that. At the same time, I know if we want to win the national championship we’re gonna have to play them again.” Mustangs coach Craig Boydell said “you can’t have a quality team like we have and win the games we’ve won and not be disappointed when you don’t win the championship. At the same time, we’re trying to turn any negative emotions around from this immediately because, if we don’t go to the nationals (as the wild card), there’s no God in heaven.”

In the East semis, 4th-seeded Queens upset top-seeded Ryerson 73-69 as player of the game Michael Gleeson scored 13 points, grabbed 1 rebound, 1 assist and 1 steal. Brendan Byrne led the Gaels with 18 points, 4 assists, 3 rebounds and 2 steals. Derek Richardson had 13 points, 9 rebounds, 8 assists and 4 steals. John Purdy had 8 rebounds, 5 points, 5 steals and 4 assists. Ryerson led 36-29 at the half. Jan-Michael Nation paced the Rams with 23 points, 8 rebounds, 5 steals and 3 assists. Sam Gilbert, chosen Ryerson player of the game, had 16 points, 5 assists, 3 rebounds and 2 steals. Bill Crowdis had 9 rebounds, 7 points and 4 assists. Ben Gorham had 13 points, 3 assists, 3 steals, 1 block and 1 rebound. Ryerson led 36-29 at the half but the Gaels opened the second half with an 11-0 run. Ryerson took a lead with 1:32 to play but Michael Gleeson drilled a trey with a minute to play and then two free throws with 33.7 seconds on the clock to ice the win. “It’s the biggest win in Queen’s basketball history,” coach Scott Meeson told the Sudbury Star. “We had not been in the playoffs for eight or nine years, much less the final. All the guys came to play today and we knew we had a shot. To knock off a team of that caliber is tremendous.” Gleeson nailed several critical free throws down the stretch as the Gaels pulled out the win. Ram Sasha Ivankovic said the squad was looking ahead to the final, instead of focusing on beating Queen’s. “I don’t think we were nervous. We just expected to win.” Gilbert said “they just kept hitting the big shots.” The Rams (coached by Terry Haggerty, assisted by Lui Cinello, Richard Dean and Bob Marsh, therapist Lenny Ferraro, doctor David Lowe) also included Jessie Adjei, Dwight Chambers, Rayon Holness, Mark Ibrahimovic, Sasha Ivankovic, P.J. Kerr, Ralph Lewis, Tim Lockett-Smith, Nick Muth and Duane Quashie.

       In the other East semi, 2nd-seeded Laurentian pounded 3rd-seeded Carleton 70-45 as player of the game Ted Dongelmans scored 16 points, 7 rebounds, 4 assists and 2 blocks. Clifton Edwards added 12 points, 5 assists and 3 rebounds. Roan Biggs had 3 points, 12 boards. Dwayne Burton had 11 points and 4 steals. Kevin Gordon had 9 points, 6 assists, 4 rebounds and 3 steals. The Voyageurs led 26-23 at the break. Carleton player of the game Jafeth Maseruka had 7 points, 5 assists, 4 rebounds and 2 steals. Terry Vilayil had 14 points and 3 rebounds. Charlie Cattran had 9 rebounds, 8 assists and 5 points for the Ravens. The Ravens (coached by Dave Smart, assisted by Bill Arden and Taffe Charles) also included Paul Larmand, Josh Poirier, Dylan Myllymaki, Jonathan Addy, Jerry Samuel, Dean Petridis and Danny Hurst. Voyageurs coach Peter Campbell told the Sudbury Star that “though we were only up by three (26-23) at the half, I saw some good things offensively. Many of our shots just wouldn’t go in and we only went 50 per cent from the foul line. But our patience and persistence paid off. We continued to move ahead and they got tired.” Ravens coach Dave Smart told the Charlatan that “I’m disappointed because I truly expected to win. We did what we had to do in the first half and lost some confidence in that 70 seconds. It’s a tough environment and when things are falling apart, it’s pretty hard to stay composed.” Terry Vilayil said “it’s not the way I wanted to go out, losing by 25 points in my last game, but a lot of guys are coming back and it’s something to keep them motivated.” Jon Addy said “we kind of folded in the second half when things got bad. We got tentative and got outmuscled and you can’t afford to do that in the playoffs. It wasn’t what they did, it was what we didn’t do.”

       In the East final, 2nd-seeded Laurentian defeated 4th-seeded Queen’s 70-58, after taking a 46-21 lead at the half. Laurentian player of the game Kevin Gordon paced the Voyageurs with 21 points, 6 assists, 5 rebounds and 5 steals. Ted Dongelmans scored 10, 9 rebounds, 3 assists and 1 block. Dwayne Burton had 9 points, 6 rebounds, 3 assists and 3 steals. Leon Sutton had 10 points, 6 assists, 6 rebounds and 1 steal. Queen’s player of the game Derek Richardson led the Gaels with 13 points, 7 rebounds and 4 assists. John Purdy scored 15, had 3 steals, 2 rebounds and 1 assist. Brendan Byrne scored 12, nabbed 7 boards, 5 assists and 5 steals. “We haven’t shot that well in the first half in a long time,” Dongelmans told the Sudbury Star. “Everything went out way when it came to scoring baskets in the first half. But Queen’s is a great team and they came out strong in the second half. Fortunately, we finished the game on a strong note.” Gordon, who was chosen tournament MVP, said “it was important to take control early against them. If you don’t contain them in the first 10 minutes, they take control. We didn’t want that to happen.” Coach Peter Campbell noted that his troops demonstrated resiliency. “In the first half, we did a great job defensively and controlling the tempo. In the second half, we were not as good defensively but they certainly came through with some great shots. Defensively, they stepped up and that caused us some problems. We didn’t respond well at times. But when Queen’s got to within the 12-13 range, we always managed to get the big basket to slow them down.”

       In the Wilson Cup, player of the game Ted Dongelmans scored 25 points, grabbed 10 rebounds, handed out three assists and stole the ball twice as Laurentian nipped McMaster 73-67. Laurentian took the early lead before the pot-banging hometown crazies, with torrid outside shooting and excellent play in the paint by Dongelmans. They led by double digits midway through the first half but McMaster rallied back, led by Doug Doyle, to trail by 43-36 at the half. McMaster caught fire early in the second half while Laurentian went cold. A pair of Steve Maga free throws with 14-53 to play put the Marauders in the lead 44-43. Dongelmans finally got the Voyageurs on the board after 6:40 of action to end McMaster’s 10-0 run to start the half. Midway through the half, McMaster led 51-49 and the lead changed hands several times. The score was tied at 61 with 4:14 to play. McMaster took a four-point lead but Dongelmans rallied the Voyageurs back, hitting a bucket and a free throw with 2:11 to play as Laurentian moved ahead 66-65. He hit another jumper to give Laurentian a three-point lead into the final minute. Justin Boye responded with a layup for McMaster with 44 seconds to play. Laurentian brought the ball back down court and Roan Biggs was fouled after scoring putting Laurentian ahead by three with 25 seconds to play. Biggs was 7-8 from the line on the night. Another Mac miss, another foul on Biggs and he hit both and that was the game. Biggs finished with 15 points, 11 boards and 6 assists. Kevin Gordon added 18 on 6-15 from the floor and 4-10 from beyond the arc. Dwayne Burton scored 7, Clifton Edwards 6 and Leon Sutton 1, while Jim Jefferson, Chris Caruso, Patrick Brandt and Jermaine Pendley wee scoreless. The Voyageurs hit 27-57 from the floor, 7-21 from the arc and 12-16 from the line, while garnering 36 boards, including 16 on the offensive glass, 15 fouls, 24 assists, 16 turnovers, 7 blocks and 10 steals. Maga led Mac with 21 points and 8 assists. Rodney Baptiste added 11, Boye 10, Doug Doyle 7, Goran Franjesevic 6, Graham Hewitt 4, and Mark Maga 3, while Jeremy Storry and Emmanuel Ostojic were scoreless. The Marauders hit 26-68 from the floor, 7-22 from the arc and 8-10 from the line, while garnering 39 boards, including 23 on the offensive glass, 18 fouls, 26 assists, 14 turnovers, 3 blocks and 13 steals. Marauders coach Joe Raso told the Hamilton Spectator that “a game like that benefits both teams. It can’t louder than it gets there (in Sudbury). … We were in a hostile environment. As a player, there are two scenarios – everyone cheering for you or everyone cheering against you. We were definitely not the favourites.”

       Following the season, Laurentian head coach Peter Campbell shocks the OUA by bailing for Wilfrid Laurier after a contract dispute with Laurentian’s administration. In 15 years at Laurentian, Campbell compiled a 155-57 record and win six OUA East titles, two Wilson Cups. “I’m excited about building a quality basketball program at Laurier,” he says. “Laurier’s commitment to winning is evident and I believe we can bring excitement and success to the atmosphere that has been created in their athletic program.” He is replaced by Virgil Hill, six years an assistant at Simon Fraser and head coach of the under 19 B.C. men’s provincial team that captured the gold medal in 1998 and the silver medal in 1999.

The co-bronze medalist Queen’s Golden Gaels: Derek Richardson; John Purdy; Brendan Byrne; Mark Bednis; Mike Gleeson; Duncan Cowan; Trevor Capern; Reed McMillan; coach Scott Meeson

The co-bronze medalist University of Western Ontario Mustangs: Chris Brown; Micah Bourdeau; Jim Grozelle; Matt Tweedie; Chedo Ndur; Mark Porte; Rich Tamminga; Kelsey Green; Stephan Barrie; Tim Shanks; Konrad Cieslewicz; Mark Nielsen; coach Craig Boydell
       The runner-up McMaster Marauders: Steve Maga; Doug Doyle; Rodney Baptiste; Jeremy Storry; Graham Hewitt; Justin Boye; Goran Franjesevic; Mark Maga; Emmanuel Ostojic; Kevin McKenna; Philip Vayalmukal; Jay Egbo; Anthony Aiello; Kevin McKenna; David McKinty; Brian Taylor; Toms Lokmanis, coach Joe Raso; assistant Chris Oliver

       The champion Laurentian Voyageurs: Ted Dongelmans; Kevin Gordon; James Jefferson; Roan Biggs; Clifton Edwards; Dwayne Burton; Chris Caruso; Patrick Brandt; Jermaine Pendley; Leon Sutton; David Piers; Robert Annecchini; Brendan Alexa; Craig O’Neil; coach Peter Campbell; assistant Angelo Mazzuchin; trainer Kim Lafreniere; trainer Lisa Walters; manager Ryan Lohnes; SID Russell Zavitz