The Carleton Ravens men’s basketball team got the revenge they wanted against their cross-town rivals, defeating the University of Ottawa Gee-Gees 79-67 in the Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) Final 8 championship game to win their 10th championship in the last 12 years, and their fourth title in a row.
The Ravens were hungry for a rematch with the Gee-Gees, who beat them in the Ontario University Athletics (OUA) championship game after Carleton went undefeated during the regular season. As a result, the Gee-Gees came in as the top-seeded team in the tournament.
Ravens head coach Dave Smart said they did not change much about their plan for this game.
“We made some adjustments, but we’ve seen each other so many times, there’s only so much you can do,” he said. “We just tried to change how we approach the defensive end in terms of intensity.”
The atmosphere was electric as both Gee-Gees and Ravens fans split the Canadian Tire Centre audience right down the middle. Over 7,000 fans came out to watch both Ottawa teams fight it out on the biggest stage CIS basketball has to offer.
Just as expected, the game was action-packed right from the beginning. Both teams made huge plays at both ends of the court, and the first quarter ended with the Ravens leading 16-14.
Fourth-year guard Johnny Berhanemeskel put the Gee-Gees up by one point with a three-pointer at the beginning of the second quarter. In many ways, the second quarter mirrored the first, with the Ravens and Gee-Gees trading lead changes at will. The second quarter ended 37-35 with the Ravens on top once again.
Fifth-year forward Tyson Hinz, playing in his final game as a Raven, exploded in the second quarter with 13 points. He led the team with a game-high 30 points and was named player of the tournament.
In the late stages of the third quarter, the Ravens offence soared and they began to pull away from the Gee-Gees behind Hinz’s leadership.
“I wanted to win,” he said. “Last game or not, I wanted to win.”
The final quarter of the season was another back-and-forth struggle with non-stop action at both sides of the court, the Ravens barely ahead of the Gee-Gees through most of it. With two minutes remaining, Hinz came through again, putting the Ravens up by 10 points. Philip Scrubb and Hinz combined to sink the Gee-Gees in the dying minutes of the game, and with less than a minute to go the Ravens put it away for good.
Hinz said winning a national championship in his fifth and final season is pretty special.
“It’s hard to put it into words,” he said. “I’m super happy just for the whole team though.”
Fourth-year forward Thomas Scrubb, who had been the top scorer for the Ravens throughout the tournament, had 20 points and played all 40 minutes for his team in this game.
He said the entire team held on strong to the end.
“We didn’t want to give up any easy possessions,” he said. “It’s hard to keep your focus near the end, but we just tried to do as well as we could.”
Smart said they did a much better job defending Berhanemeskel than the last time they played, which was a key to winning this one.
“I think our team did a better job making [Berhanemeskel] see bodies,” he said. “When you see bodies, you’ve got to get guys making shots earlier.”
Gee-Gees coach James Derouin said the loss was difficult but he is proud of how his team played all year.
“Our goal is to be back here next year,” Derouin said. “We’ll be bronze last year, silver then this year, and hopefully that leads to a gold medal next year.”
While Smart said he just wants to enjoy the win, he said his team will still be very talented next season, even after its significant losses of Hinz and fellow fifth-year Kevin Churchill.
“There’ll be no [Hinz] and [Churchill] next year,” he said. “We’ve got to figure out a way to change the way we play. We’ve got some really talented kids, but we’ve got to find a way to get better.”
