A year after suffering their only defeat of the season in the Ontario University Athletics (OUA) Wilson Cup final, the Ravens avenged their loss, this time by pummelling the Ryerson Rams 82-39 at the University of Waterloo March 3.
“It’s pretty exciting,” said second-year guard Philip Scrubb. “Coming into the tournament, I think a lot of the guys wanted to win it, just because of last year.”
Last year, the Lakehead Thunderwolves handed the Ravens their first loss of the season in the OUA final. This time around, Lakehead was upset by Ryerson in the semifinal, while the Ravens cruised past McMaster March 2 before meeting the Rams the following evening.
“Definitely a little bit of redemption,” added fifth-year guard Cole Hobin.
Hobin, usually a defensive specialist, led all scorers, pouring in 17 points and adding 11 rebounds for the double-double. His three shots from beyond the arc tied him with Scrubb for the team lead.
“I didn’t even really realize it until after,” Hobin said of the points he contributed. “But I mean, it’s definitely fun scoring. It was exciting.”
Scrubb himself finished with 13 points, and was the only other Raven to finish in the double-digits in scoring. Most of the scoring for the Ravens was very evenly spread out, as all but two players ended up with four points or more.
“It definitely helps a lot when you know a lot of guys are going to put up decent numbers every game,” Scrubb said. “We have a lot of guys who can score and a lot of guys do a lot of things well to draw other teams’ attention.”
It was a different story altogether for the Rams, whose offence met the stifling Carleton defence and was shut down all night. Although second-year guard Jahmal Jones did score 11 points, he was one of only five Rams who were able to put up any points at all.
“We definitely focused on defence a lot in practice,” Scrubb said. “During the week, we watched a lot of film on the other team to try and understand what they ran and what they like to do on offence. I thought . . . we played pretty well as a team and made their offence a little uncomfortable.”
“It’s a step in the right direction,” Hobin said. “But we’re definitely still focused on getting more consistent and more concrete with our base defence.”
No difference was more obvious than the teams’ success at three-point range. The Ravens made nine shots out of 22, good for a 40.9 per cent shooting percentage. The Rams hit only one in 14 attempts, for an abysmal 7.1 per cent shooting percentage.
“[It was] just all the pieces lining up and doing what the coaches are trying to get us to do and preparing us to do all week,” Hobin said. “It just came together there, especially in the second half.”
The Ravens finished their OUA season undefeated, going 25-0 en route to the Wilson Cup victory.
For the Ravens, though, the real job is just beginning, as they look to capture their eighth national championship in 10 years Mar. 9-11 in Halifax. However, Scrubb said the team isn’t looking that far ahead just yet.
“We try not to think about that stuff,” he said. “We just have three more games to win, and I think we’re going to be pretty focused.”
The Ravens open the CIS Final 8 March 9 against the eighth-seeded Acadia Axemen.
For Hobin, the objective is clear.
“The goal is to win. If you don’t win, you lose.”
