For five years Kevin Churchill and Tyson Hinz played together on the men’s basketball team, winning four championships.
Now both players will be moving on to different things. For Hinz that means sticking with basketball and for Churchill this means pursuing other talents.
This season the team took home a record 10th Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) title in 12 years. With the win, both Churchill and Hinz finished their careers as champions.
“It was an unbelievable feeling,” Churchill said.
Since it was their last game as Ravens, the win meant that much more to them.
“It was pretty emotional for both of us knowing that we got it done in our last year together,” Churchill said.
Once the final buzzer went, Churchill said he and Hinz grabbed each other and celebrated.
“We’ve been here the whole time together, we just played our last game together,” Hinz said.
But Churchill has another talent outside of what Ravens fans see on the court. Prior to coming to Carleton, the power forward sang in a choir.
“It was something that my parents put me in,” he said.
It grew on him, singing anything from classical music to modern hits. But he needed to make a choice between music and sports if he wanted to play for Ravens coach Dave Smart.
“When I came here I didn’t have time to do school and basketball,” he said. “There was just no way.”
Churchill said now that basketball is over, he should have time for singing. He will also continue his master’s in philosophy at Carleton, but will not be playing on the men’s basketball team.
He said he is uncertain what, if any involvement, he will have with the team. One possibility is helping out behind the bench.
“If I’m not, I’ll just kind of support them from the stands,” he said. “My serious basketball career is over for sure.”
Hinz said the hope is to continue playing basketball and he’s aiming to play overseas in Europe for next season. He said he’s hoping to be placed on a good team but if not, he’ll come back home to find work.
“I can’t really tell you [where] yet. I still have to go through a couple processes,” he said.
Hinz thanked his coaching staff for holding the team to high standards both on and off the court, and teaching him key life lessons such as being selfless and caring for others, traits the team showed during the championship weekend.
“[The team] showed how much they cared about Kevin and I with the way they played throughout the weekend,” Hinz said.
With the departures of Hinz and Churchill, there will be new leaders and new roles on the team.
Churchill said fourth-year guard Philip Scrubb is already taking on a leadership role, and is hoping the team will work as hard in his final year as they did this season.
“I think [Hinz and Churchill] know that the team played for them,” Scrubb said.
For Churchill this marks the end of a basketball career, but for Hinz this is hopefully just another chapter.
“I’m always going to keep playing basketball,” Hinz said.
