Windsor, ON - The No. 5 Winsor Lancer men's basketball team shocked the four-time CIS defending champion and No. 2 Carleton Ravens on Friday night. The Lancers defeated the visitors 74-71 in front of a boisterous crowd at the St. Denis Centre.
With standout performances from
Rotimi Osuntola Jr., who tallied his third straight double-double with a game high 22 points and 16 rebounds, as well as
Khalid Abdel-Gabar and
Mitch Farrell, the Lancers handed the Ravens their second loss of the season.
Carleton has only lost three games since the 2012-13 season, two of which were at the hands of the Lancers at the St. Denis Centre. The Blue & Gold defeated the national powerhouse 71-67 in their season opener in November 2012. The Ravens other loss was earlier this season against the No. 1 ranked Ottawa Gee-Gees just a few weeks ago.
Chris Oliver's Windsor teams now have the most wins over Carleton in the Dave Smart-era (1999-present) with four, including the 2007 Wilson Cup OUA Championship.
Windsor played some solid defense down the stretch holding the Ravens off the scoreboard for the final two minutes of regulation and out-rebounding the visitors 50-35 overall. With tensions high and the score within points, an ally-oop dunk from Osuntola Jr. tied the game 47-47 with just over three minutes left in the third quarter.
Trailing by three with just over five minutes remaining in the game,
Mitch Farrell caught fire with a huge three pointer followed by a running one-hander to put the Lancers up 67-65 with 3:39 to go.
With Windsor up 73-71 in the dying seconds, Osuntola Jr. helped preserve the victory with an incredible block on Phil Scrubb to maintain the lead.
Mitch Farrell would add a free throw in the final seconds to secure the win.
The Lancers were tremendous on the glass all night as they outrebounded the Ravens 50-35 in the contest.
Khalid Abdel-Gabar had a big game for Windsor as well as he finished the game with 18 points and 5 rebounds, while
Mitch Farrell was equally as impressive, finishing with 16 points and 8 rebounds.
Windsor will face another tough challenge Saturday night when they host the No. 1 ranked Ottawa Gee-Gees. Tip-off is scheduled for 8:00pm at the St. Denis Centre.
