Playoff Summary

Well what a wild a woolly end to Mariner Basketball Season.

The JV Boys attended provincials in Perth-Andover meeting the hosts in the quarterfinal game. The game went to the wire with the Mariners scoring inside at will, but the host Southern Victoira Vikings taking advantage of every turnover and missed shot to break long and throw over the top the Mariners. In the end the game came down to a controversial ending with shots and fouls being called after time should have expired on the home squad. Due to some erroneous clock management, the home side escaped with a 1 point victory. Ending the Mariners playoff run. This was only the 3rd loss to AA JV competition all season.

The senior boys advanced to regional play hoping to qualify for entrace into the sectional level of the NBIAA senior basketball tournament for the first time since the mid-90's. That and almost much more happened.

Ironically enough in their play-in game at regionals they faced the senior squad from Southern Victoria High School (the same school who had eliminated the JV's  earlier in the day. This game was hosted at Oromocto High School by the Devon Park Eagles. The 3rd place in the southern conference Mariners were slight favorites of the Vikings who were the number 2 seed in the west. The Vikings were led by 2 time all-star Mason Kinney and a supporting cast that had only lost 2 conference games all year. The Mariners were 5 and 5 in their conference. Though in their overall record the VIkings had only managed a handful of wins vs. non conference opponents were as the Mariners were a strong 9-3 in non conference play.

This game was tight from the outset with the the Mariner defense doing everything it could to make the Viking Allstar a non factor. Half way through the 2nd quarter with the Mariners up by a dozen and Kinney on the bench for the Vikings the game looked to be in hand. However the Mariners couldn't match the intensity of the Viking role players in the dieing moments of the half and entered the locker room down 2. 

In the 2nd half the Mariners endured foul trouble of their own but a 27 point performance from Greg Healy and some timely play by grade 10 substitute Brad spear allowed the Mariners to hold on for a 7 point win. This win earned the Mariners a chance to play in the sectionals the next weekend.

The next day during the seeding portion of the tournament the Mariners would face the 1st Ranked McAdam Warriors and 2nd Ranked Harvery Lakers. Both teams had beaten the Mariners twice each already this season. In a surprising turn the Mariners almost upset both teams only to fade late. In the McAdam game Ryan Gallagher led the team with a huge 38 points, only to have the McAdam all-star score 40 in a 3 point loss for the Mariners. The Harvey game had more strong play from the Mariners who held a 12 point lead early in the 3rd quarter but in the final 16 minutes of the game the tole of 2 tough games and 3 in 20 hours  wore the Mariners down and they eventually fell by 14.

This left the Mariners facing a long drive to Sugarloaf to face the provincially top ranked Bruins of Sugarloaf Senior High School. In their first trip to the Final 8 in more than a decade and in hostile territory vs a top flight program the Mariners showed up determined to play. The first quarter was a defensive battle with the Mariners ending up down 14-11 at the end of the first. In the second behind some hot 3point shooting and a crowd of close to 400 the home team surged to a large lead up 41 - 17 at half.

The Mariners came out in the 2nd half determined to cut into the lead and slowly but surely continued to make strides down 19 going in the fourth. The Mariners would get as close as 10 late in the 4th quarter before finally falling by 12 to the eventual AA provincial champions.