Only a week after meeting in the Wilson Cup finals Carleton beat Western 90-63 in their
semi-final game of the U Sports Final 8 Championships.
Fifth-seeded Western came into the game with a hard-fought 86-72 comeback win over fourth-seeded Alberta. Meanwhile, Carleton was coming in with a strong 82-66 win over the eighth-seeded Dino’s.
Ravens head coach Taffe Charles confirmed Western forward Julian Walker missed the game with a fever. Walker averaged 17 points per game this season.
“They were short handed tonight,” said Charles. “We knew they weren’t very deep and without him there as well it really caused them a lot of issues.”
Carleton started the game on a 10-0 run, holding Western scoreless for the first three minutes of the first quarter.
Eriq Jenkins led the Mustangs second quarter push back, making two jump shots in a row to make the score 26-23 in favour of Carleton. The three point deficit didn’t last for long as Western was unable to capitalize on their momentum.
The third quarter saw key players on both teams run into foul trouble. Carleton’s Marcus Anderson took his third foul while Western’s Omar Shiddo took his fourth foul.
Shiddo struggled all game long, at times missing wide open shots. He went three-for-16 from the field and finished with just 13 points. Throughout the season he averaged a team high 19.6 points per game.
Western’s troubles continued when Jenkins went down with a leg injury and had to be helped off by trainers with 4:05 left in the third. Thankfully for the Mustangs, he returned several minutes later. Jenkins finished the game with 13 points and was named Western’s player of the game.
Despite sitting Anderson for most of the third quarter, Carleton continued to dominate, limiting Western to only nine points and finishing up 72-40.
Isiah Osborne led Carleton with eight defensive rebounds and finished with a team high 11 total rebounds.
“Sometimes we go small on the court so we need rebounds from everyone so I just try to go out there, try my hardest, box out the guys I have to do and do my job,” said Osborne.
Carleton’s depth was on full display, collecting 53 points from their bench. In comparison, Western got 19 points from their bench.
“Depth has been something that has carried us through sickness,” said Charles. “We’ve had injuries as well, we’ve been sick as well, we’ve had Loyd miss some time, Isiah miss some
time.”
“Throughout the regular season we’re able to spread out the minutes, spread out the risk of injury and I think that’s a pretty big key for us.”
Carleton has won 14 of the past 17 National Championships. This year they will have a chance to add another under Taffe Charles who will be completing his first season as coach of the men’s program.
“Be prepared for a good game,” said Carleton guard Yasin Joseph. “We’re going to get them. Let’s go.”
Carleton will play in the gold medal game against either UBC or Dalhousie on March 8 at 8 p.m. at TD place.
Feature image by Tim Austen
