Ravens soar into Wilson Cup final
Only Ryerson stands between Carleton and another OUA men’s basketball crown
Load the bus — well, the Boeing anyway — and aim it at Halifax.
The Carleton Ravens and Ryerson Rams men’s basketball journeys have another leg: next week’s U Sports Final 8 national championships after notching victories in Friday’s unprecedented Ontario University Athletics Wilson Cup semifinals, in which the top four seeds also held the top four spots in the national coaches’ rankings.
The top-seeded and top-ranked Carleton Ravens earned their 20th (and 15th consecutive appearance) berth in a national draw by dusting the fourth-seeded and ranked Brock Badgers 89-64 at the Ravens’ Nest while relying on old stalwarts: boardwork and defence.
The second-seeded and secondranked Rams, meanwhile, will be making their fifth (and third consecutive) appearance at the national championships after nipping the third-seeded and ranked uOttawa Gee-Gees 76-75.
The Ravens will be seeking their 10th Wilson Cup crown in Saturday’s final, while defending champ Ryerson will be eyeing a second provincial title.
Both Carleton and Brock looked ragged and tense early, but the Ravens quickly clamped down on defence, began to dominate the boards and eventually rode a pair of treys from Marcus Anderson to a 16-9 lead after a quarter.
With Brock double or tripleteaming Connor Wood on the perimeter, the Ravens continued to look unfocused on offence, while Johneil Simpson nailed three late treys to keep the Badgers within reach at the half. Still, the Ravens took a 36-26 lead into the lockers as Kaza Kajami-Keane began attacking off the dribble and drawing fouls, while Anderson continued to make his imprimatur, almost notching a double-double, with nine points and nine boards in the first half alone.
Kajami-Keane took command in the second half, while the Ravens simply outclassed the Badgers on the boards — eventually out-rebounding Brock 47-23 — as they slowly extended their lead and pulled away down the stretch.
Anderson said the Ravens’ spacing and boardwork generated a lot of second-chance opportunities. “And my veterans tell me to get out there and shoot the ball, so I space and shoot the ball.”
Kajami-Keane said the boardwork of Ryan Ejim, Eddie Ekiyor and Anderson turned the tide. “On offence, we can get better.”
Ravens coach Dave Smart mused “if you defend, then it’s easier to rebound and I thought we did a decent job defensively and got ourselves in positions where we weren’t in help situations, where it’s hard to rebound.”
Badgers coach Charles Kissi said his troops struggled with Carleton’s physicality.
“Carleton’s physical and they get away with being physical and they’ve won numerous national championships being the most physical team in the country and you can’t complain about it,” he said. “You just have to be as physical if not more.”
Kajami-Keane paced Carleton with a double-double (25 points and 11 rebounds). Anderson added 19 points and 12 rebounds, while Wood scored 15. Simpson led the Badgers with 24 points.
In the nightcap, the Gee-Gees’ offence looked out of sync early, but Matt Plunkett drained a trio from beyond the arc as uOttawa took an 18-15 lead after a quarter.
Caleb Agada began effectively attacking off the dribble as the GeeGees built a nine-point lead in the second quarter before the Rams closed out the half with a 12-2 run, bookended by treys from Juwon Grannum and Myles Charvis, to take a 35-34 lead into the lockers.
The Gee-Gees’ aggressiveness on the offensive glass allowed them to gain a measure of separation as they took a 69-64 lead with three minutes to play. But Ammanuel Diressa took command, rallying the Rams back to within one before Grannum nailed the winner from 15 feet with 47 seconds to play.
“We didn’t want to lose this and put ourselves at risk at not making nationals,” said Diressa. “We just played hard and were really resilient.”
Rams coach Roy Rana called it “a classic. And a lot of kids really stepped up when we needed It.”
“We didn’t execute down the stretch, had some good looks but forced it a little bit in the ball screen,” said Gee-Gees coach James Derouin. “We didn’t make that extra pass, didn’t trust each other. And they made the big shot. That’s what we needed at our end.”
Diressa led Ryerson with 20 point, while Keevon Small added 18 and Grannum 15. Agada led the GeeGees with 24. Plunkett added 15.
In the women’s OUA semis in Kingston, top-seeded Queen’s edged fourth-seeded Windsor 6456, while second-seeded Carleton nipped third-seeded McMaster 55-54 as Heather Lindsay scored 20 points.