Ottawa, ON – After 22 seasons, the Carleton Ravens empire has fallen.
The U SPORTS basketball dynasty, and reigning 4x consecutive U SPORTS Nationals champions fell 70-69 to the Brock Badgers in the opening round of the OUA Wilson Cup Playoffs on Wednesday, marking their worst official season since 1999-2000 and meaning they will almost certainly not play in the U SPORTS Men’s Final 8 for the first time since 2001-2002.
The two teams met at the Raven’s Nest with Carleton in an unfamilar position of hosting an opening round game in the No.7 seed with the Brock Badgers as the No.10 seed. The score was split evenly after one quarter at 19-18 for the Badgers before the Ravens outscored Brock 21-11 in the second to take a 39-30 lead into halftime.
In the third quarter, the teams were even again at 16-16 making it 55-46 for the Ravens heading into the final frame, and looking like Carleton would be set to head to McMaster on Saturday for a matchup with the Marauders.
That is until Jevon Brown took over.
The fifth year Brock guard dropped 13 points in the final frame including hitting three times from beyond the arc as the Badgers stormed out on a 20-3 run in the first eight minutes to make it 66-58 for Brock with two minutes to play.
Xavier Spencer and Noah Horbetz Simpson each hit a three for the Ravens to cut the game to 67-65 but with the game at 70-67, MJ Okado was fouled on the final possesion before he could get a shot off, giving him two free throws to cut the lead to one point but Brock the ball back to end the game.
With the win the Badgers advance, trying to get back to the Wilson Cup since taking the win in 2022. Thanks to the loss the worst Carleton Ravens season of the 21st century officially has come to an end.