The corner of the Ravens’ Nest court where Rob Smart stood is black. Jet black. It’s the corner where Carleton guard Cordell Viera made a three-pointer as the seconds ticked away. It’s the corner where the Carleton Ravens men’s basketball team looked on from the bench.
It’s also the corner where, as fans sat stunned and players sat silenced, Smart stood still. He stood there for 10, 15, 20 seconds. Maybe he was looking at the Queen’s Gaels, cheering and crying and dogpiling on the court. Maybe he was looking at the scoreboard, showing an 86-80 Carleton loss.
Maybe he was thinking back to 2003, when Smart—now assistant coach—helped lead the Ravens to their first national championship as a first-team All-Canadian guard.
Regardless, he stood at the corner of the court, silent and pensive. The Carleton Ravens had lost the Ontario University Athletics (OUA) East finals. The Ravens would not play in the Wilson Cup for the first time in 16 years.
The Ravens likely would, however, still make it to the U Sports national championship for the 19th season in a row. While not qualifying as the OUA champion or runner-up, the team is a run-away leader in the five categories that determine the U Sports at-large berth.
The loss stings. It is the first Carleton loss since Feb. 7, 2020. It is the first playoff loss for the team since March 10, 2018. And it is the first time Queen’s has beat Carleton since Jan. 30, 1998—24 years ago.
The loss is history-making.
The win for Queen’s is a breakthrough. Ten years ago, in the first season under head coach Steph Barrie, the Gaels went 2-20. The program has never won a Wilson Cup. The program has never even been to a national championship.
As the final seconds of Wednesday’s game fell off the scoreboard in one heart-pounding moment after another, Barrie watched from the sidelines. He thought of his team—the team that posted the program’s best regular season winning percentage since 1970-71. But he also thought of the legacy of the players who got them there.
“To get to this point didn’t happen just with the guys on the roster right now. It happened with multiple rosters over the last 10 years to just chip away, chip away,” Barrie said. “We’re finally at a place where we can win this game.”
Winning this game meant jubilation on the court. Dancing, hugging, cheering. Sweat from 40 minutes of full-on hardwood warfare mixed with tears from 63 seasons of back-breaking program building.
The Gaels still have work to do. They face the Brock Badgers on Saturday in the OUA finals, a team that lost only one game in the regular season and is ranked fourth in the nation. You can bet Queen’s players were already doing their homework on the midnight bus ride home.
But in the moment? Celebration.
One player’s girlfriend couldn’t stop jumping.
“We’re going to Alberta!” she yelled. “We’re going to Alberta!”
The Gaels are going to Edmonton, where the national championship will take place at the Saville Community Sports Centre from April 1 to 3. The Ravens almost certainly are, too, but on a flight that will likely be several decibels quieter and multitudes more contained.
From the get-go, the Ravens trailed. They trailed 21-8 exiting the first quarter and 38-35 at the half. Carleton led for the first time two minutes into the third quarter.
The most the Ravens led by was eight points, with eight minutes left in the fourth quarter. The Gaels chipped away, chipped away and chipped away.
“That’s why we have sports. It’s not, ‘Hey, they’re ranked in this higher,’” Carleton head coach Taffe Charles said. “That’s the beauty of it. That’s the pain of it, too.”
The pain was evident. After the final buzzer, players sat on the bench, faces in their hands. Charles shook hands with Barrie. Smart stared.
What was the emotion of the locker room after the crowd had cleared and the lights went out?
“Oh, god,” Charles responded.
The Ravens don’t miss nationals. They just don’t. They always play the final week of the season. They always finish as a top eight team.
On Wednesday, they came as close as they ever have to not doing so.
“I saw a team that is in a bit of trouble. We’ll have to figure it out in the next couple of days,” Charles said. “I still think we have enough there to win but we gotta get things in order.”
Featured image by Spencer Colby.
