CALGARY — They won it for MJ.
After falling in the OUA finals, losing two of their best players to injuries during the Final 8 tournament and finding themselves trailing repeatedly in the national championship game, the Carleton Ravens men’s basketball team finally found their moment.
Behind a career-high 35 points from guard Aubrey Dorey-Havens, Carleton surged to the top of Canadian university basketball once again, defeating the Bishop’s Gaiters 78-75 to capture the U SPORTS Men’s Basketball Championship title.
“I’m just so happy,” Dorey-Havens said after the game. “So proud of my team. I played well today, but my team played amazing today. I couldn’t do anything without them.”
“I can’t believe it, I’m still processing the emotions,” he added.
The victory marks the Ravens’ first national championship since 2023 and the 18th in program history.
“No words can describe this feeling, honestly,” Carleton’s Cedric Mbiaba said. “I can’t lie to you guys, no words. This feeling is surreal. I’ve never imagined myself to be to this point but we got it done. We got it done. We’ve been talking about getting this done the whole year.”
Since the OUA playoffs, the Carleton Ravens had been talking about bringing star player MJ Okado back to his hometown of Calgary for the national tournament.
But after Okado went down with an injury in the quarterfinal, the team’s message shifted. It was simple: win it for him.
“He’s been the key to our team all season,” Dorey-Havens said of Okado. “So doing it for him, we knew other guys had to step up, and they did.”
The gold medal didn’t come easily for the Carleton Ravens, who were also without star Emanuel Milon, as the game came down to the wire.
With three minutes left in the fourth quarter, the Ravens and the Bishop’s Gaiters were knotted up at 71 apiece.
The Gaiters briefly moved ahead by two with just over two minutes remaining, but Dorey-Havens responded, knocking down a clutch three-pointer to give Carleton a 74-73 lead.
The Gaiters answered right back to go up 75-74, but Dorey-Havens wasn’t finished. The Ravens guard hit a mid-range jumper to reclaim the lead at 76–75 before drawing a foul on the play.
At the free-throw line, he calmly sank both shots to seal the victory and the national championship for Carleton.
“Very emotional,” Ravens head coach Taffe Charles said after the game. “It was really much harder with the guys missing. But some guys stepped up. That’s what we’ve been doing all year round, we haven’t been one specific guy. We’ve been a group of guys. So can’t be more proud.”
After Carleton opened the scoring with a free throw, Charles Robert knocked down a three to get Bishop’s on the board. Carleton responded quickly, with Tyler Brown hitting from beyond the arc, followed by a three from the Gaiters’ Reggie Jean-Seraphin before Brown connected again from deep.
After a few missed chances from the Ravens, Bishop’s managed to build an 18-11 lead with under three minutes remaining in the opening frame.
Carleton clawed back with six straight points to close the quarter, trailing just 20-17 heading into the second.
The three-point shooting contest continued early in the second, as Jean-Seraphin hit another from long range just 10 seconds into the quarter. Carleton answered with two threes of their own to tie the game at 23-23 two minutes into the frame.
After two more lead changes, the Ravens held a narrow advantage for several minutes before Gaiter’s forward Étienne Gagnon tipped one in to give Bishop’s a 32-31 lead with two minutes remaining before halftime.
The remainder of the half turned into a parade to the free-throw line, with both teams trading the lead from the stripe.
A steal by Brown led to a free throw that tied the game for Carleton. Bishop’s responded with its own trip to the line to move ahead by two, but Ravens guard Dylan Kayijuka answered with a pair of free throws to even things again.
Fittingly, another free throw in the final second gave the Gaiters a slim 35-34 lead at halftime.
“Guys in blood, sweat and tears, people are hurt — like really hurt — and they really figured out a way to get this done, which is not an easy feat,” Charles said. “The other team is a great team. We played them in October. They beat us by 25 at our place, very, very handily. But I think we grew.”
Carleton’s Aubrey Dorey-Havens, who had a quieter semifinal performance, led the Ravens with 11 points in the first half.
“Aubrey’s amazing,” Mbiaba said. “Wow, career high. What a way to seize the moment. Just like, wow, I can’t. Aubrey’s the man.”
Both teams shot 37.7 percent from three-point range in the opening half, each going 6-for-16 from beyond the arc.
Neither team could pull away in the third quarter, as the tightly contested play continued with neither side holding a lead larger than three points throughout the entire frame.
Bishop’s opened the scoring and briefly moved ahead a few times, while Carleton tied the game twice in the first five minutes — including at 46-46 — after Dorey-Haven knocked down a pair of three-pointers.
Dylan Kayijuka gave the Ravens a short-lived lead before the Gaiters answered to move back in front, 52-49.
Dorey-Havens, looking confident from long range, reclaimed the lead for Carleton with another three after a Nelson Cilien jump shot, putting the Ravens ahead 54-52.
The Gaiters quickly responded, tying the game at 54 with just over a minute remaining in the quarter before adding another basket with 19 seconds left.
With the two-point edge, Bishop’s headed into the final quarter of the championship game leading 56-54.
“They’re a great team,” Dorey-Havens said. “There’s a reason why it’s the national finals, right? They’re an amazing team. We knew we just had to keep making plays. That was it.”
Again, the Gaiters opened the scoring in the fourth quarter, but Dorey-Havens, seemingly trying to single-handedly pull off the win, got his seventh three of the game to bring the Ravens within one. He finished the game with nine.
Dorey-Havens later tied the game 59-59 with a jump shot before Carleton took their first lead of the quarter up 61-59.
Dorey-Havens was named tournament MVP and U SPORTS All Star.
Carleton found themselves down three times after that, but the Gaiters just couldn’t stifle Dorey-Havens and the motivated Ravens, who refused to let the championship slip away.
“This is my favourite moment in life,” Mbiaba said. “Nothing like this.”
Featured image by Zoe Pierce/the Charlatan
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