Carleton (22-0) 75, Ottawa (16-6) 73 6'2" Rob Saunders created a turnover that led to the winning bucket by 6'3" Stuart Turnbull with 40.5 seconds remaining and the Ravens survived Ottawa's final possession when a decent look at a three by 6'0" Vlad Pislaru to win the game came off with just seconds remaining as Carleton capped a perfect regular season with an exciting win against visiting Ottawa at the Raven's Nest. The fourth quarter produced numerous lead changes with 6'3" Donnie Gibson's third 3 of the evening giving Ottawa a 73-71 lead with just under 2 minutes to play. Turnbull followed with driving layup to knot the score at 73. Later, with the game tied and only 45 seconds remaining, Ottawa flattened out for 6'3" Sean Peter (22 points, 10 rebounds) who tried to cross over and was stripped by Saunders who then flipped the ball up to a streaking Turnbull who was fouled while making the go ahead layup. Turnbull (game-high 27 points, 12 rebounds, 6 steals) then missed the ensuing free throw and later missed another pair of free throws to give Ottawa a chance at the win on the final possession. Ottawa played without 6'4" Josh Gibson-Bascombe (MCL/knee injury) and 6'5" David Labentowicz (fractured foot), both out indefinitely, but got tremendous efforts from Peter, Gibson and 6'9" Dax Dessureault (15 points, 7 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 blocks with several other altered shots inside). Peter got most of his in the first half when Ottawa, up 14-5 after the first 6 minutes, struggled to score until the final 5 minutes of the second quarter when Peter scored 8 straight points to give Ottawa a three point halftime lead. Dessureault and Gibson (15 points, 5 rebounds) kept the Gee-Gees in the game in the second half with some clutch work inside and out. Turnbull showed observers that he should be a sure-fire bet for a First Team OUA East All-Star with his usual fearless takes to the rim, scrappy dives after any loose balls near him and intelligent work distributing the basketball. 6'7" Aaron Doornekamp was especially solid early in the second half when he scored 6 of his 12 points during a 10-2 run that erased a 41-38 Gee-Gees halftime lead and later the Ravens led by 7 and it appeared they would pull away. But Dessureault began getting free inside for layups off nice seals and when doubled found Gibson for open looks, bringing Ottawa back several times. Saunders did nice work defending all night and scored 5 straight points down the stretch including a three. The referees again made their presence felt as a total of 48 fouls were called including 26 against the host Ravens, many times blowing their whistles at inopertune times when no advantage was gained. Apart from a solid job by the crew chief, the refereeing did not own up to the standards of a game between two of the top teams in Canada. Both teams struggled from the line with Ottawa going 19 for 29 and Carleton 13 for 23. Ottawa finishes third in the OUA East and will host Ryerson, 100-78 losers to Toronto this evening, on Wednesday night in a sudden-death quarter final game. The Ravens receive a bye in the first round and will await the results of the quarter-finals with the other Wednesday night game pitting Queen's Golden Gaels (fourth-place) and the York Lions, 108-91 winners over Laurentian this evening to finish fifth.
Toronto (17-5) 100, Ryerson (7-15) 78 The Blues had several in double figures led by 6'2" Rob Paris with 25 in comfortably defeating the Rams at Ryerson, clinching second place and a first-round bye.
York (7-15) 108, Laurentian (4-18) 91 6'7" Matt Terejko had 29 points on 12-16 shooting as the Lions shot 60.6% as a team from the floor including a scorching 14-19 from downtown to lock up fifth-place in the division. Both Ryerson and York finished with identical records however the Lions take the tie breaker as despite splitting a pair of games, York owned the point differential in the head-to-head matchups. 6'7" Boris Bakovic had 26 points and 9 rebounds while 6'11" Igor Bakovic added 22 points and 11 rebounds for Ryerson.
FINAL OUA EAST STANDINGS AND PLAYOFF MATCHUPS
Carleton 22-0
Toronto 17-5
Ottawa 16-6
Queen's 14-8
York 7-15
Ryerson 7-15
Laurentian 4-18
RMC 0-22
Sudden Death Quarter-Final games on Wednesday:
York at Queen's
Ryerons at Ottawa
Sudden Death semi-final games on Saturday:
lowest remaining seed at Carleton
higher remaining seed at Toronto
3 comments:
Everyone thought this game was a forgone conclusion, but the Gees pulled out all the stops and put a scare into the Ravens and their perfect season.
Dessureault was much more effective than in the Capital Hoops game.
If JGB was in this one, I think Ottawa would have pulled it off.
I think if JGB was in this one, Carleton would have taken this one a lot more seriously.
The problem was, it seemed the Ravens believed what everone was saying about what a cakewalk this would be and played the game with a half-assed effort.
With the exception of Stu Turnbull, who willed Carleton to this win, the rest of the team played from mediocre to poor.
Even Aaron Doornekamp had a rather so-so game.
I don't know what is about Ottawa U, but they play their best against Carleton whereas the Ravens play just good enough to win against the Gee-Gees.
Sometimes, and Saturday night was an example, Carleton steals a game it really had no business winning and this one certainly falls in that category.
Dave Smart was completely baffled and frustrated with his team's apparent lack of overall intensity.
Like Turnbull said in a post-game tv interview, they may have a perfect record but they are far from a perfect team.
Sean Peter single-handedly kept Ottawa in this game with his insane play.
I agree with the second comment. Carleton did not bring their A game...or their B game for that matter. IMO Carleton has only played to their full potential against Ottawa once in the past three seasons and we all saw the results of that in the CIS semi-finals last season.
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