Carleton 81, Ottawa 60 6'3" Elliott Thompson and 6'2" Phil Scrubb led a mid third quarter three point barrage that broke open a very tight game, leading the Ravens to complete a perfect 22-0 OUA East regular season, their 11th consecutive OUA East regular season pennant overall and their fourth undefeated during that time. Ottawa took their largest lead of the game at 48-45 on a pair of inside buckets by 6'9" Louis Gauthier capping an 11-4 Gee-Gees run off the start of the third. But Ravens wings/guards started penetrating the lane, leading to easy kick outs and Carleton held Ottawa to just 12 points for the final 15 minutes of the game to pull away. 6'6" Tyson Hinz had another consistent offensive effort inside and out, leading all scorers with 20 points and adding 11 rebounds while Thompson added 18 including 4 3's and Scrubb 16 with 2 3's and a perfect 10 for 10 from the line. Carleton shot only 9 for 34 from 3 (26%). 6'6" Warren Ward led Ottawa with 19 points but only 2 after halftime as 6'5" Cole Hobin, who sat for much of the first half with a pair of early fouls, did another sterling job checking the talented Gee-Gees forward. Gauthier also had two early fouls and was the energizer in getting Ottawa the third quarter lead but shortly thereafter went to the bench with his fourth foul and the game changed virtually immediately thereafter. Ottawa's 6'2" freshman Johnny Berhanemeskel had 16 points and 6 rebounds, going 2 for 7 from downtown to fall short of the OUA record for 3's by a freshman. Carleton outrebounded Ottawa 44-30 and the Gee-Gees hurt themselves by going only 8 of 15 from the free throw line. The game, which started sluggishly as whistles slowed things down early, was subsequently extremely exciting and reminiscent of past Canal Wars up to early in the fourth when the Ravens scored the first 7 points of the quarter to clinch it. The game was played before a boisterous crowd of about 900, a bit below full capacity. Wayne Kondro's story in the Ottawa Citizen.
Lakehead 85, Western 75 In London, the Thunderwolves had yet another come-from-behind victory in relegating the Mustangs to going on the road to McMaster for their OUA West playoff game this coming Wednesday night. Western can still tie the Marauders record-wise with a victory tonight over the Wolves and a McMaster loss at home this afternoon to last place Waterloo, but the Marauders own the tie-breaker between the two teams. Led by 6'5" Peter Scholtes (18 points, 6 rebounds), the Mustangs took an early double digit lead but the Wolves came back to lead by 1 at halftime and pull away in the second. 5'9" Greg Carter led Lakehead with 15 points and 5 assists while Matt Schmidt scored 11 points on 50% shooting in 19 minutes of play. In his return from injury, Joseph Jones had 7 points (on two shots) and 2 rebounds in 13 minutes of play. In his OUA debut, reserve guard Nathan Wainwright (Kapuskasing, ON) stepped up large for Searle who left the game early with 2 quick fouls. Wainwright went 2 for 4 from downtown in 7 minutes of play. 6'3" Marcus Barnett went 6 of 6 from the field and added 14 points for Western. Standout guard Ryan Barbeau was held to 2 points, and all-star Andrew Wedemire played only 16 minutes and had 9 points.
OUA West
Lakehead 21 17 4 34
Windsor 21 15 6 30
Laurier 21 13 8 26
McMaster 21 11 10 22
Western 21 10 11 20
Guelph 21 9 12 18
Brock 21 8 13 16
Waterloo 21 8 13 16
Wednesday's Playoff Games:
Guelph or Brock at Laurier
Western at McMaster
Final playoff position to be decided today
Ryerson 80, Toronto 77 6'3" fifth-year senior Ryan McNeilly went a scorching 8 for 11 from downtown, part of his game-high 27 point effort as the Rams came back in the second half to split their season series with the Varsity Blues and will host York Lions on Wednesday at Kerr Hall in downtown Toronto in one of two OUA East playoff games. Toronto led by 10 at halftime, led primarily by a 9 point second quarter from reserve 6'5" forward Sean Nichol. But the Rams were able to take their first lead since early in the game at 64-62 on a layin by 6'7" Bjorn Michaelsen, back in the Ryerson lineup after an injury. Blues 6'1" fifth-year senior Anthony DeGiorgio, playing his final regular season home game of his career, then did his best to keep Toronto in the game with a pair of buckets but his attempt at a game-tying three on the final possession came off, allowing Ryerson to finish 11-11 on the season. Toronto finishes second at 14-8 and receives a first round bye while the Rams get set to host York Lions on Wednesday night.
York 77, Laurentian 70 6'10" Stefan Haynes had 23 points in his final game ever at Tait MacKenzie, leading the Lions to a come-from-behind win over the Voyageurs. In another meaningless OUA East game, Queen's hammered RMC.
2 comments:
Congrats to Carleton on yet another undefeated regular season.
Eleven straight regular season first place finishes for the Ravens and no sign on the horizon that this juggernaut will slow down.
Now going from the sublime to the ridiculous....it was another day at the office for RMC.
The Paladins wrapped up another "perfect" season by losing by 49 to cross town rival Queen's, who also happen to be the second worst team in the OUA.
Like the Ravens, there is no indication the situation will be any different next season, but it appears the Paladins will just "soldier on" towards another futile campaign.
The only difference between this year and previous 0-22 seasons is that the Paladins have possibly set a new bench mark by losing all their games by an average score of 98-46...an incredible 52 points per game.
Most university players never experience a 52 point beat down even once in their careers...these beleagered Paladins have to endure this on a weekly basis.
In all honesty, I have no idea why the administration of RMC continues to have this team compete in the OUA.
It's not fair for their players, who will go through their entire careers without a single league win.
It's not fair for the opposing teams, who are made to look like the bad guys (by some) even though they try to hold back.
And it isn't fair for the fans who often just stay home rather than support their respective teams because of the obvious mismatch.
I am not saying all of this to be mean spirited, rather, I am trying to get the decision makers to reconsider this situation.
RMC has been the elephant in the room for years and their participation has actually been harmful to the reputation of the OUA East conference in particular and university basketball in general.
The sooner OUIT or Algoma announces a much-rumoured OUA entry, the easier it will be for RMC to bow out. I get the feeling they are hanging in there at the request of the OUA simply to maintain schedule balance until a replacement is ready.
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