Grant Shephard has never had a game quite like Saturday’s.
The forward dropped a career-high 32 points to help the Carleton Ravens men’s basketball team to a 97-84 win over the Laurier Golden Hawks in the Ontario University Athletics (OUA) quarterfinals.
The victory means the Ravens are two wins away from a guaranteed spot in the U Sports national championship in Halifax from March 10 to 12.
Now in his fifth year, Shephard is playing the final stretch of his university career. Saturday would have been his last U Sports game if the Ravens had lost.
“All these games are do-or-die,” he said. “For some people, it could make you panic, make you nervous, but you can’t think like that. It’ll only be bad if you’re nervous. The panic just has to turn into a focus.”
Shephard did just that on Saturday. He scored nine points in the first three minutes, launching Carleton to an early 30-9 lead in the first quarter before Laurier clawed back.
The Golden Hawks quickly turned the game around. Guard Justin Malnerich scored 11 points in the final three minutes of the second quarter—including a trio of three-pointers—to bring Laurier within eight points by halftime.
Head coach Taffe Charles said it was “frustrating” Carleton allowed Laurier to get back into the game on a few occasions.
But the Ravens added points in the third quarter and kept afloat in the fourth, with Shephard dropping 12 points in the final frame. It was enough for Shephard to pass his previous career high of 29 points, which he set in 2018 with the UBC Thunderbirds.
He said the key to the big night was a change in approach.
“Coaches, players [tell] me, be confident, be strong,” Shephard said. “No one can stop me if I’m really engaged like that. Good things are gonna happen as long as I’m aggressive.”
The Ravens will face the Queen’s Gaels in the semifinals on Wednesday, a rematch of last year’s historic semifinal. Carleton lost that game and missed out on the OUA finals for the first time in 16 years.
It was also Queen’s first win against Carleton in 24 years.
Earlier this season, the Gaels beat Carleton again, continuing Queen’s ascension to the top ranks of U Sports basketball.
But Queen’s struggled with injuries down the stretch. The team lost star Luka Syllas for seven games. The Gaels lost four of six games between late January and mid-February after losing just one in 14 games to start the season.
Syllas combined to score 21 points in the Gaels’ first two playoff games, including a two-point win over the Brock Badgers in the quarterfinal.
“We should be at full strength [Wednesday], both of us, so we’ll see what happens,” Charles said. “Last time we played them last year, they had a great result … This year is this year. We gotta figure out a way to be a little bit better.”
Featured image by Spencer Colby.
