Advertisement

Ottawa Gee-Gees one step deeper, meeting Carleton Ravens to decide CIS basketball title

It had to work out this way for Johnny Berhanesmeskel and the Ottawa Gee-Gees, who will tip off vs. the almighty Carleton Ravens on Sunday afternoon.

Some questions are best left unanswered, like what might have happened if the cross-town rivals had met in the final of the 2013 CIS Final 8. Ottawa's collapse in the semifinal vs. Lakehead led to an anticlimactic championship Sunday where the Gee-Gees sent graduating star Warren (Worldwide) Ward, now playing pro in Germany, off with a bronze medal and then watched Carleton crush the spent Thunderwolves by a record 50 points in the final. Ottawa's three losses to the Phil Scrubb- and Thomas Scrubb-led Ravens in '12-13 were by a total of a dozen points, but there was a feeling it might have got exposed if there had been a Canal War IV. On Saturday, when it withstood a second-half Victoria Vikes rally to win 79-71, it was clear Ottawa might be as ready as it ever will be to face Carleton in the last game of the season.

A "remember last year" refrain went up and down the bench as Ottawa's early 18-point lead shrank to a deuce by the early stage of the fourth quarter in front of 5,993 at the Canadian Tire Centre. Then Berhanemeskel — AKA Johnny Berhanemeskel — who'd taken a technical foul in the third quarter ("I thought I just bounced the ball," he said later) came alive with 12 late points to close out the Vikes, finishing with a game-high 24. Ottawa's other big cogs such as rugged centre Gabriel Gonthier-Dubue (15 points) and second-year combo forward Caleb Agada (12 points and 10 boards for the double-double) also showed their maturity.

"Last year's performance has been haunting us for 365 days, waking up every single morning being reminded of it," said Berhanemeskel, who took over as Ottawa's floor leader following Ward's graduation. "It was such a motivating factor last summer in working hard. Our guys remember that feeling and we don't want to miss that opportunity ever again. So many guys grew into the roles we needed them to take.

"We took [Carleton] to triple overtime last year and we didn't play as well as we wanted to in the first two games this year [when the Ravens won by 21 and 24 points]," the fourth-year guard added. "We wanted to prove last year was a fluke."

Victoria's 6-foot-10 centre Chris McLaughlin went above and beyond the call of duty with 19 points and 10 rebounds while Las Vegas native Terrell Evans also had 19 for the no-quit Vikes although he had to take 24 shots to get it.

"We've been talking about what's different about this team all year," Ottawa coach James Derouin said "It's experience, it's maturity, it's the ability for Johnny to lose his cool for a while, then regain it and make some big shots. I don't think we do that last year, and we didn't last year. Johnny was having a tough game in that [Lakehead] semifinal and Gab [Gonthier-Dubue] was having foul trouble and we just lost our composure. You spend 12 months thinking about that game and we let it slip away. That's maturity, getting it back, moving the ball. We took it from there tonight."

Having Victoria, which also got a 15-point, five-assist night from impressive point guard Marcus Tibbs, make a run was just part of the game for Ottawa. Rolling with the punches is the mark of a veteran team. After Victoria got to within two at 55-53, Ottawa went on an 8-0 run to get back to safe ground. Victoria's Reiner Theil rained down a couple threes. Back-to-back Berhanemeskel jumpers opened a 70-61 lead with two minutes left.

"It's nationals," Agada said. "Coach [Derouin] just said that nothing ever comes easy at nationals.

"We need to do the exact same thing that we did at the OUA championship, believe, know that we're a family and trust in each other," the forward added. "Every night, we have each other's back ... everybody does something whether it is Terry [Thomas] dunking, Johnny scoring, Mike [L'Africain] setting up plays or Gab and I rebounding. That's how we play."

Victoria came in as the stingiest team in the country, allowing even fewer points than the Ravens. Yet Ottawa was able to get out and run in spurts. It also did that against Carleton during the Wilson Cup.

"The biggest thing with Ottawa is they shoot the ball so well, so you're spread all over the floor," Victoria coach Craig Beaucamp said. "Gonthier-Dubue is also tough inside."

Carleton, as it barely needs reiterating, is Carleton, and is typically built for winning three do-or-done games in a 48-hour span, as the Final 8 format requires. Whatever happens Sunday, Ottawa's trying to reach the bar instead of just hoping to get lucky by catching Carleton have a rare off-day.

"If you want to make it anywhere in life, you're going to have to get out of your comfort zone," Berhanemeskel said. "That's what we've all done to make sure we're ready for whatever kind of game we're going to face."

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.