Carleton Ravens have unsettled score in CIS hoops final, regardless of opponent

When Dave Smart starts buttering up a team, quite often they're about to become someone's lunch.

When the Carleton Ravens' 55-game CIS hoops win streak was snapped with a last-second loss in the Ontario final seven nights ago, they soaked in every bit of the Ottawa Gee-Gees' euphoria before leaving the floor. Saturday, after sending the Alberta Golden Bears packing with a 79-55 win in the early semifinal at the CIS Final 8, the Ravens politely acknowledged the obvious storyline — "revenge is always nice, but we want the national championship whether it is it Ottawa or UVic," forward Tyson Hinz said before the Gees and Vikes tipped off — even while many had an inkling they really wanted another crack at Ottawa.

Such is the bar the Ravens have set. Winning a 10th national championship after losing their final matchup of the season against Ottawa might leave a slight void.

"It was kind of a bitter feeling," Ravens guard Thomas Scrubb, who added to his tournament MVP application with 22 points and seven rebounds vs. Alberta, said of watching the Gee-Gees put guard Johnny Berhanemeskel on their shoulders, among other celebrations. "I wasn't surprised they would do that. It's definitely easy motivation if we meet them in the final. We'll be ready to play. We won't let something like that happen again."

Ottawa came into Saturday having lost only to the Ravens in CIS play this season, while routinely hittin' a hundred in the second half of the season. To Smart's way of thinking, that result at the OUA Wilson Cup nullifies Carleton's two earlier regular-season wins, which were

"Ottawa beat us a week ago, they're the best team in the country until someone beats them," he said. "That's who they are. I think it would be really disrespectful not to acknowledge that."

Alberta-Carleton, save for when the Golden Bears made a 15-4 run in the final five minutes of the first half to close to within 29-25 at recess, essentially went as expected. Carleton settled the issue with a 23-4 third where it held Alberta, ranked no lower than No. 3 all season, without a bucket for the first 8:27 of the quarter. It also took Golden Bears all-time leading scorer Jordan Baker out of the contest. Baker got two fouls in the first 7½ minutes, then notched his third on a charge barely a minute after re-entering in the second quarter. The fifth-year senior finished 3-for-10 shooting. All nine of his points came in the last nine minutes.

"Jordan's one of my favourite players to coach," Smart said. "We tried to gang up on him. He still got guys shots and it's tough when those aren't going in and he feels like he was to take over. We did a good job of getting him the first two fouls."

Alberta got 15 points from fifth-year guard Joel Friesen and a dozen from electric rookie Mamadou Gueye. Hinz, Carleton's fifth-year forward, had a 13-point, 10-rebound double-double and three-point specialist Connor Wood dialed long-distance for 12.

One hole in the Carleton-wanted-Ottawa narrative, of course, is that the Ravens' toughest foe is often its own standards. It's one thing to lose, it's another to do so and not execute.

"We just wanted another shot," Phil Scrubb, who was 3-for-12 with six turnovers in that loss, said when asked to summarize how he felt in the immediate aftermath of the Wilson Cup. "We were disappointed after the game. We knew we didn't play at the level we can play at."

Carleton has never lost a championship game since its title run began in 2003. It was ousted in the semifinals in 2008 by Acadia (82-80 in double overtime) and in '10 by Saskatchewan (86-82). It subsequently won Final 8 rematches with each of those teams, thus establishing a trend.

"If we're going to win tomorrow, it's going to be all about defence," Hinz said. "It's the only thing we can control."

"It's still one more game," Hinz added. "One more game. It doesn't mean anything if we lose."

Neate Sager is a writer for Yahoo! Canada Sports. Follow him on Twitter @neatebuzzthenet. Please address any questions, comments or concerns to btnblog@yahoo.ca.