Consolation semifinal No. 1 : No. 4 Lakehead Thunderwolves 75 – 84 No. 8 Acadia Axemen
The AUS champions will move on to fight another day.
After scaring perennial basketball powerhouse Carleton Ravens the day before in the semifinals, coming to within four points of the defending champions, Acadia finally got a victory in the consolation round, requiring fourth quarter heroics to knock off Lakehead 84 – 75.
Looking solely at tournament seedings, it was an upset for the lowest seeded Acadia to beat No. 4 Lakehead, the top OUA West school, which qualified for the tournament by receiving the at-large berth. The Thunderwolves now return to Thunder Bay with a winless record.
Klassen came up big for the Axemen, recording a 27-point, 15-rebound double-double. The third-year said his young team is thrilled to extend their season to another game.
“We lost yesterday to Carleton, and coming today and beating the team that was pretty much ranked second [nationally] all year, it’s a pretty big win for us. We’re pretty proud of our guys.”
Lakehead turned the tide of the match in the third quarter, winning the frame 28 – 18 to lead the Axemen 61 – 54 after 30 minutes. The deficit was still substantial for the Axemen with seven minutes left in the contest until the AUS champions pulled ahead with a 9 – 0 run thanks to baskets from Klassen and Acadia’s Anthony Sears.
Greg Carter led the Lakehead side with 15 points. Joseph Jones and Benjamin Johnson had 12 more.
Acadia will move on to face No. 7 Ryerson in the consolation final Sunday at 11 a.m. after the Rams surprisingly knocked off the RSEQ champion Concordia Stingers.
–Ian Froese, Sports Editor
Consolation semifinal No. 2 : No. 3 Concordia Stingers 80 – 84 No. 7 Ryerson Rams
The Ryerson Rams claimed their program’s first ever win at the CIS championships.
A day after getting blown out by an impressive Alberta squad, the Rams showed grit and determination, pulling out an 84 – 80 victory over the Concordia Stingers in the consolation semifinals Saturday afternoon at the Halifax Metro Centre.
Although their hopes for a national title have passed them by, Rams head coach Roy Rana said getting a consolation victory still matters to his group.
“Maybe for others it wasn’t that important of a game, but for us it was. I thought we kept fighting. We didn’t get off to a great start tonight, but I’m proud of the kids. They came up big.”
This was a huge win for Ryerson, exemplified by the frenetic fans that made the trek to Halifax to witness their team. These CIS championships mark their second ever appearance in the Final 8; their first was in 1999. This is also the first season since 2002 that Ryerson finished in the top three in OUA East.
The Rams would not have gotten here if not for an earlier upset of the defending OUA champion Lakehead Thunderwolves in the semifinals.
The importance of this game for the program wasn’t lost on graduating Rams forward Luke Staniscia.
“I stretched out my career as long as I possibly could, which I’m pretty happy about. We just made history. We have never won a game at nationals before.”
Ryerson will move onto the consolation finals Sunday at 11 a.m. with the victory.
The RSEQ champion, Concordia Stingers, are eliminated from the tournament with a winless 0 – 2 record. It’s a frustrating setback for 23-year head coach John Dore.
“We did not play how we were capable of playing in either game that we played here,” said Dore. “It’s a disappointing end to the season, and, you know, we’ve got our work cut out for us if we want to play at this level.”
A Ryerson victory did not seem possible until an 18 – 0 run to end the third quarter put a charge in the Rams. With the score 61 – 45 for Concordia midway through the third quarter, Ryerson turned up the defensive pressure and got hot on the offensive end. A combination of three point plays and easy fast break baskets paced the run eventually leading to victory.
The theme of runs for Ryerson carried throughout the game. From the start, Concordia came out firing, opening up a 17 – 4 lead early on. The Rams, led by OUA first team all-star Jahmal Jones, did not panic and played their game, pulling back to within six by the end of the first quarter. This run, along with the electric 18 – 0 stretch later in the contest, made the difference in the game.
In the end, the game came down to the wire, but poor clock management by the Stingers doomed them. After Concordia players let precious time tick off the clock before committing a foul, Jones hit two clutch free throws to extend the lead to 84 – 80, essentially icing the game.
–Rob Mills, Sports Contributor, and Ian Froese, Sports Editor
Semifinal No. 2 : No. 2 Alberta Golden Bears 91 – 83 No. 6 St. FX X-Men
The St. Francis Xavier X-Men came out on the losing end of a fierce battle Saturday night against the University of Alberta Golden Bears. The final score was 91 – 83 for Alberta, clinching the Canada West silver medalists a spot in the national championship game.
X-Men Jeremy Dunn and Terry Thomas kept things interesting right until the final buzzer with clutch baskets, but St. FX could not find a solution for Alberta’s Daniel Ferguson. He played every minute of the game and ended with 31 points.
Ferguson and Thomas were awarded with player of the game honours after the game.
With the win, Alberta advances to the gold medal game on Sunday afternoon at 4:30 p.m. to face the defending champion Carleton Ravens.
Over 5,700 fans attended Saturday’s doubleheader at the Halifax Metro Centre. The majority of them were banging blue and white thunder sticks and cheering for the underdog X-Men.
St. FX came out ready to play and quickly took the lead minutes into the first quarter. But after a timeout, Ferguson took over the game with a trio of three-point baskets that temporarily silenced the crowd.
As a team, Alberta made just over 42 per cent of their three-point attempts.
The game was tied midway through the third quarter at 49, but from then on the Golden Bears grabbed the lead and never relinquished it.
Alberta coach Greg Francis commended his side for coming through in the final quarter.
“I don’t think this was a smooth game by any stretch, but our guys worked really hard tonight and they scratched for the win,” he said. “At the end of the day, we want to say that we’re one of the top defensive teams in the country, and we’re going to have to prove it tomorrow.”
Strong defensive pressure by St. FX caused Alberta’s Jordan Baker to turnover the ball three times in the final quarter, but it was too little, too late for the X-Men.
St. FX coach Steve Konchalski thought his side played well, but they simply didn’t get the desired offensive results.
“I wasn’t pleased today. I thought we could have executed our game plan a little bit better, especially in the first half. But, overall, I thought we came here and proved ourselves as one of the top teams in the country.”
With the loss, St. FX plays for bronze on Sunday against Fraser Valley.
–Sarah Kraus, Sports Contributor
Semifinal No. 1 : No. 1 Carleton Ravens 83 – 65 No. 5 Fraser Valley Cascades
The Carleton Ravens are advancing to the CIS Final 8 championship game Sunday after defeating the University of Fraser Valley Cascades. The final score was 83 – 65.
The highly favoured Carleton Ravens will fight for their eighth national championship in 10 years. Fraser Valley’s loss, however, knocks the Canada West silver medalists into the bronze medal game where they face No. 6 St. FX Sunday at 1:15 p.m.
Fans in the Metro Centre were treated to a close first half, with both teams shooting well.
Carleton’s strategy out of the gate was to dominate the three-point line. They took 23 three-pointers and made six of them at key times in the half to remain ahead.
On the opposite end of the court, the Cascades implemented a very effective inside game—taking the ball to the hoop hard on every possession. Their hard work in the key helped them keep pace with the Ravens and with about three minutes to go in the half they were even up by a point on Carleton.
Ravens coach Dave Smart credited his opponents for coming back.
“It was a struggle for us. All the credit to them,” said Smart. “They came here with a really good game plan. We just got to shoot the ball better than them to have a chance.”
Coming out of the locker room, Carleton, only up by four points, was a different team. Phillip and Thomas Scrubb, brothers from Richmond, B.C., picked their game up a notch and lit up the scoreboard. They finished with 18 and 16 points, respectively.
“We gave ourselves a chance to stay in the game when we were really struggling offensively to make some shots,” added Smart.
It seemed the Ravens could do no wrong on offence, as they started to make more of their three-point attempts and find players wide open under the hoop for easy baskets.
The Cascades, on the other hand, went on a dry spell. They struggled to get inside in the third quarter and began putting up lower-percentage shots from the perimeter.
In the fourth quarter, Willy Manigat finished off the Cascades by draining three after three for the Ravens.
Forward Kyle Friesen was awarded player of the game honours for UFV. He had 13 points and five rebounds.
Friesen said he was pleased with his team, well aware of the challenge it was to stay competitive against the perennial tournament favourites.
“We’re obviously upset that we didn’t come away with it, but we put up a good fight for 40 minutes, and now we wait for tomorrow,” he said. We have the chance to win the last game at nationals, not a lot of teams can say that.”
For Carleton, although a number of players had standout performances, Thomas Scrubb was selected as player of the game.
–Sarah Kraus, Sports Contributor
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