RAVENS CRUSH ACADIA 86-38, TWO GAMES AWAY FROM 5-PEAT

HALIFAX (CIS) - The third-seeded Carleton Ravens moved one step closer to capturing their fifth consecutive W.P. McGee Trophy as CIS men's basketball champions on Friday night with a dominating 86-38 win over the No. 6 Acadia Axemen in the fourth quarter-final of the 2007 Final 8 at the Metro Centre in Halifax, on Friday night.

The 48-point margin of victory was the second largest in history at the Nationals. Assumption beat Loyola by 59 points, 103-44, in the original tournament in 1963.

The 38 points scored by Acadia are the third lowest total all-time. The record for lowest offensive input was also set in 1963 when UBC managed only 36 points in a loss to Acadia (55-36). Bishop?s lost 64-37 against Laurier in 1967.

The Axemen became the fourth conference champions to fall in day one of the 2007 CIS Final 8, following No. 1 Concordia, No. 2 UBC and No. 5 Windsor.

The Ravens, now on a 15-game winning streak at the CIS championship, including 12-0 over their four-year title run, advance to Saturday's 8:30 p.m. semi-final (Atlantic Time, live on TSN) where they will face OUA East arch-rivals, the seventh-ranked Ottawa Gee-Gees, who defeated No. 2 UBC 92-85 earlier Friday.

The Ottawa rivals have met three times this season, the Gee-Gees claiming both regular season contests and the Ravens taking the OUA East final 65-63 on March 3. Carleton won the only head-to-head match-up in history at the Nationals, 69-47 in the quarter-final round in 2005.

The 6:30 p.m. semi will see No. 8 Saint Mary's battle the No. 4 Brandon Bobcats. Saint Mary's upset Concordia 63-62 in the first round while Brandon dominated Windsor 81-64.

"When we went up big in the first half, we didn't want to slow down, didn't want to give them any chance of getting back in the game," said centre Kevin McLeery (Nepean, Ont.), whose team was ahead 38-17 heading into the locker room. "In the second half, it was a matter of staying focused, making sure we were going into the semis on a roll. That's why it was important to keep the level of intensity as high as possible."

"Ottawa's tough. We've played them three times this year and they beat us twice. It will be a great game," added the six-foot-seven sophomore, named player of the game after leading all players on the court with 15 points and nine rebounds.

The Ravens were ahead 15-10 when they opened the floodgates, scoring 10 straight points on their way to the 19-point cushion at the break.

Carleton dominated in every aspects of the game, holding a 42-28 advantage on the boards, and out-shooting their AUS opponents 46.3 percent to 25.0 from the floor, 31.8 percent to 22.2 from beyond the arc and 85.0 percent to 69.6 from the free-throw line.

Third-year forward Aaron Doornekamp (Odessa, Ont.) collected 14 points and six boards for the winning side, while four-time CIS final MVP Osvaldo Jeanty (Gloucester, Ont.), looking to become one of the few five-time national champions, had 13 points.

Atlantic conference MVP Paulo Santana, a third-year guard from Toronto, was the lone bright spot for Acadia leading the Axemen in points (12), rebounds (9), assists (2) and steals (2).

Acadia will face UBC Saturday at 1:30 p.m. on the consolation side.

STAT LEADERS

Carleton
Points: Kevin McLeery (15), Aaron Doornekamp (14), Osvaldo Jeanty (13)
Rebounds: Kevin McLeery (9)
Assists: Rob Saunders (5), Aaron Doornekamp (5)

Player of the game: Kevin McLeery

Acadia
Points: Paulo Santana (12)
Rebounds: Paulo Santana (9)
Assists: Paulo Santana (2)

-CIS-