THE CANADIAN PRESS
OTTAWA — The top ranked Carleton Ravens will take on No. 3 UBC Thunderbirds for the 2009 Canadian interuniversity sport men’s basketball championship after the Ravens defeated the Western Ontario Mustangs 66-65 in a Saturday semifinal.
The Thunderbirds advanced to the final after defeating No. 2-ranked University of Calgary 79-74 earlier in the day. Carleton and UBC will meet in the final Sunday at 4 p.m. ET.
The matchup between Carleton and Western promised to be an offensive affair, and while it didn’t disappoint entirely, both teams also had trouble hitting the mark and displayed a strong attention to defensive play. The teams went to the dressing room at the half tied 28-28.
In the first half Carleton only managed to shoot 26.9 per cent with 19 rebounds. Western shot a more respectable 40 per cent, and scooped up 14 rebounds.
The chess match continued into the second half with the teams exchanging the lead, but by the end of the third quarter Carleton had opened up a slim lead 51-46.
With just less than five minutes remaining, things were again tied up 55-55. The game remained tight right till the end with Raven Stuart hitting the winning basket with no time remaining on the clock.
Brad Smith (Western) and Stuart Turnbull were selected as game MVPs.
After the game, Turnbull said there really wasn’t much complexity about the winning shot.
"There’s not much to tell," said Turnbull, "just dribble, dribble, shot. You don’t think, you don’t do anything. It just goes."
Carleton head coach Dave Smart, while not taking away from the importance of Turnbull to the team, said concerns by the Mustangs about other Carleton players gave Turnbull the opportunity to be the hero.
"Because we had Elliot (Thompson) and Mike (Kenny) on the perimeter, and Elliot had made plays, they didn’t want to leave him, which allowed Stu that opportunity," said Smart.
Meanwhile, Western coach Bradley Campbell was obviously discouraged by the loss, but felt that his team had prepared and played as well as possible.
"If you have the opportunity to beat Carleton you have to play your best," said Campbell, "and I thought we played well enough to win today, and lost on the last possession."
The semi-final between UBC and Calgary provided fans with the first nail-biter of the tournament.
Unlike the quarter-final round, where each of the four games had a clear winner, this game as well was more tentative with each team grabbing a slim lead, only to surrender it moments later.
UBC led by a single point at the end of the first quarter and 45-42 at the half, but in the third quarter Calgary began to run out of gas as UBC opened up an eleven point lead. Calgary came on strong in the fourth quarter, pulling to within one point, but that was as close as they would come.
Chris Dyck (UBC) and Tyler Fidler (Calgary) were selected game MVP’s.
Following the game, UBC coach Kevin Hanson gave credit to Dyck, as well as the players on both teams, for battling hard.
"In the Canada West final, he (Dyck) went 0-4 with about four minutes left in the game, so it was a great redemption for him," said Hanson. "I think Calgary fought hard, two very good basketball teams and I’m very proud of what they accomplished today."
Dyck, who scored a tournament high 34 points in the win, said it was nice to be able to come up big when it counted.
"Last year I played great in the consolation finals, but that game doesn’t really matter much, so it’s great to have a great game in a meaningful game."
The first two games of the day involved consolation play. Concordia defeated Dalhousie 72-61 while Ottawa defeated St. Francis Xavier 85-63. Concordia and Ottawa will play Sunday in the consolation final at 1:30 p.m. ET.
For the Ravens it will be their sixth appearance in the final in the past seven years and a chance to win their sixth title.
UBC, in their 17th appearance, will be looking for their first title since 1972.