Halifax (U SPORTS) - The Carleton Ravens won their 17th U SPORTS men's basketball national title since 2003 with a thrilling double overtime 109-104 victory over the host STFX X-Men in a game that will go down in the record books and talked about for years to come. The win came in front of over 9000 fans, part of the contingent of a tournament record-breaking attendance of 40,092 over the three-day event.
X-Men head coach Tyrell Vernon commented, "In basketball great offense sometimes beats great defense and I think that was a little bit of an example here."
"We will take away a lot from this game. We have some seniors who are going to be leaving, but as a program this is where was want to be. We have to understand and learn from this and keep growing year by year."
X-Men guard Avan Nava had four of the first six points for his team, and the hosts lead by a point after the first three minutes. Both teams came out to play, and the loud Nova Scotia crowd helped push the action. The Ravens went 4-10 with three-pointers in the first quarter while STFX was solid on defence, creating 10 points on turnovers, giving themselves a 10-point lead heading to the second quarter.
STFX's Dondre Reddick gave the fans something to cheer about with a big dunk off a steal early in the second quarter, igniting an impressive run for the hosts, who lead by 23 late in the quarter. Carleton, which has won 16 national titles since 2003 and haven't lost in a national final, didn't fold under the pressure though, and cut the lead to 13 points as the quarter ended with a last second three-pointer from Wazir Latiff.
The Ravens went on an impressive 11-1 run early in the third quarter, and cut the STX lead to three points in the first four minutes. Defensive player of the year and second team All-Canadian David Muenkat had a big dunk off an ally-oop from Nava which brought the crowd back to life. On the other end, Elliot Bailey hit a pair of three pointers to push his team to the comeback, with the Ravens taking a one-point lead with 2:30 left in the quarter.
STFX started the fourth quarter leading by two points, and increased it to six in the first four minutes. Carleton made it a tie game with 3:30 left, making for a nail-biter of a finish. The teams traded scores late, and the tie remained until the last minute, with Nava's layup giving the hosts a two point lead with under a minute to play but it was first team All Canadian and Nike Top Performer Aiden Warnholtz pushing his team to overtime with a clutch three pointer.
The Ravens went up by five in the first minute of overtime, and held a one point lead going into the final two minutes. Muenkat gave his team a one point lead with under a minute to go, but a Connor Vreeken three pointed gave his team a two-point lead with 20 seconds left to play. A foul shot brought the lead to three but Nava nailed a triple with less than two seconds to play, forcing double overtime.
Another Vreeken three pointer put his team up by four with just over a minute to play after the teams traded scores, and another triple from Nike Top Performer Nava brought the hosts to within one with 16 seconds left but STFX couldn't close the gap.
When asked how the team dealt with the double overtime, Coach Vernon noted, "You try to stay present as best as possible and talk through everything you can. Sometimes you just have to sit back and see what happens. They hit some tough, tough shots at the end of the game and at the end of the day the game sometimes is just based on made and missed shots."
The last Final 8 championship game to go to double overtime was in 2001 when the STFX X-Men emerged victorious. The game also marked the highest ever scoring of any Final 8 game, surpassing the former record of 210 combined points in a 2016 quarterfinal game.
Nike Top Performers:
Carleton: Aidan Warnholtz
STFX: Avan Nava
Tournament All-Stars:
Diego Maffia, Victoria
Dragan Stajic, Ottawa
David Muenkat, STFX
Aidan Warnholtz, Carleton
Grant Shephard, Carleton
Tournament MVP:
Aidan Warnholtz, Carleton