The Carleton Ravens men’s basketball team won its 11th Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) championship with a 93-46 victory over cross-town rivals, the University of Ottawa (U of O) Gee-Gees.
On their way to the championship, the Ravens knocked off the University of Saskatchewan Huskies and University of Victoria Vikes.
The first quarter of the championship game did not take long to get out of hand, with the Ravens on top 15-10, and the Gee-Gees struggling to shoot.
They were 23 per cent on field goal attempts and zero-for-seven for three-pointers in the quarter.
After a long three from Phil Scrubb in the second quarter, the Gee-Gees found themselves trailing against the Ravens 24-10 only two minutes in.
The Gee-Gees failed to score in almost the first four minutes of the quarter.
Ravens head coach Dave Smart said he believed the win against the Vikes helped his team prepare for this.
“We talked about the uVic game and understanding how good the teams in this tournament are, and understanding what we have to do defensively, and you can talk all you want, but you still have to execute and that’s what they did,” he said.
Gee-Gees forward Vikas Gill came off the bench to give his team the spark they needed, hitting a big three, and U of O began to claw their way back into the game, bringing it 34-21.
The Gee-Gees’ top players struggled, and the CIS player of the year Johnny Berhanemeskel had a dismal four points. The Ravens made sure to give Berhanemeskel no options.
“We just loaded up as much guys as we could to try and make it so he didn’t have anywhere to go,” said third-year Ravens guard Connor Wood.
Smart said this was a near perfect game defensively.
“Johnny’s special and we really made it tough on him, and Connor did a great job, but as a group we did a lot better,” Smart said.
The Ravens started to dominate the game going into the third quarter, as they took an insurmountable lead against the struggling Gee-Gees.
Despite dominating the game, Smart still pushed the Ravens. Phil Scrubb said this is just what his long-time coach is like.
“It’s what he’s like every day,” he said. “He wants us to be the best and he prepares us for these situations. He expects the best for us.”
Phil Scrubb proved to be impossible for the Gee-Gees to cover, hitting shots from all around the perimeter.
Tempers flared in the third, as with 40 seconds left, Gee-Gees head coach James Derouin was thrown out of the game after receiving two technical fouls.
The Ravens were blowing out the Gee-Gees 71-38 at the end of the third.
Despite the incredible play, Phil Scrubb still said he believes the Ravens could do better.
“I think defensively we were really good and we worked on it in practice, but I think we still made some errors offensively,” he said.
The Gee-Gees could not score to make things more manageable, and made simple errors resulting in turnovers at crucial moments.
“I think we really focused,” Wood said. “Whenever they began coming back, we went right back as hard as we could, didn’t try to let up at all.”
The Ravens took no prisoners as Gavin Resch had the Ravens’ final points, hitting a three to end the game.
Both Scrubbs had a stellar final game, as Phil finished with 28 points, winning both player of the game and tournament MVP, his second time winning this title.
Thomas Scrubb had 21 and Wood also had an incredible game with 20 points of his own.
Ravens assistant coach and former forward Kevin Churchill expressed how happy he was for his old teammates.
“To see Phil and Tommy and Vic in their last year, I got to go out on that note, and I love seeing those guys do that,” Churchill said.
Phil and Thomas Scrubb have now won five CIS championships, just two of five players to have done this in the history of Canadian basketball, but Phil still said thinks each one is different.
“Each individual one is special,” he said. “Obviously the first one and last year’s, this one being my last game, is pretty special.”
Phil said he doesn’t know how to feel about this being his last CIS game, but it is a great way to go out.
“It’s a little weird to think about this being my last game, but obviously it is a great feeling to win, and with these group of guys it was a lot of fun,” he said.
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