Carleton rolls to 6th CIS men's basketball title

A 22-point performance by Stuart Turnbull and strong defensive play from Rob Saunders lifted the Carleton Ravens to their sixth men's basketball title in seven years Sunday at the Canadian Interuniversity Sports championships.

With Carleton leading by seven points entering the fourth quarter, Saunders shut down the UBC Thunderbirds' most valuable player — holding Chris Dyck to just four second-half points in an 87-77 victory at Scotiabank Place in Ottawa.

Saunders, named Carleton's MVP, chipped in 18 points of his own while the top-ranked Ravens out-rebounded their third-seeded opponent 43-26.

The Ravens almost didn't make it into the final, needing a shot at the buzzer to edge the University of Western Ontario Mustangs 66-65 in a thrilling semifinal Saturday.

The Thunderbirds advanced to the final after defeating No. 2-ranked University of Calgary 79-74.

UBC was making their 17th appearance in the final. Their last title win was in 1972.

Ravens kept lead

Blaine Labranche came off the bench for the Thunderbirds and scored nine consecutive points to close the gap in the late going, but the Ravens maintained the lead.

Trailing 37-36 at the half, Carleton went on an 8-0 run to open the third and held UBC without a basket from the field until the 5:25 mark of the quarter and moved ahead by as many as eight points.

The Thunderbirds, coming off a 79-74 triumph against No. 2 Calgary on Saturday, came out hard to start the game and built a 16-4 advantage by outworking a tough Ravens outfit.

UBC managed to draw two early fouls on Ravens all-star forward Aaron Doornekamp, relegating him to the bench for most of the first quarter, which ended with the Thunderbirds up by six at 24-18.

Doornekamp fouled out with 4:23 left in the game.

The pace slowed in the second quarter, with both teams working deep into their offensive sets.

Dyck, a Canada West all-star, continued knocking down clutch shots with a defender in his face, racking up 17 of his 21 points in the first half.

Labranche added 13 points in a losing cause.

Turnbull was named tournament MVP, with the all-star squad consisting of Dyck, Carleton's Kevin McCleery, Western's Matthew Curtis and Calgary's Ross Bekkering.

Dessureault leads Ottawa to consolation title

In the consolation final Sunday, fifth-ranked Ottawa was successful at the foul line down the stretch and came away with an 83-76 victory over No. 6 Concordia.

The Stingers closed to within five points heading to the fourth quarter, but the Gee-Gees received superior play from rookie Warren Ward (12 points) and Ontario University Athletics all-star Josh Gibson-Bascombe (18 points).

Damian Buckley had 17 points for Concordia, with brother Dwayne adding 15.

The Stingers came out strong and outscored the hosts 11-4 early on.

Ottawa countered by going inside to fifth-year big man Dax Dessureault, who dominated in the paint and drained 11 points in the first 10 minutes. He finished with a game-high 22 points and 13 rebounds.

Concordia forward Jamal Gallier was also a force, finishing with 15 points and seven boards.

Gee-Gees took a 40-32 lead into halftime following an 8-0 run midway through the second quarter before leaning on the brothers Buckley in the third.

Dessureault was Ottawa's MVP while Damian Buckley took top honours for Concordia.

Attendance for the three-day tournament was announced as 73,126. Carleton will host for a third consecutive year in 2010.