As the top eight teams in Canadian university basketball square off this week in Ottawa, all eyes will be on the Carleton Ravens as they pursue their sixth consecutive national championship. With a stunning three upsets on Friday night the field is down to four, left remaining are Carleton, Brock, Western and Acadia. Stay tuned to HoopsAddict.com for your update on the Canadian equivalent of the Final Four.

Saturday, March 15

Game One: 6:00 PM

(6) Western Mustangs: 75 vs (7) Brock Badgers: 85

In pursuit of revenge for their Ontario University Athletics West division final loss, the Brock Badgers jumped out of the gates early against the Western Ontario Mustangs.

In the first quarter the Badgers fought tooth and nail for a minor lead and did so for the remainder of the first half before strengthening their grip on their increasingly helpless opponents in the fourth, resulting in a 85-75 victory.

Once again it was Badgers forward Owen White showing why he belongs in any conversation about Canada’s elite big men. White erupted for 17 points in the first half alone as the Badgers desperately looked for an answer for Mustangs power forward Brad Smith who started the half with 18.

But in this matchup of heroically-performing giants, it was White who would get the final edge, as his 25 points trumped Smith’s 24 and the Badgers moved on to the Canadian Interuniversity Sport finals on Sunday.

Although White slowed down in the second half, his team kept pace. At times it appeared as though the Mustangs would rally back and possibly even take the lead, but the Badgers stood strong thanks to some big plays from veteran guards Brad Rootes, Rohan Steen and Mike Kemp. The trio finished the game with 17, 14 and 12 points respectively.

“It was great,” said Rootes of taking down the team who beat them out of the Ontario playoffs. “You think about it more after the game when you’re hugging the guys because a lot of us are in our fifth year, and now we have a chance for a championship.”

The Mustangs saw reserve Andrew Wedemire step up when some of their starters were either struggling or in foul trouble. In fact, Wedemire almost single handedly put the Mustangs back on top in the fourth quarter capped off by a timely two-handed flush on an outstretched White’s head.

“They’ve probably given us more problems than any other team we’ve played this year,” said Rootes. “And we finally figured them out.”

The Badgers will patiently await the winner of Saturday evening’s bout between Carleton and Acadia to see who they will face in the national championship.

Saturday, March 15

Game Two: 8:30 PM

(1) Carleton Ravens: 80 vs (5) Acadia Axemen: 82

With cojones of steel and time burning off the first overtime clock, Peter Leighton teed up from behind the three-point line and split the Scotiabank Place nylon with a perfectly placed prayer. The shot grabbed the hearts of the thousands of Carleton fans in attendance and wrung them dry like a dirty bathing suit.

That would not be the last time Carleton fans would feel the unfamiliar sensation of disappointment, as the electric Acadia Axemen would soon go on to slit the neck of the Ravens’ five-time CIS championship streak. The final score in the semifinal read 82-80 in favour of the horribly discounted Acadians.

“We have a lot of character kids that are just game time players,” said coach Les Berry after the contest. “Last year they were extremely humbled by a very good basketball team and tonight we were a very good basketball team ourselvs and competed very hard.”

The humbling that Berry is referring to came in the semifinals of the national championship last year to none other than the eventual champion Ravens.

But long before Leighton could get the chance to hit that shot, which would send the game to a second overtime, he was busy hitting a bevy of Courtcut-worthy shots in the fourth quarter to keep his team’s collective head above water.

Unfortunately, that’s just it, it takes a lot of Courtcut-worthy shots to fight for air with a team like the Carleton Ravens.

To start the overtime session, Carleton jack of all trades Ryan Bell added a chaos-inducing three-pointer, giving the Ravens a minor lead on the scoreboard but an even bigger lead in momentum.

After the shot was matched by Acadia guard Paulo Santana, Bell would strike again, this time with a successful fadeaway. With two minutes left in the period it looked as though the Ravens would once again find their way to the top.

Minutes later after Axemen standout Leonel Saintil missed a pair of free-throws to notch the game at 73, things started looking good for the Ravens, and after point guard Stu Turnbull followed those misses with a free-throw of his own, it was simply a matter of time before his club started mentally preparing for Sunday’s final.

Enter Leighton and queue up the second overtime.

After falling behind early in the first overtime the Axemen came out swinging in the second and built a six-point lead, but a Turnbull three followed by a momentous Bell tip-in with 1:55 remaining would bring the Ravens to within one.

With 21.4 seconds remaining Acadia forward Shawn Berry snatched an offensive rebound as the shot clock expired and layed in a putback, a shot on which he was fouled. But before Berry could head to the line, the play was stopped and the officiating crew reversed the call in favour of the Ravens who had been protesting for a shot clock violation that would negate the bucket and give them possession.

Then, just like the Ravens earned the right to host the nationals (as opposed to having it held for the 25th year in a row in Halifax, NB), they, apparently, earned the right to have a second chance, as, even in lieu of video replay, the call was reversed.

Despite the confusion of the suspicious reversal and, more generally, all of the legendary efforts put forth by the legendary Ravens throughout the game, the Axemen held on for the two point win.