Saturday 15 March 2008

Semi #2 - Acadia 82 Carleton 80 (FINAL, 2OT)

The reign is over!; A streak which started in Halifax with an overtime win over UPEI, ends in their hometown of Ottawa, with an overtime loss; there will be a new champion of CIS men's basketball, and Acadia is full marks for the 82-80 win ... Les Berry is beside himself, and it seems he has a beef; nevertheless, Carleton inbounds, and Doornekamp is fouled; after making 1-of-2 from the line, Acadia leads by one, after a time out, 10 second left in the second OT period ... Wow, controversy, as the refs huddle, and decide the shot clock had expired before the original shot ... Sean Berry grabs a rebound and lays it in, drawing the foul ... Turnbull with a "3", followed by a Jean-Marie tip ... The Axemen have all the momentum, leading 80-74 ... Saintil with the hoop and the foul, the 5th for Rob Saunders ... Let's play two; overtimes, that is ... Peter Leighton knocks down an off balance "3", and once again, we're tied, this time 74-74 with 22.7 seconds left in overtime ... Andrew Kraus fouls out, 35.7 second left ... The Ravens have opened up a small lead, 73-71 ... This game is so good, it deserves another 5 minutes; we're headed to OT ... Paulo Santana hits one of two free throws, and we're tied 66-66 with 7.8 ticks left ... Stu Turnbull steals the ball and scores on the layup with 13 seconds left ... Again Acadia replies, leading 65-64, in the final minute ... JE Jean-Marie gets away with a push off on an offensive rebound, and converts; the Ravens lead 62-61 with 1:53 to play in regulation ... Ryan Bell hits a shot from beyond the arc, but Acadia answers with a free throw ... Back and forth, like a great championship fight, Acadia now leads 60-55 ... Doornekamp launches a "3", and suddenly, it's 56-55 ... Whatever momentum Acadia had has quickly gone, as Carleton has rallied to trail by only 4, 56-52 ... Rob Saunders knocks down a 3-ball for Carleton, and after the play, Acadia is called for a hard foul; Doornekamp knocks down one of the two free throws, but they can't convert on the ensuing possession ... Andrew Kraus drains a bomb from the Peace Tower at the buzzer; after three quarters, the Axemen lead 54-45; the first few minutes of the 4th quarter will tell the story, as Acadia has all the momentum and emotion at the moment ... Four more Acadia points, and suddenly, they are back in front, 45-41 ... Carleton extended their lead, but the Axemen didn't roll over, tying the score at 41, with 3 minutes to play in the third quarter ... After shooting a putrid 24% (7-for-29) from the field in the opening 20 minutes, it's a wonder Carleton is still in the game; but they are, and have just taken a one point lead, their first in a long time ... The Ravens narrow the gap in the final few minutes of the half, heading to the locker room training by only a single point, 28-27 ... Acadia just got a big break, as Andrew Kraus lost the ball off his foot out of bounds; but the refs gave the Axemen the ball, and they ended up scoring on the inbound play, extending their lead to 26-17 ... That's two shot clock violations against the Ravens' offense ... The Axemen are currently beating Carleton at their own game, playing a stifling defence; the Ravens are finally on the board in the second quarter, 4 minutes in, trailing 24-17 ... Acadia has upped their lead to 7 points, 22-15, with 7:28 to play in the opening half ... After one quarter, the Axemen lead 19-15, and if it wasn't for a few blown finishes on the offensive end, they would be up by much more ... So far, it doesn't appear that this one will be another 86-38 game, which was the score for the Ravens the last time these two teams met at the Nationals ... Sean Berry has picked up three quick fouls for Acadia, sending him to the bench, almost certainly for the rest of the first half ... Halfway through the opening quarter, and it's been back and forth; currently, the score is knotted 10-10 ... We're almost ready for the second Championship Semi-Final to get underway; In this game, the Top seed and 5-time defending CIS Champs, the Carleton Ravens, tip off against the 5th seeded Acadia Axemen; the winner of this game will advance to face the 7th seeded Brock Badgers in Sunday's Championship Final; Dale Stevens at the controls for this one, while Mark takes care of colour commentary on the SSN broadcast.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

The refs did their best to give that one to Carleton. I have always respected the way the Ravens played, but they were dirty at time tonight.

Unknown said...

Great game, It was so, close very sweet that Aaron missed 3 of his last 4 freethrows and had a three in his hands for the win when time expired.

Anonymous said...

Thanks to both teams for two and a half hours of quality entertainment. It was easily the best CIS game I've ever seen.

I'm a Carleton student and I take my hat off to the Axemen for their gutsy win. There were several times in regulation and the first overtime where I thought they would fold under the pressure. But they didn't. They kept their cool in a hostile environment and kept coming back against the 5-time champs and they're rewarded with a well-deserved trip to the final.

Carleton didn't play well enough to win. And they even had two great chances to do so at the end of regulation and the first overtime. If you don't put the nail in the coffin (twice!), the underdog starts believing, and look what happened.

Again, what a great event and I hope more people across the country will realize that CIS basketball is great basketball too.

Anonymous said...

I don't want to lay the blame on just one guy, but when your best player goes 4 for 23 and 4 for 8 from the line, well...
It was actually a miracle that Carleton got it into OT.
I hope Acadia wins it all, because when you dethrone a 5 time champ, surely you are good enough to win it all.
I hope the Axemen don't come out flat against Brock, but we shall see.

Anonymous said...

Unbelievable game. While an Axemen fan that I am, a great game by both teams. Raven fans can say they didn't play well...that they did, but give a little credit to an Axeman defense that was in Aaron's face the entire game. Lual, ottawa native, was great and Saintil (ottawa native too) and Paulo Santana were exceptional. Peter Leighton - picked a great game to return...since we have not Peter hot for a few games.

Anonymous said...

Easily one of the most entertaining games I have witnessed... Drama, comebacks, HUGE shots made (and missed [Aaron 4-8 FT???]). Like classic heavyweight bout, 15 rounds and three crazy endings! Congrats to the players and coaches and especially the people who run this event. University Basketball on a big stage is amazing... So, Carleton's new streak starts next October...
Two hot teams in final should be entertaining.

Anonymous said...

Tremendous game !! Wow !!! I attended the Nationals in Halifax all 24 years and have seen some great games but this one has to rank as one of the best...hats off to both teams and congrats to Acadia for a very gutsy win...being an AUS fan I sure hope the Axemen can bring home the championship banner today !!!
...Gary Burke in Cape breton