THUNDER BAY – The Lakehead Thunderwolves may have stunned the Carleton Ravens, but they certainly didn’t shock themselves.
They believed all along, even when they were down double digits on Saturday at home, they had what it took to down the 17-time national champion Ravens.
Down 14 at half, the rode the hot hand of Carson Unrau to start the third, the second-year forward putting up nine straight LU points, took back the lead two minutes into the fourth on a pair of Harold Santacruz free throws, then took the lead four minutes later on a Nathan Bilamu corner three that had the C.J. Sanders Fieldhouse crowd as loud as it’s been in more than a decade.
When the dust settled, the Thunderwolves had earned a 76-67 triumph, knocking the No. 4 Ravens from the ranks of the unbeaten, both teams hitting the Christmas break with just one loss.
“We’re 9-1 and not ranked right now. So, we kind of had a chip on our shoulder going in. And we knew that if we did what we could control, we were going to win the game, which we didn’t do in the first half. But we knew if we cleaned up every little mistake, it would lead to us to have a better chance to win and obviously it ended up helping us to win,” said Unrau, who finished with 11 points, eight rebounds and two steals.
It was Lakehead’s first win over the Ravens since 2011, when they captured the OUA championship with a 77-62 victory, and more importantly, it marked the first time coach Ryan Thomson could claim victory over Carleton since taking over the team.
That made the win extra special, Unrau said.
“It means a lot to me, especially for Thomson. That was the only team in the OUA he hadn’t beaten as a head coach, and it was awesome to get that done for him and awesome to just get that done for the team. But we know it is Carleton and we just need to keep moving on to the next game,” he said.
It was all Ravens in the opening half, though Lakehead did take a brief, 12-second first-quarter lead when Nathan Bilamu drained a three-pointer, putting the T-Wolves up 9-7. The Ravens led 21-14 after one and went on a 12-4 run to start the second to jump in front 33-18. The Ravens Daniel Smith keyed the run with five points, and they took a 40-26 lead into halftime.
Unrau opened the third with a three, then hit a pair from the charity stripe to pull the Wolves within nine.
“The energy he brings is infectious,” Thompson said. “I think that’s something the guys really rallied around.”
Point-by-point, fuelled by the crowd’s growing energy, the T-Wolves (10-1) clawed their way back. Kaylian Coulibaly, who put up 11 off the bench, made it a four-point game at the 5:40 mark of the third, grabbing an offensive rebound, sinking the basket and the and-one, Lakehead trailing 48-44 at the time.
Moments later Coulibaly tied it at the free-throw line and the Wolves carved 13 points from Carleton’s halftime lead by the time the third came to a close.
The lead changed hands six times in the fourth. Bilamu made it 66-61 with two free throws, then grabbed a huge offensive board that led to another bucket off a Chris Sagl miss, giving LU a 70-65 advantage. Santacruz made a put-back and Bilamu added two more free throws with 36 seconds to go, stretching Lakehead’s lead to nine.
“We can celebrate tonight, for sure. I feel like we’re just right there. In all my four years at Lakehead, I’ve never beaten Carleton, the same as coach. It feels good to get one from them, but we’re right up there with Carleton. It’s a good W,” said Bilamu, who led all players with 20 points. Sagl added 15 and Santacruz had 13 for LU.
Augustau Brozdeikis topped the Ravens with 16 points.
