Two members of the Carleton Ravens men’s basketball team traveled to Latvia to participate in the FIBA U19 World Championships with the Canadian national junior team earlier this month.
Despite an 11th place finish, second-year guard Philip Scrubb and incoming freshman Justin Shaver said the tournament was quite an experience.
“We didn’t play well enough to win but I thought we did a decent job as a team and we worked pretty hard,” Scrubb said.
The team was placed in a preliminary group with the United States, Croatia, Serbia, Egypt and eventual world champions, Lithuania.
Shaver said the team’s 84-88 loss to Croatia in the preliminary round put Canada one point behind everyone else.
“We were one point shy of the quarter-finals,” he said. “We struggled with a few teams, but overall I think the guys performed at their best.”
Canadian head coach Greg Francis echoed the statements of his players.
“I think we all would have liked to make a little run of it and maybe do a little better,” he said.
“I think our kids were working hard, but when you see some of the competition there, it was a pretty impressive tournament. A lot of the top teams happened to be in our group,” he added, noting that Lithuania had the services of 19-year-old Jonas Valanciunas, who was drafted fifth overall by the Toronto Raptors at this year’s NBA draft.
Scrubb scored 41 points during the tournament, while Shaver chipped in for 36 points, according to FIBA’s official website.
The team played eight games in 11 days, and while Shaver said it was a lot of matches in such a short timespan, it was also a great way to “stay healthy and just have fun.”
Shaver stressed the importance of staying close as a team throughout the tournament.
“The number one thing for us was family, and sticking together,” he explained. “We just played our butts off for each other.”
“Usually, it’s pretty difficult bringing a group of guys together in less than a month and then trying to get team chemistry, but I think this group was pretty close,” Scrubb said, agreeing that team chemistry played an important role in the team’s results.
The championships were the first time Shaver and Scrubb had the chance to play together on a team. Shaver committed to Carleton in December 2010, and said he is looking forward to joining Scrubb in the Ravens’ Nest this fall.
“[Scrubb] has definitely got experience and he knows how to win,” Shaver said.
“I’ve never really gotten the chance to play with someone who was that high up in the game and it was good. I learned a lot from him and he played well.”
Scrubb, in turn, praised his future teammate for his effort at the tournament.
“I thought [Shaver] played really well. I thought he was our best rebounder and he was one of the hardest workers on the team both on offence and on defence so it’s going to be fun to play with him next year.”
Pre-season play for the Ravens begins Aug. 9, when they play host to the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA)’s La Salle University Explorers from Philadelphia, Pa. in one of nine matches against NCAA teams.