REGULAR SEASON
| Bishop’s | 9-3 | 23-8 | Eddie Pomykala | ||
| Concordia | 6-6 | Doug Daigneault | |||
| McGill | 5-7 | 10-20 | Ken Schildroth | ||
| U.Q.T.R. | 4-8 | Jean-Pierre Carpentier | |||
In the regular season, Bishop’s finished atop the standings with a (9-3) record. Midway through the season, fourth-year Trois-Rivieres coach Claude Laliberte resigned because of poor health. He was replaced by Jean-Pierre Carpentier, former coach of Trois-Rivieres AAA Diablos.
Playoff non-qualifier:
Quebec @ Trois-Rivieres Les Patriotes: Jacques Demers; Louis-Phillipe Joseph; Nick Roy; Christian Gombe; Marc Cote; Diop Ibruhima; Eric Leclerc; Alain Truchon; Alain Landry; Luc Filiatrault; Gilbert Paquette; Paul Boutin; Rene Dionne; Eric Lalonde; coach Claude Laliberte (until Feb. 4), coach Jean-Pierre Carpentier
In the semis, Concordia defeated McGill 83-78 after rallying from a 48-37 deficit at the half. “That’s character,” coach Doug Daigneault told the Montreal Gazette. “They dug deep and came back with a lot of character.” Parnell Joseph led Concordia with 24, including a trio from beyond the arc and 13 in the second half. Nick Arvanitis added 16 and Michael Cohee 12. David Steiner, Patrick Arsenault and Paul Brousseau each scored 18 for McGill. The Stingers opened with a 9-0 run and McGill rallied back, taking a 16-14 lead on an Ariel Franco trey. Joseph and Dino Perrin responded with buckets but the Redmen got on a roll to build the 11-point lead at the half. “We ran but were in a little better control tonight, I think,” said Joseph. We believed in our hearts we could beat them. We did the things that we do best. All we talked about at halftime was to work at stopping them from getting second and third shots. We adjusted well and got some running into our game. Running, it is our strength. We have the better athletes. We couldn’t do it in the first half because we got into some foul trouble early. That seemed to put a hold on us.” In the second half, Concordia’s pressure defence began to force turnovers. Ernie Rosa hit a putback board with 12 minutes to play to give the Stingers a 56-55 lead. Brousseau responded with five unanswered points as McGill moved ahead 60-56. But the Stingers exploded, taking a 74-64 lead. McGill coach Ken Schildroth said ‘we lost the momentum because we didn’t make the substitutions when we should have. Some of our guys were just standing around out there. There was no flow.” Still, McGill rallied to within 79-78 with six minutes to play before Concordia iced it at the line. “It was a barnburner,” said Redmen forward Patrick Arsenault. “You have to give them a lot of credit. Their starting five did a super job. I have to give Joseph special credit. He threw in some big shots.”
In the final, Bishop’s edged Concordia 66-63 after rallying from a five-point deficit with three minutes to play. Gaiters coach Eddie Pomykala called a timeout and bellowed “you’ve got to make something happen. Change your attitude. Feel good about yourselves. Feel positive and believe you can do it. Make something happen.” Pomykala also urged point guard David King to “take it into your hands. You have to do it.” The Gaiters scrapped back, winning it when King hit a jumper from eight feet with 12 seconds remaining to give Bishop’s the lead for the first time in the half. Mark MacAuley then came off the bench and hit a pair of free throws to ice it with five seconds remaining. “The message was just to get them to be more enthusiastic,” Pomykala told the Montreal Gazette. “I think we were affected by nerves. We’re not used to playing in a championship game. And give Concordia credit. The defence they put on Pierre (Tibblin), the box-and-one, took our minds off what we were supposed to be doing.” King scored 24, including seven in the final 1:15. His second trey of the night cut Concordia’s lead to 63-60 with a minute to play. “I knew I would be the one taking the shots down the stretch,” said King. “I felt confident. But it was good to see Mark come in and finishing things off with those foul shots. He came into the game in a tough situation.” Tibblin added 14 for the Gaiters, while Warren Newberry scored 11. Tibblin said Concordia “defenced me well. I didn’t want to force the issue and upset the other things we were trying to do.” Marlon Paul led Concordia with 20. Nick Arvanitis added 18. Newberry hit a layup at the buzzer to knot the score at 30 at the half. The Stingers opened the second frame with a 9-2 run before Bishop’s rallied to knot the score at 47. Concordia coach Doug Daigneault said his team “didn’t get any calls” from the officials. But they missed the front end of three one-and-ones in the final minute. “We didn’t make the foul shots. But it was a disgrace that we didn’t get the officiating. We were in command. You have to play under pressure. That’s what this game is all about.” Pomykala said his was “a team of destiny. Concordia’s a good team but we’ve beaten them the last three times we’ve played. And we had the best record during the season. I really believe this is the beat team.”
In the summer of 1988, U.Q.T.R. announces that it is dropping out of the CIAU. “It was a matter of money, not philosophy,” said assistant athletic director Jean-Francois Grenier. “We don’t want to maintain mediocrity. It would not be fair for the university or for all the participants in the program. …Our budget for intercollegiate sports is $170,000, pretty well the same as it has been for a few years and that includes salaries of coaches, administrative costs, everything you can think of.” With the men’s basketball program costing $40,000 “we couldn’t keep competing with the other schools, in terms of travel and doing all that is necessary to run the program as it should be.” UQTR had a men’s program since 1970. It dropped its women’s program in 1983 because it wasn’t competitive with the rest of the league. QUBL commissioner Garth Smith said ‘I’m certainly sorry to see them go. It’s too bad. They’ve had some pretty good teams.”
McGill, Concordia, Bishops are given privileges in the OUAA East. The OUA east division will divide into two divisions, a central one including Laurentian, Queens, Ryerson, Toronto and York, as well as an east division, including Bishop’s, Carleton, Concordia, McGill and Ottawa.
The bronze medalist McGill Redmen: David Steiner; Patrick Arsenault; Paul Brousseau; (coached by Schildroth, assisted by Alfie Paoletti, Lloyd Scrubb and Richard Watson) also included Jamie Simon, Bruce McElroy, Ilya Gutlin, Mike Soussan, Gavin Slethaug, Michael Martin, Jay Hiscox, Michael Millman, Ariel Franco and Adrian Bak; coach Ken Schildroth; assistant Alfie Paoletti; assistant Lloyd Scrubb; assistant Richard Watson
The runner-up Concordia Stingers: Marlon Paul; Nick Arvanitis; Mike Baker; Hugh Wallace; Parnell Joseph; Bobby Verrelli; Dino Perrin; Ernie Rosa; Eric Gudeloupe; Mike Cohee; Ron Schnell; Mike Baker; John Dangelas; Paul Alexander; Francois Asselin; Keith Alexander; Peter Dimitriou; Marin Paul; coach Doug Daigneault; assistant John Dore; assistant Harvey Liverman; manager Antoine Attalah; athletic director Bob Philip; SID Trent Tilbury
The champion Bishop’s Gaiters: Nick Van Herk; Pierre Tibblin; David King; Warren Newberry; Ernie Rosa; Mark McAuley; Scott Wilson; Isaiah Gayle; Kevin Robertson; Jeff Harris; Kevin McCormack; Andres Ryan; Joseph Sztricaks; Jeff Harris; coach Eddie Pomykala; assistant Carlo Del Bosco; manager Stephen Rand; therapist Stephen King; athletic director Bruce Coulter