Eight is enough

HALIFAX -- Eight is great for the Carleton Ravens.

The Ottawa school on Sunday captured its second straight national men's basketball championship – and eighth in 10 years – in convincing fashion, slamming the No. 2 seed Alberta Golden Bears 86-67 at the Halifax Metro Centre.

It capped a perfect season for the Ravens, who went 31-0 against CIS competition, a three-point win over Lakehead last November the closest they came to losing a game.

"It was a long ride, but it was good to come out on top," said forward Tyson Hinz, who finished with 20 points, second to teammate Phillip Scrubb, named the Final 8 most valuable player following his 26-point performance.

Perfect year or not, Hinz isn't satisfied with a pair of CIS titles.

"I'm still here for two more years, so there's still two more to go," the Ottawa native said, adding later it's hard to compare championships, a question he's been asked a lot this weekend.

"It's a different group of guys, but I'm really happy for all the seniors that got the win in their last year."

A humble Scrubb didn't much feel like talking about his own performance, a 19-point first half that rivaled the best the three-day tournament had seen.

"The biggest thing is to win the whole thing as a team. I guess I hit some shots and got lucky and got an award and I don't know what else to say," said Scrubb, a native of Richmond, B.C.

The eight wins ties the University of Victoria for the most basketball titles in Canadian University history, not that Carleton coach Dave Smart is counting.

"To me it's No. 1. It's a different group of kids and they worked so hard all year. I'm just happy for them," he said.

"It's hard to go undefeated. It's hard for 19- and 20-year-old kids to deal with the outside pressure that people don't really recognize. I'm proud of them, especially today. I thought they played with some freedom."

Scrubb was a little more forthcoming when asked.

"It's pretty special. A lot of guys, a lot of alumni, put a lot of time and effort into this program and it's a good thing to kind of carry on the tradition," Scrubb said.

It wasn't as easy as it looked, Smart pointed out, despite carrying no less than a 10-point lead over the final 27 minutes of the one-sided contest, stacking it as high as 30 in a domineering third.

"No, it wasn't easy at all. That's a great basketball team. We played very well in the first half, shot the ball and defended well and got out in transition," Smart said. "We did things in the first half better than we did in the first two games."

The key was staying aggressive, Hinz said.

Even when the Golden Bears showed signs of life – they actually led 11-8 in the opening quarter – Scrubb and Hinz were there to show them the error of their ways, thinking they might steal the title away from the Ravens.

Take the end of the opening half, when Alberta had crept to within single digits, still in the contest down nine points.

A timeout by Smart spelled the end of that run in a hurry. Phillip Scrubb, whose brother Thomas is a second-year member of the Ravens, came out of the break with a quick bucket and a three-pointer, followed by a pair of Willy Manigat hoops from beyond the arc, the 11-0 run pushing the Ravens lead to 20 points, 52-32 at the buzzer.

"He just told us keep coming, keep coming," Hinz said. "That was kind of our motto for the game."

Alberta's third-year coach Greg Francis said it's one thing to scout Carleton on tape, another to try to contain them on the court.

"To have to deal with them right here and there, it was a learning curve, not only for our players, but for our coaching staff," Francis said.

"I think it takes a lot of hard work. You're not going to be able to get to their level quickly. You have to do fundamentals every day like they do and you have to find ways to do it a little bit better than (Dave Smart)."

Carleton led 76-50 after three and coasted to the historic victory, enjoying the final 10 minutes, knowing the championship was moments away.

Daniel Ferguson led Alberta with 25 points.