Hamilton, ON- Two numbers sat on the board in the McMaster Marauders men’s basketball team’s locker room. 

The number zero was on one side. 27 on the other. It stood for their record against the Carleton Ravens in the past 22 years: 0-27. Their record since their last victory against the Ravens – the CIS quarterfinals in Halifax on Mar. 16, 2001, when they edged them 78-77 before losing in the semis. 

Over 22 years have passed since that moment. Coaches and players have come and gone for the Marauders. Many of the players weren’t even born when that happened. Game after game, loss after loss, it would always end in a Ravens victory. 

Until Friday Dec. 1. The team came into the week of practice with the numbers zero and 27 on the board. A reminder of their record and what they were facing. 

“Gave them a history lesson and the guys, they answered the bell tonight,” Marauders head coach Patrick Tatham said.

Tatham – in his seventh season at McMaster – has made those trips to face Carleton. The treks up to Ottawa where they would end up losing – often by large margins. Tatham was 0-6 against them. Remember their 83-40 defeat at home in 2017 – the last time Carleton played at the Burridge Gym? Remember their 108-64 defeat in the 2020 OUA quarterfinals?

Survival was on their minds as they took the court against Carleton’s formidable dynasty in the past. This time was different though. 

“The narrative now is like we’re not even trying to survive,” Tatham said. “We have a good enough team. Let’s own it on our home court.” 

Tatham knows the history of the Ravens. He knows about their OUA and national championships. Their run of 17 national titles in the past 20 seasons. Their current streak of four straight. Their championship culture as well. However, he told his players about not playing against the name on the jersey but the guys inside it. 

“This is a new team. Same program but different,” Tatham told them. “We have a shot tonight to create history and break the narrative of us being owned by Carleton.” 

He told them that everyone on the team is 0-27 against Carleton, according to guard AY Osunde. That they were all in it together and would win or lose as a team. Tatham saw them take that history lesson to heart.

As the players went through their walk through and film on game day, they replaced the zero with a one on the board– a sign of what they believed was to come. “We knew we were going to come out here and change the narrative,” Osunde said. 

Osunde felt the hunger to change that narrative against their opponents. He and his teammates embraced the underdog role. “We just wanted to come out and give them a fight,” he added.

So, when the ball tipped off, McMaster did exactly that. They fought for rebounds, shot the ball well and kept it close through one quarter. In the second quarter, they kept hitting threes and started to pull away. In the third quarter, they stretched their lead up to 23 points after a Mike Demagus layup. In the final quarter, they fended off the Ravens’ comeback attempts to win 80-66. 

Osunde knew how they played the Ravens tough in two games last season. They led against them at halftime before losing twice. That helped this time around. There would be no comeback this time. “We just continued to pound on them,” he noted.

Tatham saw how well they rebounded, despite losing the battle 53-29. He saw the energy and fight he wanted in his team after they lost to the TMU Bold on Nov. 22. “That nasty physicality,” he called it. 

Demagus had a team-high 28 points and seven assists while Osunde added 20 points and three steals. Demagus hit a team-best 10 threes while Osunde had five. Multiple players grabbed multiple boards. 

Osunde saw how everyone contributed. He felt the excitement of beating Carleton afterwards given how storied of a program they are. 

The Marauders celebrated the historic moment afterwards. “A massive win,” Tatham described it as. 

As the clock ticked past 10 pm on a rainy night in Hamilton, their attention quickly turned to their next opponent. A game against the Ottawa Gee-Gees on Dec. 2 – whose record they have on their board as well. They haven’t beaten the Gee-Gees since 2016 and have won just three of the last 19 meetings. 

It’s another chance to be the underdog. This time, it’s against the number one ranked team in the nation and the defending OUA champions and U SPORTS bronze medalists. Against an Ottawa team yet to lose this preseason and regular season (13-0). “We’re just coming for blood,” Osunde said. 

It’s another chance to write their own chapter in history – just like they did against Carleton. 

Featured Image: Kevin Lassel/McMaster Athletics