4
OTTAWA — The Acadia Axeman cut down a giant. The Carleton Ravens dynasty is dead.
It took two overtime periods, surviving a controversial call and weathering one of the most electric atmospheres you will find at a Canadian university basketball game, but the tiny school from Wolfville, N.S., stood tall against the Ravens, earning an 82-80 win that advanced them to the CIS Final 8 championship game (The Score, 3:30 p.m. ET) and earned them a place in CIS basketball lore.
Not only did their win end Carleton's streak of championships at five — second-to Victoria's seven as the best in CIS history — they did it in a fashion that anyone who saw the game will not soon forget. Several long-time CIS watchers were calling it perhaps the most exciting game in the history of the national championship tournament.
Three times Carleton had the ball with the clock winding down and a chance to send Acadia home; three times Acadia came up with the defensive stop.
Acadia University Axemen's Peter Leighton, middle, gets picked up by assistant coach Steve Baur as they celebrate their win over the five-time champion Carleton University Ravens 82-80 in double overtime in Ottawa on Saturday. (Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press)
The difference was that the last time came at the end of the second overtime period and CIS player-of-the-year Aaron Doornekamp could only manage an off-balance three-point attempt as time ran off the clock.
The miss set off a mad celebration; started the tears flowing among the Ravens and finally quieted the pro-Carleton crowd of 9,316 at Scotiabank Place.
Doornekamp's miss was one of many on the night. The versatile 6-foot-7 forward seemed to have a hard time getting a rhythm facing Achiul Lual, a spidery 6-foot-8 stopper who was the AUS defensive player of the year.
Doornekamp finished 4-of-23 from the field on the night and also made just one-of-two free throws with 10 seconds left in the double-overtime period when he had a chance to tie the game.
"We put the best defender in the AUS on him," said Acadia coach Les Barry. "He's long, he challenges shots and he competes. He has more intensity than anyone in this whole building and he gave another good effort tonight on the player of the year."
Doornekamp chose to shoulder the blame himself.
"I probably went 0-for-30," he said, his eyes reddened. "You're not going to win games when your best player doesn't hit shots. [Lual] didn't do anything. I got whatever shot I wanted, I just missed shots."
It made for a spectacular homecoming for Lual, an Ottawa resident, as well as teammate Leone Saintil, another Ottawa product who contributed 22 points and nine rebounds.
They will likely take over as the crowd favourite this afternoon when the No.5 Axemen take on the No.7 Brock Badgers. Brock outlasted OUA West rival Western 85-75.
Regardless of the outcome it will put a new look atop the CIS basketball ladder. Brock is playing in the final for the first time since they won their only basketball title in 1992, Acadia is appearing in their first final since 1988.
The loss ended one of the most dominant runs any CIS team has ever put together. Heading into the game Carleton was 32-0 and gunning for their third undefeated season in their past five. Their run started with a double-overtime win in the quarter-finals of the 2003 Final 8 tournament and ended with a double-overtime loss. In between they were 10-0 at the national championships in games decided by six points or less.
"I've said this for five years. You get some breaks, you win some championships, you don't get some breaks and you lose some," said Ravens head coach Dave Smart. "All the credit goes to Acadia. They're a great basketball team. Obviously I'm disappointed for my players because this team has team a commitment to excellence as much as any team I've ever had, we're 32-1."
The Ravens had their chances. Trailing by five points with just over four minutes in regulation they seemed to shake a stubborn Axemen team — the bulk of whom are returnees from a team that lost by 48 points in the quarter-finals at nationals to Carleton last season.
A 9-0 run sparked by fifth-year veteran Ryan Bell, who scored 14 of his 18 points from the fourth quarter on gave the Ravens a 64-60 lead with a one-minute and 30 seconds to play.
But Acadia responded with their own 5-0 run to take the lead only to see the Ravens Stuart Turnbull steal the ball at centre and score the go-ahead layup with 13 seconds to play.
But Paulo Santana missed his first three throw but made his second to tie the game with eight seconds left and Carleton couldn't get another basket to drop in regulation.
The Raven's best chance to walk away with a win came in the first overtime when Bell scored their first seven points in the extra frame, but a three-pointer by Peter Leighton tied the score with 22 seconds to play and Carleton turned the ball over without getting off a final shot.
It was Acadia that got off to the quick start in the second overtime as they jumped out to an 80-74 lead. But a three-pointer by Turnbull and tip by Bell cut the lead to one. .
Acadia appeared to put the game out of reach when Shawn Berry scored and was fouled on a put-back with 18 seconds left. But officials ruled the initial shot had missed the rim and the shot clock should have expired as Acadia coach Berry stormed the sidelines in frustration.
But Carleton couldn't take advantage. Doornekamp missed his chance to tie the game with 10 seconds left and then missed another shot to win or tie at the buzzer.
Acadia shot 50 per cent from the floor and were led by Leighton's game-high 23 points. They out-rebound Carleton but were burdened by 21 turnovers. Carleton got 18 points each from Turnbull and Bell, but shot just 33 per cent as a team.
Acadia will have to deal with a veteran Brock team who ignored their No.7 ranking and earned their first trip to the CIS finals since the Ken Murray-coached Badgers won it all in 1992.
They made it by winning a rematch of the OUA West final against the sixth-seeded Western Mustangs, and -- as might be expected from two clubs playing for the fourth time -- it was a close, tense affair for most of the night.
For Brock it was a case of a veteran-laden team looking for one last chance to reach their goals, while Western is a younger club that has got hot at the right time, as they followed up an ordinary 12-10 regular season to sweep through the playoffs and blow out Brock to earn a spot in the Final 8, while Brock had to beat the University of Ottawa to earn their second trip to nationals in four seasons.
Brock might have been expected to have an edge playing on a grand stage given that only one member of their tight seven-man rotation was not in his fourth or fifth year of eligibility, and that player — Mike Kemp — was in his third. Moreover, Brad Rootes, Scott Murray, Rohan Steen and Dusty Bianchi had played club basketball together growing up reached the national semi-finals in 2005.
But it was Owen White, a relative newcomer who came to Brock last season after playing two years of college basketball, who was essential in Brock getting to today's final.
Long and rangy, the 6-foot-7 White expertly found his way into seams to make himself available for passes when Western cut off Brock's penetration or earned his own keep by dominating the offensive glass — he had seven -- or getting Western's big men in foul trouble when he attacked the basket.
White scored 23 of his game-high 25 points and 11 of his game-high 14 rebounds in the first three quarters and then let his teammates take over for the fourth as Brock used a 14-2 run to finally gain some separation from the Mustangs, a cushion they needed as Western cut a 15-point Brock lead to six in the last two minutes but couldn't convert a number of chances to get it closer, while Brock converted at the free-throw line.
Western was led by Bradley Smith who scored 24 points. Brock shot 40.3 per cent from the floor but made 43 trips to the free throw line — 16 by White. Western shot 45.7 per cent and seven-of-19 from deep, but was good on only four-of-13 free throws.
