Huskies advance to meet Ravens in U Sports men's basketball final

The Carleton Ravens advanced to the U Sports men's basketball final with a narrow 64-63 victory over the Alberta Golden Bears Saturday night in Edmonton.

Lloyd Pandi scored 14 points and added 14 assists for the seventh-seeded Ravens, the two-time defending champions.

Third-year guard Aiden Warnholtz scored 11 points, and Alain Louis added 10.

Tyus Jefferson had 16 points for the Golden Bears. Adam Paige, Geoffrey James and Brandon Meiklejohn each scored 12.

Carleton led by eight late in the fourth quarter before Alberta chipped away at the lead. They got within one point with 31 seconds to play before Jefferson missed two late free throws.

The Ravens will meet the Saskatchewan Huskies in Sunday's final.

The eighth-seeded Huskies continued their improbable run to the championship game with a convincing 86-60 victory over the Queen's Gaels earlier Saturday.

Marquavian Stephens led the way for Saskatchewan with 25 points, seven assists and five rebounds. Alexander Dewar added 14 assists and seven rebounds.

The Gaels got 13 points from Quinton Gray and 12 from Luka Syllas.

The Huskies led by one after the first quarter before pulling away in the second quarter, outscoring the Gaels 25-10. They then outscored them 32-8 in the third.

It's the first national final appearance for the Huskies since 2010, when they won their first and only title.

"We talked about this all year, and it took a lot of hard work to get here," said Stephens. "We had to grind out a lot of tough games, and now to actually be here, it means a lot.

"We wanted to set the tone early tonight [Saturday], and we did. We brought a lot of energy over from last night too."