Coming off a semifinal loss at the U Sports Final 8 tournament, the Carleton Ravens men’s basketball team brought home the bronze medal in a nail-biting 76-71 win over the McGill Redmen.
With a surprisingly small crowd in attendance, Carleton and McGill struggled to establish a rhythm on offence as they tried to brush off the rust from yesterday’s semifinals.
“We’ve always been an extremely emotional team, and we’ve always had guys who get on guys and push each other,” Carleton head coach Dave Smart said. “With our youth, we’ve tried to be a little more easy with guys and try to let them come along on their own, and not put too much pressure.”
The Ravens started out the gate fast with Carleton guard Yasiin Joseph hitting a layup. Centre Cam Smythe sank a three from the far corner on the following drive.
McGill finally ended their scoreless streak through the opening five minutes after Redmen guard Dele Ogundokun buried a deep three from the top of the arc.
The Redmen relied heavily on their three-point shooting throughout the majority of the first quarter after going 1-12 from beyond the perimeter.
Entering the second quarter, McGill guard Isaiah Cummins brought the Redmen within one point of Carleton’s lead after hitting a jumper from outside the free-throw line. They would take the lead a minute later after guard Alex Paquin converted on a jumper of his own. Paquin finished the game with a team-high 17 points, six steals, five assists, and two rebounds.
Carleton forward Eddie Ekiyor attempted to get his team back on track after taking a pass from Joseph on a two-on-one and laying the ball over the rim. Ekiyor was named the player of the game for the Ravens thanks to a team-leading 21 points, eight rebounds, three assists, and one block.
As both teams continued sloppy offensive play, Smart called a timeout to settle down his players after McGill guard Jenning Leung hit another three from deep.
Carleton guard Stanley Mayambo allowed the Ravens to go into halftime on a high note after sinking a three in front of the Redmen bench in the dying seconds to shorten McGill’s lead to 34-24.
“We try to focus on playing hard the entire game. Didn’t start off that way, especially for me. For the team, in the second half, we started to come out with a lot more energy,” said Ravens forward Marcus Anderson. “For next year, hopefully, we get more technical, and we will be a little bit more experienced.”
Turnovers, as well as tight defensive play from McGill, continued to plague Carleton in the opening minutes of the third quarter as the Ravens turned the ball over a total of 17 times midway through.
Ekiyor got the Ravens back within striking distance with a two-handed dunk after receiving a pass from Carleton forward Mitch Wood on an odd-man rush. He continued to create problems for McGill’s defence inside the paint, grabbing the offensive board and a defensive foul despite being surrounded by two Redmen defenders.
Going into the fourth, the Ravens took the lead with under five minutes left after Anderson drilled a corner-three—shortly after receiving a beautiful pass from guard Munis Tutu. Carleton also displayed a run of dominance yet to be seen in the game when forward TJ Lall grabbed eight of the Ravens’ opening 18 points.
“TJ started it off, so when TJ started going I knew that was our run to start going,” Anderson said. “And when I was open in the corner . . . I just hit shots and that was our moment to go.”
Carleton and McGill would then go point-for-point with one another before Anderson grabbed a steal in transition, sending a pass to Joseph who converted on the layup to give the Ravens the lead with over two minutes left in the quarter.
The tension and energy could be noticed from each bench. During a timeout, Smart allowed for one of his assistant coaches, who have won four national championships with the team, to direct the huddle.
“He . . . showed emotion,” Smart said. “He was extremely emotional. And usually I don’t let other assistants talk while we’re in the timeout, but he was saying the right things. Nothing technical.”
Joseph followed up on the next drive by hitting what would be the game-winning shot after beating the shot clock with a contested three from the top of the arc with 45 seconds remaining.
Despite a missed three by Ogundokun with 20 seconds left in the game, Redmen head coach David DeAveiro said it was a decision that could have gone either way.
“We wanted to take the best shot. If it was there then we were going to take it,” DeAveiro said. “We had one of our best three-point shooters . . . [an] all-star last year at the tournament as a shooter. We got a good look and unfortunately, it didn’t go in.”
Redmen centre Sebastian Beckett would make up for his missed free throw by banking in a layup before Carleton’s Tutu split the defence to find Lall with a strong inbound pass to extend the Ravens’ lead by three.
An offensive rebound from McGill’s Noah Daoust would be no match for the Ravens’ stifling defence as a Redmen turnover all but sealed the bronze medal for Carleton.
