Carleton claims seventh straight national title
The Carleton Ravens maintained their stranglehold on Canadian university men’s basketball on Sunday.
The Ravens roared to their seventh consecutive Canadian title, withstanding a fierce Ryerson comeback to beat the Rams 78-69 in Halifax.
Ryan Ejim scored 19 points, and Kaza Kajami-Keane had 15 points and 11 rebounds to earn player of the game honours.
The powerhouse Ravens have now won 13 W.P. McGee Trophies, more than any other school in history.
Carleton’s coach of the year Dave Smart said his team’s post play was the difference.
“We got what we wanted down low, and then we got a couple open threes when they started digging,” Smart said. “The fact that we had never really gone through the post all year, I don’t think (Ryerson) really had a plan once we started scoring down there.”
Fifth-year guard Adika Peter-McNeilly had 23 points, while Adam Voll had 12 points and nine boards for Ryerson.
The Ravens went a perfect 19-0 in the regular-season but were upset just a week earlier by Ryerson (17-2) in the Ontario conference final. The Rams, two-time bronze medallists, were making their debut in the championship final, and were looking for their first title – in any sport – in school history.
“I just don’t think we were as good offensively as we were last week,” said Rams head coach Roy Rana. “We made a run in the fourth to make it a game, and we just didn’t execute when we had our opportunities and they came back and made some big plays and that was the difference in the game.”
The Ravens capitalized on Ryerson’s poor 28 per cent shooting in the first quarter, and led 19-13 heading into the second.
The defending champions went up by 11 midway through the second and took a 39-28 advantage into the halftime break.
Earlier Sunday, a 27-point fourth quarter helped the Dalhousie Tigers top the McGill Redmen 69-63 in the bronzemedal
game.
Trailing by eight entering the final 10 minutes, the Tigers went on a 17-8 run, taking the lead for good with just under three minutes left to play.
The third-place finish was the best result in men’s basketball history for Dalhousie, which finished fourth at last year’s championship.
At the women’s championship in Victoria, Alex Kiss-Rusk had 15 points and 20 rebounds to lead the McGill Martlets past the Laval Rouge et Or 66-55 on Sunday in the gold-medal game.
It’s the first time that two teams from Quebec had faced each other for the title.
Earlier, the No. 1 Carleton Ravens defeated the Queen’s Gaels 53-43 for bronze.