Ravens triumph

The battle for top spot in the nation was every bit as thrilling and suspenseful as a battle for top spot in the nation should be.

The No. 1 Carleton Ravens and the No. 3 Lakehead Thunderwolves put on a show for the ages on Saturday night, thrilling an over-capacity Thunderdome crowd with a display that came down to a missed Venzal Russell three-pointer at the buzzer before the final outcome was decided.

The Ravens (6-0), seeking revenge for a loss in the OUA championship game last March, escaped their latest trip to Thunder Bay with an 88-85 decision, in a game that actually lived up to the hype.

It was exactly what was advertised, said a disappointed LU coach Scott Morrison.

"As a basketball fan, you've got to look at that as one of the classics, definitely since I started coaching," Morrison said.

"It would be a lot better if we were on the winning end, but we had our turn to be on the winning end of a classic last March and now we have a little more motivation to carry us through the rest of the semester and into second semester."

It was a pretty good game, wasn't it, said Lakehead's Ben Johnson, who finished with a game-high 23 points, 15 of which came in the opening 20 minutes.

"They're a great team and it was just the little things we did that cost us. We didn't execute down the stretch like we would have liked, but we still fought back and coach stayed with us," the Pictou, N.S. native said.

"Little mistakes become big mistakes in the fourth quarter and they kind of get exposed. That's how it happened."

The defending champion Ravens, who live-and-die by the long-distance ball, were good on just one three-pointer in 14 first-half attempts, but finally found their range, hitting eight of 12 from beyond the arc.

Carleton coach Dave Smart said ironically enough, he thought the Ravens got better looks in the first half, but just couldn't get the ball to drop.

"We were fortunate in the second half. I thought they did a pretty good job defensively in the second half. Ironically, when we went 1-for-14, I thought we were getting what we wanted. But in the second half they didn't really get what they deserved," Smart said.

"I thought in the first half they probably outplayed us, but they were pretty good looks. In the second half they did real good things. They forced us into real tough threes and the guys they wanted shooting threes just made some."

Johnson said they knew the Ravens were going adjust in the second half. 

"One thing we were trying to do was take away that high post on the rotation, so we were going to give up that three to certain players, but sometimes it got in the hands of the wrong players and they hit the shot."

Like any great basketball game, it was a contest of momentum shifts.

With about two minutes to go it looked like the Ravens had wrapped up their sixth win in six outings, taking a seven-point lead that sent the faithless fans scurrying for the exits, looking to beat a snowy traffic jam.

But Johnson hit a pair from the line and Joseph Jones, whose energy kept the Wolves going even after Carleton began its fourth-quarter run, hit a near impossible shot from under the net, doing his best impression of Kermit the Frog as he hurled a prayer at the net. He completed the three-point play at the foul line and the Wolves were within two, 81-79.

All-Canadian guard Tyson Hinz appeared to have stopped the Wolves in their tracks when he buried a three with a minute to go, then Phillip Scrubb, who this past summer joined Hinz on Canada's national team, hit two free throws to extend the lead to seven once again.

The Wolves weren't through.

Russell hit two free throws of this own, then a field goal from the floor to make it 86-83 with 21 seconds to play.

Forced to foul, LU had the basketball gods on their side when Scrubb missed a pair from the charity stripe, but instead of playing for the final shot and overtime, Russell took the inbounds pass and raced down the court to pull the Wolves to within a point again.

Willy Manigat buried two free throws, but the Wolves failed to get a good shot off as they raced down the court and with 2.3 seconds left to go, the Ravens took the ball out of bounds, and seemingly LU's last hope.

But they couldn't inbound the ball in time, turning it over. Russell, who was not his usual shooting self, came up short on the equalizer.

The Wolves (5-1) led 18-14 after the first quarter, 36-32 at the half and went up one at the buzzer in the to end the third when Carter hit a shot made possible by a Jones offensive rebound.

Scrubb led all Carleton shooters with 17, one of five Ravens to hit double digits. Jones finished with 18 for the Wolves, who also got big minutes from rookie Adam Johnson, who potted eight.