2002-03 Halifax – uSports men

(1)	Carleton	63
(8)	U.P.E.I.	60	Carleton	57
(4)	Laval	77	Laval	54	Carleton	57
(5)	McMaster	69					—–CARLETON
(2)	U.B.C.	76
(7)	Guelph	90	Guelph	60	Guelph	54
(3)	Alberta	66	Alberta	55
(6)	St. Mary’s	59

In the quarterfinals, 7th-seed OUA runner-up Guelph tripped the 2nd-seed Canada Wests champ U.B.C. Thunderbirds 90-76. Anyone with an I.Q. higher than a backboard could have deciphered the necessary elements of the Thunderbirds game plan against the Gryphons: push the tempo early, often and hard. Repeat as needed. But anybody, it seems, didn’t include the second-seeded Thunderbirds themselves, who all but dozed through the loss. The sluggish Thunderbirds allowed the Gryphons to completely dictate the tempo, played little if any interior defence, and struggled to find any semblance of offensive rhythm as they meekly surrendered their national championship hopes. National player of the year Kyle Russell was at a loss to explain the Thunderbirds uncharacteristic inertia and altogether tentative play. “We couldn’t (get it going). Guelph did a wonderful job playing their game and slowing us down and whatever they did seemed to work.” Head coach Kevin Hanson speculated the T-Birds were still trapped in the Pacific time zone and may have been just a trifle jittery about making their first appearance at the nationals since 1996. The time adjustment, you never know truly how it’s going to affect somebody. I think it obviously did affect our team quite a bit. But we never really got a chance to play U.B.C. basketball, which is running an up-tempo style game. We had spurts of a couple of minutes but they certainly dictated. They hurt us inside and defensively, we just never got on track of what we were supposed to do with our game plan.” The
Gryphons quickly set the Birds on their heels by slowing the game to a crawl and utilizing their superior size to great advantage as they patiently built a 25-13 lead midway through the first half by pounding the ball to Michael Ayanbadejo, Radhi Knapp and Nadan Kapetanovic for layups in the paint. With the Gryphons dominating the defensive boards and carefully hedging against the fastbreak, the Thunderbirds had difficulty getting their offence on track. They appeared tentative in the half-court offensive sets and hesitant to attack the basket with the penetration dribble as Guelph extended its lead to 35-18. U.B.C. briefly awoke from its extended slumber when point guard Karlo Villaneuva knifed for the bucket and then threaded a pass up-court to Corey Ogilvie to notch the Thunderbirds first transition layup of the half, after a remarkable 15 minutes of play. But while the Birds ripped off seven unanswered points, Gryphons guard Kyle Julius quelled the rally with a pair of long-range jumpers to restore Guelph’s lead to 16 before Russell began to find his range, posting-up for a bucket and drilling a three-pointer at the buzzer as U.B.C. rallied to within 44-31 at the half. The Thunderbirds low-post defence turned totally porous in the second half. They had little in the way of a response to Ayanbadejo or Kapetanovic’s moves in the paint as Guelph extended its lead to 18 early in the second half. Still, the prospect of upsetting U.B.C. seemed to temporarily rattle the Gryphons. They threw the ball to imaginary teammates on three successive trips up the floor as U.B.C. shifted to a full-court press and exploded for an 8-0 run. But Julius embedded the dagger down the stretch, nailing a pair of three-pointers, threading a pass to Knapp for a layup and slashed for a bucket to restore Guelph’s double-digit working margin before the Gryphons coasted home. The Gryphons were motivated to prove they were seriously under-rated as the seventh seed. “We took it personally and came out hard,” said Ayanbadejo.

“Everyone was counting us out, so that’s easy fuel,” added Julius, who paced Guelph with 27 points. “We’re bigger than anybody in the nation and we’re physically stronger. So, we just pounded it inside and wore them out. I just went out there and make my shots. That’s what the team expects me to do. I’ve been working on my jump shot all week and I got some good shots off today.” Gryphons coach Chris O’Rourke said tempo proved the difference. “We knew that if we got into an up-and-down game and let Villaneuva control it by pushing and finding guys and then spreading the floor on us, that we were going to be in trouble. We needed to control the pace and make them play defence and we did that. … (Julius) “is such a talent player. He works harder than anybody in Canada. He’s a traditional gym rat. He’s had his struggles the last few years but he really stepped up huge for us in the (OUA) playoffs and, of course, today. … We tried to utilize ours size and establish that. Our foul trouble was a huge concern for us. Coming into this game, they were averaging 85 points per game so we wanted to make this a half-court game. We’ve been a strong team at our end of the floor and the guys showed that today.” Hanson also noted that: “we knew they were going to be physical and some of our guys were a little bit hesitant about getting the ball to Kyle at the right time. Instead we were giving it go him just after he was open and they already had two guys on him. They played Kyle very physical. But it’s tough when you’re playing the catch-up game. Every time something good would happen to our team, someone like Julius would respond with a clutch shot of their own. It tired us out mentally, not just physically.” Russell noted that “we were bad today. We just got outplayed. We were gross.” Kyle Julius paced Guelph with 27 points, including 6-10 from beyond the arc. Nadan Kapetanovic added 20 points and 9 boards off the bench while shooting 9-17. Michael Ayanbadejo added 14 on 7-11 from the floor. John-Scott Esposito scored 12, Mark Halfpenny 7, Radhi Knapp 7 and Taylor Brown 3. The Gryphons shot 33-58 (.569) from the floor, 8-19 (.421) from the arc, and 16-28 (.571) from the line, while grabbing 36 boards and amassing 25 fouls, 12 assists, 10 turnovers 1 block and 6 steals. Kyle Russell led UBC with 21 points on 6-26 from the floor, while nabbing 8 boards. Corey Ogilvie scored 17 on 7-11 from the floor. Karlo Villanueva scored 14 and dished out 7 assists. Casey Archibald scored 8 and Ryder McKeown 5. The T-Birds shot 25-57 (.43.9) from the floor, 6-17 (.353) from the arc and 20-34 from the line, while garnering 35 boards, 24 fouls, 12 assists, 14 turnovers and 7 steals. The Thunderbirds (coached by Hanson, assisted by Vern Knopp) also included Pat McKay, Aaron Frampton, Brandon Ellis, Jama Mahlalela, Pete Hodson, Greg Sandstrom, Brian Host and Pat Sponaski.

The top-seeded Carleton Ravens hurdled the first roadblock in their march to a national title by nipping the 8th-seeded Prince Edward Island Panthers 63-60. It wasn’t easy. It definitely wasn’t pretty. And it took the overtime heroics of fifth-year senior Jafeth Maseruka to overcome the obstacle. The Ravens exploded to an 11-4 lead on three-pointers by Osvaldo Jeanty, Paul Larmand and Robbie Smart but neglected to box-out on the defensive boards as U.P.E.I. trimmed the margin to 20-17. With the Ravens struggling to regain their shooting touch and unable to stop the penetration drives of Panther guard Jeff Walker, the teams traded mini-runs and Carleton took an 34-31 edge into the lockers. Carleton’s shooting woes continued early in the second half as they went scoreless for a remarkable eight nine and PEI inched ahead 40-34. Josh Poirier finally stemmed the phenomenal bleeding with 10:54 to play when Smart drove the paint and dished the ball for a layup. Mike Smart twice stole the ball and then drilled a 10-foot jumper, while B.J. Charles and Jeanty nailed three-pointers as Carleton rallied back to a 48-45 lead with four minutes to play. Panther forward Sherone Edwards and guard Tyler Wood countered with a three-pointer and a driving layup to give U.P.E.I. a 50-48 lead. Mike Smart drilled a three with 2:09 to play and then slashed for a bucket with 1:14 to play as Carleton moved back into a 53-50 lead. But Poirier, Charlie Cattran and Mike Smart all fouled out, while Edwards hit three free throws to tie the game at 53 in the final minute and force overtime. It was all Maseruka in the extra frame. He buried a pair of three-pointers, knifed for a layup and grabbed a big defensive rebound as Carleton grabbed a 61-56 lead and then hung on for the win on two free throws by Jeanty with 13 seconds to play. “I just didn’t want the season to end right there,” said Maseruka. “We still have some things to do this year.” Edwards noted that “everybody dogged us thinking we couldn’t play with Carleton but we made it tough for them to advance. They’re a good team. Congratulations to them. We knew we could beat them but we just fell a little short.” Mike Smart led Carleton with 15 points off the bench on 6-10 from the floor. Osvaldo Jeanty notched 13 on 4-8 from the floor, Jafeth Maseruka 11. Josh Poirier scored 8, while grabbing 5 boards. Paul Larmand was held to 3 but grabbed 8 boards, while point guard Robbie Smart hit 1-6 from the field, including 1-4 from the arc, to score 3 points. B.J. Charles notched 6 off the bench, Matt Ross 2 and Charlie Cattran 2. The Ravens shot 22-61 (.361) from the floor, 11-29 (.379) from the arc, 8-11 (.727) from the line, while garnering 35 boards, 22 fouls, 11 assists, 17 turnovers and 11 steals. Rookie Sherone Edwards paced UPEI with 16 points and 10 boards. Jeff Walker added 15 points and Jason Aucoin 9, while grabbing 10 boards. Tyler Wood scored 8 and collected 5 assists. Kenny Duncan scored 8 on 3-10 from the floor. Peter Stay added 4 points off the bench. The Panthers shot 22-60 (.367) from the floor, 3-17 (.176) from the arc and 13-18 (.722) from the line, while amassing 46 boards, 16 fouls, 8 assists, 21 turnovers, 3 blocks and 6 steals. The Panthers (coached by Mike Connolly, assisted by Butch Postma and Rick Millard) also included Doug McKinney, Alex MacDonald, Trevor Postma, Donnie Killorn, Jeff Connolly, Christopher Howell, Jeffrey Austin, Christopher Linzel-Waddell and David Mullally.

       Alberta dumped the 6th-seeded St. Mary’s Huskies 66-59 as Canada West MVP Phil Scherer demonstrated the value of savvy leadership at the playmaker’s spot as he came off the bench to rally the Bears from a 15-point deficit. The first-team all-Canadian ignited the sputtering Bears offence with a series of penetration dribble drives and dishes to open teammates for perimeter jumpers or uncontested layups as the Bears ripped-off 16 unanswered points to take a 55-50 lead and later iced it with a timely three-pointer by freshman Tyson Jones and deadly free-throw shooting. Scherer only scored four points in the first 23 minutes. He’d started the game on the bench and when he went on the floor, his ankle was purple. Scherer said he had little option but to ignore the pain. “If I don’t come out, that’s the season. …I was able to get things organized and get the ball to the right people.” Horwood inserted Scherer with three minutes left in the first half and the Bears trailing 31-24. “He was sitting on the bench nudging our coaches telling them he could go. So, we put him in there as an experiment to see what he could do. We knew we would probably need him to win the game.” Scherer said: I just tried to get the ball to the right people at the right time. It’s the national championships. You have to try and suck it up. … Adrenalin can do wonders for people. I couldn’t even feel it to tell you the truth. I just provided the guys with a little leadership and allowed them to calm down a bit.” Scherer said. Alberta outscored the Huskies 27-9 over the final 12:24, including a 16-0 run over a nine-minute period. “We just couldn’t get a basket,” said Huskies coach Ross Quackenbush. “We took some bad shots, I think, and we turned the ball over. We were just very inefficient during that stretch. It’s not as though they were scoring like crazy themselves.” Huskies forward Mike Shaughnessy said Scherer had nothing to do with the loss. “I didn’t even notice him come in. I don’t even know who he is. It was a lack of focus. We didn’t bring the same intensity on offence. We broke down defensively. We were playing great defence and all of a sudden, they hit a couple of shots and we didn’t respond. It was that simple.”

Horwood switched to a zone at the half the Huskies never figured it out. “Mostly the defence took them out of their rhythm,” said Horwood. “We got some turnovers and that gave us the momentum to get back in it.” SMU led 33-24 at the half. Shaughnessy hit a three and a layup to give the Huskies a 38-26 edge. Jon Thibault added a three to increase the spread to 41-26. But then the wheels came off. Melnychuk him a jumper with 3:15 to play as Alberta ripped off a 16-0 run to take a 55-50 lead. Shaughnessey’s three tied it with 1:57 to play. Freed of point guard responsibilities when Scherer came in, Mike Melnychuk caught fire, hitting 18 points in the second half en route to a 27-point night. A 13-0 run for Alberta swung the tied. Horwood said Scherer “had a massive impact because it was a psychological impact. He settled the guys down, made them confident because he was on the court with them. He handled the ball and made some good decisions, but he couldn’t really make the moves to get open to score the points he normally does. I thought our guys handled it well and I thought Phil handled it well. He didn’t try to make things happen that weren’t there for him.” St. Mary’s built a 41-26 on a 17-2 run capped by a three from Jonathan Thibeault. But then Alberta bore down in the stretch drive, holding the Huskies scoreless for 10 minutes as they rallied back. “We just couldn’t make a basket,” said St. Mary’s coach Ross Quackenbush. “We didn’t have the patience to get a whole lot of good shots. The big problem was we didn’t score.” Horwood said the entire team’s defensive intensity was remarkable. “You just go down the line. These guys just have character. I mean they’re tough, mentally and physically tough. They don’t quit.” Scherer said “It’s hard to sit. It was just nice to get out there and give the guys some leadership. The guys just needed a little bit of calming down. But my timing was completely off. I haven’t practiced in three weeks.” Phil Sudol added that “man, that kid – he just energizes everybody. I don’t know he does it but he’s just a real true team leader. Even if he doesn’t have his offence or he’s not playing the whole game, it’s just his presence with us on the court.” Michael Melnychuk led Alberta with 27 points on 8-12 from the floor, including 3-6 from the arc, and 8-9 from the line, while grabbing 6 boards and handing out 5 assists. Phil Sudol scored 16 and grabbed 6 boards. Kevin Petterson scored 7, Tyson Jones 6, Dean Whalen 6 and Phil Scherer 4. The Bears shot 23-47 (.489) from the floor, 4-15 (.267) from the arc and 16-25 (.640) from the line, while collecting 32 boards, 11 fouls, 8 assists, 18 turnovers, 3 blocks and 8 steals. Damon Cole paced St. Mary’s with 13 points. Ben McCarthy added 11 off the bench and Geoffrey Williams 9 off the bench. Gabe Goree scored 8 and grabbed 7 boards. Michael Shaughnessy notched 8, Jonathan Thibault 5 and Atnas Maeko 5. The Huskies shot 23-58 (.397) from the floor, 6-15 (.400) from the arc and 7-9 (.778) from the line, while amassing 34 boards, 18 fouls, 16 assists, 19 turnovers and 6 steals. The Huskies (coached by Ross Quackenbush, assisted by Les Berry and Scott Munro) also included Ibraheim Muhammad, Shawn Smith, Cordell Wright, Dean Jones and Derek Van Weerdhuizen.

       In the last quarterfinal, the Laval Rouge et Or dominated the boards while dumping McMaster 77-69. Although Laval struggled to find their shooting touch, they controlled the offensive boards while clawing to a 35-32 at the break in their physical affair with McMaster. But the Rouge-et-Or began to slowly pull away from the Marauders in the second half as they generated a series of transition layups off steals by second-team all-Canadian Charles Fortier and assert their size advantage in the paint by pounding the ball to centre Marc-Antoine Horth for low-post buckets. Although Fortier struggled to find his range as a result of a sprained thumb in his shooting hand, he drilled a critical three-pointer to ignite a decisive 10-4 run as Laval took command and pulled away down the stretch. It took a while to adjust to the physical play of the Marauders, said Horth. “I had to work hard for my baskets because McMaster did a great job to get in front of me, always pushing me to the extreme.” But coach Jacques Paiement said his Rouge-et-Or benefited from having been in the previous two national tourneys, where they learned they had to be prepared for a slugfest. “You gotta be, especially when it’s your third time round. If you didn’t learn anything (from previous appearances), you’re not supposed to be at the university level.” Horth noted that “defence wins championships so that’s what we’re focused on for this weekend. We got a lot of boards which gave us the easier buckets.” McMaster coach Joe Raso said his troops played poorly. “I thought we could correct our rebounding and our inside game but we allowed them to score too easily.” Samuel Audet-Sow paced Laval with 19 points on 7-17 from the floor. Dominque Soucy added 17, Marc-Antoine Horth 16, while grabbing 13 boards. Charles Fortier was an uncharacteristic 2-10 from the floor but still scored 11, grabbed 11 boards and stole the ball 5 times. Philippe Cote-Jacques scored 9 and Remi Cambron 5 off the bench. The Rouge et Or hit 25-60 (.417) from the floor, 7-17 (.412) from the arc and 20-37 (.541) from the line, while collecting 50 boards, 18 fouls, 13 assists, 18 turnovers, 3 blocks and 11 steals. Rob Scully led McMaster with 19 points. Ben Katz added 16 and dished out 6 assists, while Adam Steiner notched 10 off the bench. Graham Hewitt scored 9 and grabbed 6 boards, while Adam Guiney scored 8 and grabbed 6 boards. Jon Behie added 4 off the bench, Chaz Elhag 2 and Steve Martin 2. The Marauders hit 27-63 (.429) from the floor, 4-19 (.211) from the arc and 11-17 (.647) from the line, while collecting 34 boards, 26 fouls, 13 assists, 18 turnovers, 3 blocks and 11 steals. The Marauders (coached by Raso, assisted by Rod Bynum, Jeff Joseph, Ray Kybartas, Andrew Sergi and Cesare Piccini) also included Justin Gunter, John Obrovac, Abdul El-Danab, Charles Kissi, Jeremy Patry and Reginald Akrong. Marc-Antoine Horth and Rob Scully were named Saxon Players of the Game. Horth told the Hamilton Spectator that the Marauders “did a good job of scouting us and forced us to the second option. We had to remember we are not heroes. You can’t make a basket on your own. You have to relax and execute. You to be patient. They made us be patient.” Raso said “they beat us. Every time we tried to make a run at them, it became a hurdle. We just couldn’t clear all the hurdles.” Hewitt said “it’s tough, expecially the way I played and fouling out. It’s not what I had hoped for.”

       In the semis, Guelph continued its surprising run by knocking out the defending champion Alberta Golden Bears 60-55 to earn a berth in the final. Guelph coach Chris O’Rourke is hoping there’s truth to the adage that it’s difficult to beat a team three times in one season, having already lost twice to Carleton, including a 65-56 decision in the OUA championship. “I think it comes down to three games in three days and a war and who wants it the most.” Guelph’s victory over Alberta was a slugfest worthy of pay-per-view as both squads sought to establish supremacy in the paint. The Golden Bears were marginally more successful in getting the ball to Phil Sudol in the low post as they rode a late 13-1 run to a slim 31-29 lead at the break. The Gryphons began to rebound the ball with more resolve as they scrapped back to a 53-48 lead with four minutes to play. Alberta cranked-up its defensive intensity to force a pair of turnovers leading to transition layups. But it was Guelph which played with the poise of defending champs down the stretch. Point guard J.S. Esposito buried a 15-footer off a screen and added a pair from the charity stripe as the Gryphons hammered five free throws in the final minute to pull out the win. O’Rourke was elated the Gryphons eventually became more active on the boards. “That’s our strength. That’s what gives us second opportunities. That’s where we’ve got to flex our muscle.” Guelph forward Mike Ayanbadejo said “I just had to keep going to the boards and keep playing hard.” Both teams had trouble scoring off the opening tip. It wasn’t until the 3rd minute that a point was registered. The Ontario reps jumped out on tip, but by the midway point of the opening 20 minutes, the score was tied 14-14. The teams stayed close for the rest on the half, as the Canada
West reps went into the locker room ahead 31-29. Neither team was able to pull away early in the second half. At the midway point, Alberta had a slim 40-38 advantage. At that point, the Ontario reps scored six straight, to take a 4-point lead. After an Alberta free throw, All-Canadian Phil Scherer who was playing with a severe right foot injury, hit a shot from 3-point land to tie it 44-44. The Gryphons started to dominate in the paint, and took a 5-point lead with just over 4 minutes remaining. The Golden Bears responded, and with a minute to play, Guelph was ahead 55-53. Melnychuk stole an errant pass, and was fouled, both free throws were well short. To compound the
problem, he also committed a foul, sending Gryphon Kyle Julius to the line. Julius hit 1-of-2, but Guelph picked up the offensive board. Point guard J.S. Esposito was fouled driving the lane, and went to the line with 27.3 seconds to play. The freshman calmly drained both attempts. Ayanbadejo added that “The beautiful thing about this is that everyone stepped up, everybody. Some shots that I usually make weren’t going in, so I just had to keep going to the boards. We’ve never doubted ourselves all year. Everyone talks about favourite this, favourite that. But in our heads, we’ve always felt we could beat anybody.” Esposito noted that “the key for our team is being aggressive. Our defensive ability, we make teams shoot a lower percentage that they’re used to shooting.” O’Rourke thought his troops rebounded poorly in the first half. “We got pounded on the boards and gave up 10 offensive rebounds. We challenged the guys at halftime to flex their muscles a little more.” Alberta was playing without Phil Marr, who tore a knee ligament during the regular season, and guard Todd McClenaghan, who broke a wrist during the season. ““We did get the things done we needed to do like getting the (defensive) stops but all the bounces seemed to go their way,” said Phil Scherer, who played with a badly-sprained ankle. “Nothing seemed to go right in the last five minutes. It was very frustrating.” Coach Don Horwood thought the halftime lead may have hurt his troops. “Maybe that was a mistake. We had a chance to win but we didn’t get the job done. The ball just didn’t fall for us. It did a lot of times for us to get here and things like that are going to happen.” With Kevin Petterson and Phil Sudol having fouled out, the Bears ran into difficulty when .830 free throw shooter Mike Melnychuk missed a pair from the line that would have tied the game at 55 with under a minute to play. Petterson had blocked Guelph star Mike Ayanbadejo five times and kept him contained before fouling out with six minutes to play. Ayanbadejo then went wild. Petterson said he desperately wanted to be on the floor. “I love playing against the biggest guys, the biggest names. You give me a challenge and I love to step up. (Ayanbadejo) loves to start out hot and I tried to make him a non-factor immediately. I got in his head a bit, blocked a couple of his shots and I was hoping to take him out. But I ran into foul trouble, we switched to a zone defence, he got more shots and we couldn’t stop him.” Ayanbadejo called it “a battle, a war. They’re the defending champs and we knew it would be a battle but we’ve been a confident team all year. We never stopped believing in ourselves. All year, we’ve persevered and stayed together as a team. I’m so happy my teammates stepped up when I ran into foul trouble and they responded.” Scherer said he felt limited by in his injury. “I just wasn’t the player I was all year. We turned the ball over down the stretch and we didn’t hit the open shots and I take a lot of the blame for that. I just couldn’t do what I normally can. Without me, we just didn’t have another threat.” O’Rourke said his troops were loose. “We knew it wasn’t going to be easy. Maybe we don’t realize what we’re playing for. We’re the new kids. That’s part of it. We’re not succumbing to the pressure. We’re just going out and playing.” Scherer, commenting on his 3-11 night, 7 turnovers and 8 points: “It’s not a good feeling. I wished I could have helped more. But I’m not myself. I’m not 100%. That’s the most frustrating thing about it. I couldn’t do the things that I normally want to do and can do. It hurts like hell.” Horwood added that “we had plenty of opportunities from the free throw line but we just didn’t take advantage of them. In a close game like that, you have to be able to take care of it from the free throw line.” Mike Ayanbadejo scored 16 on 6-16 from the floor, while grabbing a phenomenal 18 boards, including 7 on the offensive glass, to pace Guelph. Radhi Knapp added 14 on 5-7 from the floor, while Kyle Julius notched 14 on 4-12 from the floor. John-Scott Esposito scored 12, while Nadan Kapetanovic scored 4 off the bench. The Gryphons shot 21-54 (.389) from the floor, 4-15 (.267) from the arc, and 14-25 (.560) from the line, while collecting 42 boards, 19 fouls, 9 assists, 16 turnovers, 1 block and 11 steals. Michael Melnychuk paced Alberta with 16 on 4-13 from the floor. Phil Sudol added 14 points on 6-10 from the floor and nabbed 6 boards. Phil Scherer hit 3-11 from the floor to score 8. Kevin Petterson scored 6 and blocked 5 shots, while Tyson Jones scored 3 and ripped down 13 boards. Brandon Park added 6 off the bench and Dean Whalen 2. The Golden Bears shot 21-55 (.382) from the floor, 3-13 (.231) from the arc and 10-20 (.550) from the line, while collecting 40 boards, 19 fouls, 6 assists, 19 turnovers, 7 blocks and 12 steals. Michael Ayanbadejo and Michael Melnychuk were named Saxon Players of the Game.
       In the other semi, the Carleton Ravens began to flash something of a semblance of a tournament stride. That the Carleton Ravens made it to the Canadian Interuniversity Sport men’s basketball title match without having done so almost seemed a miracle, particularly after just eking-out a 57-54 win over Laval in last night’s semi-finals at the Metro Centre. It took swarming team defence and a generous dollop of freshman heroics from guard Osvaldo Jeanty for Carleton to pull out the win. Despite subpar shooting, foul trouble and indifferent boxouts on the boards, the Ravens broke to a 38-33 lead at the half on timely low-post buckets by Charlie Cattran and a full-court press that disrupted Laval’s offensive rhythm just enough to prevent easy entry passes to Marc-Antoine Horth in the paint. Carleton’s uncharacteristic shooting woes continued in the second half as they went four minutes without a field goal and only notched three from the floor, as well as three free throws, in the first 14 minutes of play while Laval clawed back to tie the game at 47. But Jeanty buried a three-pointer, forced a Laval turnover that led to a Josh Poirier bucket, grabbed two enormous defensive boards and drained three free throws as Carleton unleashed what, for the game, constituted a monstrous 10-3 explosion to take a 57-50 lead with a minute to play and then held on for the win. “We’re questioning ourselves a little bit,” said Jeanty, who scored 12. “But we know we’re shooters and we’re going to keep on shooting it because we know we haven’t played our best game yet and still, we’re in the final.”.” Cattran added that the Ravens were “playing tight. But at least we’re playing good defence. Hopefully, we’re saving our best for last.” Coach Dave Smart was at a loss to explain the shooting woes. “I’m proud of how we’ve defended and gutted it out. But we gotta get all our weapons going.” Jeanty said the Ravens were finding their form. We haven’t played our best basketball but we’re excited to play in the final.” Osvaldo Jeanty paced Carleton with 12 points, hitting a pair from beyond the arc and 3-3 from the floor, while grabbed 5 boards. Robbie Smart added 9 points on 2-14 from the floor and handed out 6 assists, while grabbing 6 boards. Josh Poirier scored 7 and Paul Larmand 7 while nabbing 9 boards. Jafeth Maseruka added 4 points. Charlie Cattran scored 8 off the bench on 3-6 from the floor and grabbed 8 boards. Mike Smart added 4, B.J. Charles 4 and Matt Ross 2. The Ravens shot 18-51 (.353) from the floor, a dismal 4-24 (.167) from the arc and 17-26 from the line, while garnering 38 boards, 19 fouls, 9 assists, 15 turnovers and 6 steals. Charles Fortier paced Laval with 15 points on 7-18 from the floor and 12 boards. Dominique Soucy scored 11 and dished out 9 assists. Marc-Antoine Horth scored 9 and grabbed 9 boards. Samuel Audet-Sow scored 8 and Philippe Cote-Jacques 3. Mathieu Bilodeau added 5 points off the bench and Remi Cambron 3. The Rouge et Or shot 22-55 (.400) from the floor, 5-25 (.200) from the arc and 5-12 from the line, while collecting 38 boards, 22 fouls, 12 assists, 18 turnovers, 2 blocks and 3 steals. Rob Smart and Charles Fortier were named Saxon Players of the Game.

       One way or another, Guelph point guard John-Scott Esposito seemed destined to play in the final. That the 5-11 playmaker steered the Gryphons into the final with a pair of stellar efforts in the quarter and semi-finals after a ragged season of up and downs seemed almost as improbable as the fact that he’ll find himself aligned against a team with he is remarkably familiar, the Carleton Ravens. That roots of that familiarity stem from Esposito’s association with a pair of provincial teams coached by Ravens mentor Dave Smart that captured gold medals at the national juvenile championships. Subsequently recruited by a raft of American and Canadian universities, Esposito accepted a full-ride athletic scholarship at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, Pa., where he was expected to immediately become the Dukes starting point guard. But his relationship with then-Duquesne coach Darelle Porter quickly soured as his game was tagged as too-slow and too-Canadian. By the end of his freshmen season, Esposito was so deep in the rotation that even limited playing minutes had dwindled to none. After the campaign, he returned to Canada, enrolling at Carleton. Esposito seemed very much a lost soul when he arrived on campus in the fall of 2001 and began practicing with the Ravens. But under the tutelage of Smart, he began quietly rebuilding his confidence, appeared to find a comfort zone and made friendships within the tight-knit circle of the Ravens. But he shocked the group when classes commenced last fall and he suddenly surfaced at Guelph, after taking a long, hard look at Carleton’s phenomenal depth at the guard spots. “I just felt that in order for me to play to my ability at some point in the season, I needed to go somewhere where I was going to play 36 minutes a game,” Esposito says. The move to Guelph, much like the return to Canada, worked out for the best, he adds. “It was a battle all year. There were so many ups and downs with my game and the team’s game. But we’re playing great now and we’re just to carry that into the final.” Gryphons coach Chris O’Rourke expected it would take Esposito a year or two to find his rhythm after two years without seeing action. “But his instincts and that edge started to come back towards the end of this year. He runs the show for us and sets the table. He’s our poise, our leader. We wouldn’t be here without him.”

       In the end, the moment, like the team, belonged to point guard Robbie Smart, off-guard Jafeth Maseruka and centre Charlie Cattran, a trio of fifth-year seniors who’d toiled long years to transform the Carleton Ravens from pretender to contender, and finally, champion. Precocious freshman guard Osvaldo Jeanty had kept their hopes alive when things looked bleakest during the Ravens 57-54 win over the Guelph Gryphons in the Canadian Interuniversity Sport men’s basketball title match yesterday at the Metro Centre. But when it mattered, down the stretch, it was the senior trio who stepped-up with absolutely critical plays to carve a permanent spot in the hearts of the Raven nation and in the annals of Carleton athletic history as they captured the school’s first national championship in any sport. With the Ravens suffering from a nightmarish scoring drought and Guelph threatening to put the game out of reach, Cattran stood his ground and took a pair of charges in the paint on slashing offensive drives by Gryphon stars Mike Ayanbadejo and Kyle Julius. Maseruka buried a three-pointer and an 8-foot baseline jumper as the Ravens finally dug out of a 10-point hole to take a slim lead, while, with the shot clock running down on a Ravens possession in the final minute of play and the Gryphons making one last desperate run, Smart floated off a screen and embedded a 19-foot dagger into Guelph’s hopes with 27.5 seconds to play. Smart soared into the air as the buzzer sounded, swinging his fist high in triumph, while Maseruka clambered atop Cattran’s shoulders, their eyes glistening with a disbelief that lingered well after they’d hoisted the W.P. McGee Trophy emblematic of Canadian men’s basketball supremacy. “It’s been a long, long journey,” said Smart. “It wasn’t fancy and we had trouble shooting. But we won it the same way we have all year, with defence and rebounding.” Maseruka added that “it couldn’t have ended better. We really wanted this one. It was the last year for the three of us and we’ve been through a lot together. Osvaldo held us in there. I can’t thank that guy enough. He gave us a chance to snap out of it and get our game together and finally play the way we can play.” Cattran expressed sorrow that it was the end of his career. “It’s my last game, so it’s a little bittersweet but it feels great. I don’t know if we’ve ever shot the ball as poorly as we did these three days but our defence and our heart were there.” Tournament MVP Jeanty, whose 17 points made him the only Raven to score in double figures, said grit proved the difference, as it has all season. “We worked our butts off all year. We never let down in practice no matter how hard it got and today we didn’t quit when it looked grim. Our mental toughness was there.” The Ravens played defence like pit bulls who wouldn’t let go of Guelph’s jugular until the job was done. They fell behind 25-15 but clawed back to within 29-28 at the break on a three-pointer and timely free throw shooting by Jeanty. Both teams shot the ball like they were blindfolded in the second-half and for a six-minute stretch, neither scored a bucket. But the Ravens kept playing like savages on the boards and used their trademark sideline-to-sideline defence to booby-trap the hardwood for the Gryphons until Jeanty finally launched Carleton into the lead with 6:23 to play by drilling an 18-footer. With Smart knifing for a hoop, Maseruka knocking-down a pair of buckets and Paul Larmand nailing a six-foot baseline jumper, Carleton inched to a 54-47 lead and then held on for the win on Smart’s clutch 19-footer and free throw in the final minute of play. “I’m just so happy for these kids,” said coach Dave Smart. “What they’ve gone through this weekend alone is amazing. We struggled shooting the ball all three days. For Robbie to make that shot in the final minute, that was huge. Those three seniors stepped up in the end. I’m so proud of them. I’m proud of the character of all these guys. They got what they deserved. No one’s going to remember the scores. No one’s going to remember whether we even broke 100 for all three days combined. Three wins is three wins. When it gets to this point, it’s about winning and the guys made plays when they had to.” Robbie Smart was mired in a 3-20 shooting slump in the tournament.  After a second half span of more than six minutes in which neither team hit a bucket, the final five minutes came down to who could make the shots. Smart made the biggest one. “That’s what I needed to do, just turn my brain off and shoot it.” With 27 seconds to go, he drained a shot with his toes on the three-point line. Gave the Ravens a 56-52 lead. “That one went it.” Maseruka said “the national championship stuff, that’s a big part of it (but) a small part of it. The fact that we’re a family and we’re doing it for each other is what puts us over the top.” Dave Smart said “that shot Robbie made, after struggling through three games, I was just so happy for him. He took a big shot and he made a big shot and that is a credit to his strength.” Guelph coach Chris O’Rourke said “we beat the two best teams in Canada West to get to the final. I’m just sad because it was so close. We just needed to make a play. It was right there within our grasp.” Freshman guard Osvaldo Jeanty says he’ll take the hit any day if it means that the Carleton men’s basketball Ravens collect a national crown in each of his five years at the university. The 6-0 rookie from Samuel Genest was chosen MVP of the Canadian Interuniversity Sports men’s basketball championships this weekend after igniting the sputtering Carleton offence with 17 points in the Raven’s title win over Guelph. But his toughness mattered as much as the points. Jeanty was clocked on the nose by a second-half elbow from muscular Gryphons forward Michael Ayanbadejo in a scramble for a rebound. Left dazed on the floor for two minutes, he stumbled to the bench, returning 10 minutes later to drill a crucial 18-foot jumper that gave Carleton its first lead during its stretch drive for the title. “I’ll take any hit if it means we win the national championship. I hope I have to four more,” said Jeanty. “It’s the national championships, so you don’t really feel any pain. If you get a little bump or bruise, you get it stitched up and get back in the game. We played well as a team on defence. On offence, we were a bit shaky at the beginning. Fortunately, we always have one or two guys making shots and today, for us, it was me.” Osvaldo Jeanty paced the Ravens with 17 points on 3-10 from the floor, 1-7 from the arc and 10-13 from the line, 7 boards, 4 assists and 2 steals. Jafeth Maseruka added 9 on 4-12 from the floor and 8 boards. Paul Larmand scored 8 on 3-5 from the floor and 4 boards. Robbie Smart scored 7 on 3-10 from the floor, 1-6 from the arc and 4 boards. Josh Poirier scored 6 on 3-6 from the floor and 3 boards. Mike Smart scored 5 on 2-10 from the floor and 1-5 from the arc. Matt Ross scored 3 on 1-2 from the arc and B.J. Charles 2, while Charlie Cattran, Rob McLean, Bernard Edmunds and Shawn McCleery were scoreless. The Ravens shot 20-58 (.345) from the floor, 5-26 (.192) from the arc and 12-15 (.800) from the line, while garnering 36 boards, including 13 on the offensive glass, 16 fouls, 7 assists, 10 turnovers, 1 block and 8 steals. Kyle Julius paced the Gryphons with 17 points on 7-11 from the floor, 3-6 from the arc and 4 boards. Michael Ayanbadejo notched 16 on 6-13 from the floor, 4-8 from the line and 10 boards. John-Scott Esposito scored 10 on 3-7 from the arc, 6 boards and 3 assists. Mark Halfpenny scored 9 on 3-6 from the floor and 5 boards, while Radhi Knapp scored 2 on 1-3 from the floor and 5 boards. The Guelph bench, including Nadan Kapetanovic, Taylor Brown, John-Michael Irving, Matt Rosar, Jeff Foster, Michael Muir and Jordan Spence, were held scoreless. Kapetanovic grabbed 4 boards. The Gryphons shot 20-50 (.400) from the floor, 9-20 (.450) from the arc and 5-10 from the line, while garnering 38 boards, including 11 on the offensive glass, 18 fouls, 9 assists, 19 turnovers and 1 steal.    The Ravens finished (34-1) on the season.

       The all-tourney team featured: MVP Osvaldo Jeanty (Carleton); Jafeth Maseruka (Carleton); Michael Melnychuk (Alberta); Charles Fortier (Laval); Michael Ayanbadejo (Guelph); Kyle Julius (Guelph)

       The co-bronze medalist Laval Rouge et Or: Charles Fortier, Samuel Audet-Sow, Marc-Antoine Horth, Dominic Soucy; Philippe Cote-Jacques; Remi Cambron; Luc Drolet; Simon Fournier-Gosselin; Mahieu Bilodeau; Luc Drolet, Mirza Hodzic, Jean-Michel Leblanc, Jean-Charles Moudio-Alene, Christian Nadeau, coach Jacques Paiement, assistant Jacques Paiement Jr.; assistant David Levasseur; manager Maxime Gauthier; therapist Jean-Philippe Boivin; therapist Claudia Hamel; medical coordinator Gilles Courchesne; SID Paul Langlois

       The co-bronze medalist Alberta Golden Bears: Michael Melnychuk; Phil Sudol; Kevin Petterson; Dean Whalen; Phil Scherer; Gavin Fedorak; Tyson Jones; Scott Gordon; Brandon Park; Darryl Salmon; Paul Marr; Todd McClenaghan; Ian Mobach; Tyler Coston; Cody Darrah; Phil Sudol; coach Don Horwood; assistant Scott Martell; assistant Murray Scambler; assistant Cliff Rowein; trainer Lesley Lush; trainer Shane Wiens; SID Bob Stauffer

       The silver medalist Guelph Gryphons: John Scott Esposito; Mike Ayanbadejo; Nadan Kapetanovic; Radhi Knapp; Kyle Julius; John-Michael Irving; Mark Halfpenny; Matt Rosar; Adam Lobodici; Mike Muir; Jordan Spence; Jeff Foster; Taylor Brown; Mike Hurt; coach Chris O’Rourke; assistant Alex Urosevic; assistant Pat Dooley; assistant Dan Yarmey; manager Zach Szereszewski; trainer Rory Klatt; SID Michelle Turley

       The champion Carleton Ravens: Robbie Smart; Jafeth Maseruka; Charlie Cattran; Josh Poirier; Osvaldo Jeanty; Paul Larmand; Matt Ross; Michael Smart; B.J. Charles; Rob McLean; Pat Ross; Shawn McCleery; Bernard Edmunds; Nick Khylstov; Ben Doornekamp; coach Dave Smart; assistant Bill Arden; assistant Taffe Charles; assistant Bill Fraser; therapist Bruce Marshall; athletic director Drew Love; SID David Kent; equipment Paul Blackman; staging director Robert Leroy; statistician Laurien Hogan