THUNDER BAY – These aren’t the Carleton Ravens of old – but they’re still arguably the top team in OUA men’s basketball.
The standings certainly say they are, after the No. 2 team in the national battled back from a three-point halftime deficit to down an eager Lakehead Thunderwolves squad that had, as it turns out, a shot at a first-round bye had they been able to pull it out.
The Ravens, who got into early foul trouble, but shook it off as the clock became less of a concern, poured in 27 points in the third to take a five-point lead and went on to down the Thunderwolves 73-65 on Saturday night in front of monstrous crowd at the C.J. Sanders Fieldhouse.
The loss leaves the Thunderwolves (16-6) with the No. 6 seed as they hit the OUA playoffs, where they’ll open with No. 11 Guelph at home on Wednesday night.
“It’s disappointing, and not really,” said senior forward Michael Okafor, honoured between the women’s and men’s game, alongside Dylan Morrison and Alston Harris, as the team’s three graduating seniors.
“That team is a great team and they came out and played. The third quarter was kind of rough, but we played them hard and it’s off to playoffs now.”
Okafor, who led LU with 18 points, said the Thunderwolves defence let the team down in the decisive third.
“They shot 50 per cent. We can’t do that. We weren’t really executing on defence, but it is what it is,” he said.
Lakehead led most of the way in the opening half, racing out to a 14-7 lead, playing tenaciously without the ball and getting the crowd into it early, never more so then when Okafor completed a spectacular 360 dunk that forced Carleton coach Taffe Charles to call an early timeout.
The T-Wolves led 15-11 after one and after Nathan Bilamu completed a three-point play a the charity stripe, they owned a 31-24 advantage in the final minute of the half. But the Ravens stole back some momentum in the last 44 seconds, Marjok Okado and Connor Vreeken hitting back-to-back buckets to cut the LU lead to 31-28.
Carleton, a young team that lost four times this season – one more regular-season game than they lost from 2016 to 2022 combined, came out flying after the break and took the lead for good on an Aiden Warnholtz three-pointer.
The fourth-year guard completed a rare triple-double on the night, finishing with 15 points, 11 rebounds and 13 assists.
“He’s really the catalyst for a lot of what they do,” said Lakehead coach Ryan Thomson. “He keeps them steady, gets them great shots. But you’ve got Vreeken out there, who can make shots … They’re such a physical and disciplined team, that they can get the shot they want.”
The Thunderwolves found themselves down by as many as 11 in the third, but reduced it to a two possession game by the midway point on an Okafor bucket, LU trailing 67-61. But after Msambya missed a three-pointer off a Carleton turnover, Vreeken banked a three of the glass and the Ravens led 70-61. Warnholtz sealed it with a three in the final minute.
The Ravens (18-4) topped all teams in the OUA and will hit the playoffs with the No. 1 seed and a first-round bye.
Just two wins separated first from sixth.
“We’ll play whomever is in front of us,” Thomson said. “Obviously we would have appreciated the bye and more rest, but we’ll be ready to go come Wednesday.”
