For decades, it had been routine: When the Carleton Ravens men’s basketball team came to town, the Queen’s University Gaels lost. Game after game, season after season, decade after decade. The Ravens won by 10 points in 1998. They won by 31 points in 2004. In 2015, they won by 69 points.
That’s how it worked. The Gaels hadn’t won a game against Carleton in Kingston since Jan. 30, 1998. For most teams across Ontario University Athletics (OUA), the story was the same.
The Gaels rewrote part of the story last March at the Ravens’ Nest, when they beat the Ravens for the first time in 24 years. It was a watershed moment for their program, arriving on the national stage with a win against Goliath.
The steep ascension of the Gaels has reached the stratosphere. On Friday, the Gaels defeated the Ravens 76-62, ending a streak of 23 consecutive wins across two and a half decades for Carleton in Kingston.
It is not a surprise. With head coach Steph Barrie at the helm, the Gaels have mastered the art of program building, transforming a 2-20 team a decade ago into a team that finished fourth in the nation last season. They are becoming a threat in the OUA and Barrie knows it, but it’s only the start of a long race to the finish line.
“It’s just a waste of time to be celebrating at this point in the year,” Barrie said. “I’m a boring guy that way.”
Even if Barrie isn’t celebrating, others are. As the final seconds of Friday’s upset passed, Carleton guard Aiden Warnholtz frantically dribbled up the court. As he turned a shoulder into Queen’s guard Cameron Bett and Warnholtz was called for a charge, Gaels fans chanted, “Overrated.”
When Queen’s guard Cole Syllas, who played all 40 minutes, stood just beyond half court and wore down the clock to single digits, fans serenaded the Ravens: “Na na na na, na na na na, hey-ey, goodbye.”
The Gaels are now the only remaining undefeated team in the OUA East and one of just four in the nation. They are ranked sixth in the country and are steadily climbing.
“What I would hope [tonight] symbolizes is that we are one of the strong programs in the country that has the chance to compete for a national championship,” Barrie said. “The challenge is, can we be that team the entire season? The bigger challenge for the coaches is, can you do it long term?”
For two decades, the Ravens have been able to do so. They have set the benchmark for university basketball in Canada, dominating like few other teams in U Sports history. But on Friday, the Ravens’ flaws—their inexperience, their lack of depth—brought the team down.
It didn’t help that starter Connor Vreeken, one of only four players on the roster in their third year of eligibility or higher, was out with an upper-body injury. Carleton head coach Taffe Charles said he hopes Vreeken will be back soon.
Carleton began the game by taking a 9-0 lead, successfully removing the three-point shot from Queen’s arsenal. But the Gaels cracked the code to the Ravens’ defence after five minutes and came roaring back to take an 18-14 lead at the end of the quarter.
The second quarter was even more dramatic. While Warnholtz dropped nine points and guard Ben Riley had five, the rest of Carleton’s lineup went dry. The Ravens went 1-for-12 from behind the arc. With one minute left in the quarter, Carleton trailed by 17.
The bleeding spilled into the third but stopped in the fourth when Carleton went on a 10-1 run to climb within 10 points of Queen’s. But the Gaels, powered by Cameron Bett’s 22 points off the bench, watched as the final minutes dwindled and an upset materialized for the second time in eight months.
Charles’ outlook—at least publicly—was the same as it always is: Losing is not bad. It can be a lesson for a team that needs it. But that doesn’t mask the underlying fact that Carleton has lost two games in eight months to a team it didn’t lose to for 24 years.
“We’re not going in the direction we want to go,” Charles said.
Queen’s is.
“Tonight’s win hopefully reinforces that we’re on the right track,” Barrie said. “Let’s get better every day and see where the program can end up in the long haul.”
The Ravens will host the Windsor Lancers on Nov. 25.
Featured image by Spencer Colby
