Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) award-winners and all-Canadians were honoured with a special ceremony between the first and second semifinal March 9 at Scotiabank Place.
As Thomas Scrubb and his Carleton Ravens teammates watched from the tunnel, a highlight package of the honorees appeared on the big screen. He was all over it.
As expected, his younger brother Philip appeared as well.
The only difference being, Philip, a first-team all-Canadian and CIS player of the year, was supposed to be there.
Thomas, who hadn’t actually won anything, not so much.
“Maybe they got Phil and Tommy mixed up,” said Ravens head coach Dave Smart. “I said to one of my assistants, ‘It’s ironic that he keeps getting put up there with the way he’s played the last five weeks.’ There haven’t been a lot of guys better than him.”
There was certainly no one better than him March 10 in the championship final.
Thomas Scrubb had a game-high 17 points and team-high eight rebounds as the Ravens cruised to a dominant 92-42 victory over the Lakehead Thunderwolves to capture their third straight national title.
For his efforts, Scrubb was named tournament and championship game MVP— just as Philip was the year before.
“I’m just happy that the team won,” said an always soft-spoken Scrubb after the game. “I really wasn’t worried about awards or anything. I just tried to play hard and do whatever I could to help this team win.”
All season long, Scrubb has been Carleton’s best defensive player and rebounder. That’s a role he assumed following the graduation of fifth-year guard Cole Hobin.
Since January, he’s also been among their top point-producers alongside Philip and forward Tyson Hinz — who both happen to be CIS players of the year.
“He’s been the best player in the country the last six weeks. He just has,” Smart said of the towering 6’5” forward. “That’s not taking anything away from Tyson and Phil, they’re special players. Phil has been the best player over the course of an extended year. His first semester was ridiculous. But the last five or six weeks, Tommy has done everything. Offensively and defensively.”
“He’s a heck of a talent,” the coach added.
Ever since he joined the Ravens back in September 2009, the Richmond, B.C. native has been living in the shadows of both Hinz and his brother Philip, who arrived at Carleton the following year.
The elder Scrubb wasn’t super driven at the time, according to Smart.
On a stacked Ravens’ roster, he was often an afterthought. He was second best. The other brother, if you will.
Instead of hanging his head, Scrubb used all that as a source of motivation.
“Every day in practice, playing against Ty and Phil, they were always on the same team and I was on my own team,” he said. “I definitely felt like that was motivation. Them being players of the year and all-stars . . . it was good motivation every day to try and get better.”
Clearly, it worked.
As far as raw talent goes, Scrubb has always had it. He’s athletically gifted, or as Smart put it, “freakishly long.” He’s also just smart — on and off the court.
“We had three of the greatest leaders we’ve ever had last year,” Smart said. “I kept telling them you just lead, say what you have to, and if you’re not sure, go to the guy that has common sense and ask Tommy what he thinks. Because he’s not going to say anything anyway but he’ll tell you what you should say.”
As the Lakehead Thunderwolves learned March 10, when Scrubb puts it all together, it’s a scary combination.
The Thunderwolves — or the rest of the league, for that matter — may not have known what was coming, but there’s at least one person who did.
“For the past month, he’s been our best player,” Philip said of his big brother. “I saw signs last year and especially this year. He’s been dominant. I’m not surprised at all.”
