BROCK MOVES ON TO CIS MEN'S BASKETBALL FINAL, WHILE ACADIA UPSETS CALRETON IN DOUBLE OVERTIME
OTTAWA (CIS) - The No.7-Brock Badgers avenged their loss to the No.6-Western Ontario Mustangs in the OUA West Division Final with an 87-75 victory Saturday night in their Canadian Interuniversity Sport men's basketball semi-final at Scotiabank Place.
With the win, the OUA bronze medallist Badgers advance to the national final for the first time since they won the school's lone W.P. McGee Trophy with a 77-71 victory over the Saint Mary's Huskies in 1992.
Brock will face the winner of the No.1-Carleton Ravens versus No.5-Acadia Axemen semi-final for the national championship at 3:30 p.m. on Sunday.
Fourth-year forward Owen White of Port Hope, Ont. recorded career-best 25 points and 14 rebounds to pace the Badgers while teammate Brad Rootes of Niagara Falls, Ont., one of three fifth-year seniors on a veteran Brock squad, had 17 points and five assists.
White was chosen Brock game MVP.
Bradley Smith of Churchill, Ont. responded with 24 points and five rebounds in a losing cause. Sophomore Andrew Wedemire of Sarnia, Ont. was named Western player of the game after he came off the bench to score 15 points in 12 minutes of court time.
\"We had revenge on our mind,\" said an elated White after the game. \"They (Western) took away our chance to win the Wilson Cup (OUA championship) two weeks ago so we wanted to get back at them by preventing them from winning the national championship.\"
In the early going, it looked like Western was setting itself up for another upset of the Badgers as Smith poured in 15 points in the opening quarter to give the Mustangs a 20-18 lead after 10 minutes of play.
But Smith could not keep scoring at the same pace being held to two points in the second stanza as the Badgers began to take control of the inside game.
Brock took its first lead of the night with 3:47 remaining in the opening half when Dusty Bianchin (Niagara Falls, Ont.) kissed a shot off the glass to spark a 12-2 run en route to a 35-29 advantage at the break.
Smith would finish the half with 17, while White had 18 for the Badgers.
\"I have never seen Owen play a game like that,\" said Brock head coach Ken Murray. \"I was a little concerned entering the tournament about his lack of experience on the national stage, but he proved he belonged by pulling down seven offensive rebounds tonight.\"
The Mustangs scored the first seven points of the second half to take a 36-35 lead when Rootes, a second-team all-Canadian this season, was fouled on a three-point field goal attempt. He would drain all three attempts from the charity stripe to give Brock the lead and in the process pass his coach Ken Murray to become the second-leading scorer in school history with 2768 overall points.
Brock opened up a six-point advantage by the middle of the stanza but the Mustangs battled back, twice tying the score before Rohan Steen of Welland, Ont. drained a three to give the Badgers a 59-54 advantage after 30 minutes.
The Mustangs cut the lead to three early in the fourth quarter but the Badgers put the game away with three consecutive three-point scores to open up a 10-point lead. Western would get the score back to 78-72 with a minute to go, but the damage was already done as the Niagara team advances the national championship for the second time in school history.
\"They beat us up inside this evening,\" said Western head coach Bradley Campbell. \"They beat us in the paint and on the boards and that was reflected in the fact that they went to the line 43 times compared to 13 for us.\"
STAT LEADERS
Brock
Points: Owen White (25), Brad Rootes (17), Rohan Steen (14)
Rebounds: Owen White (14), Mike Kemp (7), Scott Murray (7)
Assists: Brad Rootes (5), Owen White (4)
Player of the game: Owen White (35 min, 25 pts, 14 reb, 4 ass, 2 blk)
Western Ontario
Points: Bradley Smith (24), Andrew Wedemire (15), Jason Milliquet (12)
Rebounds: Colin LaForme (6), Matthew Curtis (5), Bradley Smith (5)
Assists: Matthew Curtis (6), Alex Brzozowicz (4)
Player of the game: Andrew Wedemire (12 min, 15 pts, 4 reb)
Acadia 82, Carleton 80
OTTAWA (CIS) - A year ago the Acadia Axemen were handed a 48-point loss by the Carleton Ravens in the Canadian Interuniversity Sport men's basketball Final 8 quarterfinals.
My, what a difference a year can make.
Third-year guard Peter Leighton of Halifax, who was named Acadia player of the match, scored six of his game-high 23 points in extra time Saturday night, as the fifth-seeded Axemen ended the No.1-Ravens drive for six straight W.P. McGee Trophy triumphs with an 82-80 double-overtime win before 9,316 fans in the second semi-final of the 2008 tournament, at Scotiabank Place.
The win sets up an unlikely championship game on Sunday at 3:30 p.m. (The Score) between the wildcard Axemen and the No.7-ranked and OUA bronze medallist Brock Badgers, who defeated No.6-Western 85-75 in the early semi.
Ottawa native Leonel Saintil, a member of the first all-Canadian team this season, scored 22 points and hauled down nine boards while Paulo Santana (Angola) added 15 points and five assists for the winners.
Ryan Bell (Orleans, Ont.) and Stuart Turnbull (Kingston, Ont.) paced the Ravens with 18 points apiece. Bell earned Carleton game-MVP honours after scoring the team's first seven points in OT.
\"That's karma,\" said Acadia head coach Les Berry. \"Twenty years ago our assistant coach Kevin Venoit ended Victoria's streak of 18 straight wins at Nationals in the semifinal round of the Final 8 so we had a feeling coming into tonight's game that we too could do something special.\"
The loss ends the Ravens championship run in the same way it began in 2003, when Carleton beat the UPEI Panthers 63-60 in double overtime in the opening round en route to claiming the first title in school history.
Carleton was also looking for a record 19th straight win at Nationals going back to 2001, after tying Victoria's all-time mark of 18 Friday night with a 66-57 quarterfinal victory over No.8-Alberta.
Carleton's lack of clutch shooting came back to bite them in the late stages of the game.
Turnbull, a fourth-year guard, had an opportunity to decide the game on the final shot in regulation time, but his jumper from inside the paint failed to fall thus setting up the first extra session at the Final 8 since 2006 when StFX downed McMaster in the first round.
With the contest tied at 74-74 in the final moments of the first overtime period, the Ravens once again had a chance to end the game but lost control of the ball at the top of the arc thus setting up the decisive period.
\"We struggled with our shots this evening but I give credit to Acadia's defence for forcing us to take a lot of long shots,\" said Ravens head coach Dave Smart. \"We shot 19-percent in last year's final and won, but today we shot 33-percent and lost. Sometimes, that's how things go.\"
The Axemen have won the national championship on three occasions in 1965, 1971 and 1977 but have not made it back to the national final since 1988 when they lost 81-68 to Brandon.
Brock will make its second appearance in the gold-medal match. The Badgers beat Saint Mary's 77-71 in 1992 to claim their lone title.
STAT LEADERS
Acadia
Points: Peter Leighton (23), Leonel Saintil (22), Paulo Santana (15)
Rebounds: Leonel Saintil (9), Andrew Kraus (7), Paulo Santana (7)
Assists: Paulo Santana (5)
Player of the game: Peter Leighton (36 mins, 23 pts)
Carleton
Points: Ryan Bell (18), Stuart Turnbull (18), Aaron Doornekamp (14)
Rebounds: Aaron Doornekamp (11), Stuart Turnbull (7)
Assists: Aaron Turnbull (5), Stuart Turnbull (5)
Player of the game: Ryan Bell (38 mins, 18 pts)
TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE & RESULTS
Friday, March 14
Quarterfinal #1: No. 6 Western Ontario 75, No. 3 Saint Mary's 70
Quarterfinal #2: No. 7 Brock 83, No. 2 UBC 78
Quarterfinal #3: No. 5 Acadia 85, No. 4 Laval 77
Quarterfinal #4: No. 1 Carleton 66, No. 8 Alberta 57
Saturday, March 15
Consolation #1: UBC 78, Saint Mary's 74
Consolation #2: Laval 87, Alberta 79
Semifinal #1: Brock 85, Western Ontario 75
Semifinal #2: Acadia 82, Carleton 80 (2OT)
Sunday, March 16
12:30 5th Place: UBC vs. Laval
15:30 Final (The Score): Brock vs. Acadia
(Source: John Bower, for the CIS)