REGENSBURG (David Hein’s Eye on the Future) – Canadian collegiate basketball saw its version of Duke versus North Carolina over the weekend with the Ottawa Gee-Gees knocking off the four-time defending Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) champions Carleton Ravens 68-66 in a thriller in the nation’s capital.

While it was Ottawa’s first regular season win over Carleton since February 17, 2007 – a streak of 10 games – the battle at Monpetit Hall in downtown Ottawa was really just the first act of what’s likely to be a four-part drama played out by the middle of March.

Carleton came back from a 16-point fourth quarter deficit to tie the game with 19 seconds left only to see Johnny Berhanemeskel nail a jumper with 4.5 seconds left to seal the win.

The Ravens get their chance at Ontario University Athletics (OUA) revenge when the teams play again on February 6 at the Capital Hoops Classic at the Canadian Tire Centre in Ottawa, where Carleton beat Ottawa in the CIS title game last March.

The crosstown rivals – who were both 8-0 this season going into the game – are expected to also meet in the Wilson Cup (the OUA Championships) from March 6-8 with many believing the fourth act will come at the CIS Final 8 in Toronto from March 12-15 – most likely in the title bout.

"We're treating it like a series," said Ottawa’s Matt Plunkett, who nailed three three-pointers for nine points. "We've got four games. This is a win, this is good for coming first in the OUA but we still got a lot more to go."

Gee-Gees wing Caleb Agada, who collected 17 points and 10 rebounds in the victory, added: "We showed them that we’re No. 1 in the country and we'll see where it goes from there. We'll meet them again and we're going to be stronger, better, more prepared."

The victory propelled the Gee-Gees over the Ravens to number one in the CIS coaches’ poll – with 46 of 47 1st place votes – making it the first time in program history that the squad topped the weekly rankings.

But Carleton, who dropped from the number one ranking for the first time since November 2012, will certainly take this loss as a wake-up call after seeing their 49-game regular season winning streak snapped.

"We got to use this as motivation — the season's not over yet," said three-time reigning CIS player of the year Phil Scrubb, who scored 11 of his 26 points in a 17-1 Carleton run to even the game at 66-66.

"If we can take this loss and get better, then it could be a good thing. We realize we got a lot of things to work on. We kind of got exposed. They just outworked us in the first three quarters and that’s what why we lost."

Despite still having star brothers Phil and Thomas Scrubb, Carleton lost three-fifths of their starting line-up from last season with former CIS player of the year Tyson Hinz, center Kevin Churchill and guard Clinton Springer-Williams all moving on from the program.

Carleton, who actually lost to Ottawa in the OUA final last season on a Berhanemeskel jumper with one second remaining, struggled through the first three quarters of the game. And it can’t be a real surprise since they had not played a game since beating number three ranked Ryerson 91-73 on November 29 – the same day Ottawa knocked off Toronto.

But Carleton clearly was fighting off some rust while Ottawa nailed five straight three-pointers early in the second half to eventually open an 18-point lead in the third quarter. Carleton eventually got hot – mainly the Scrubb brothers – and they will be in a better rhythm when the teams meet again.

A Gee-Gee is the first horse out of the starting gate. And that is exactly where Ottawa are at the moment – with a long two months left to be played out.

"At the end of the day, it comes down to March. They know that and we know that," summed up Berhanemeskel.

Act II on February 6 cannot come quick enough.

Dave Hein

FIBA

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