Ottawa, ON – The Western Mustangs fell 90-68 to the Carleton Ravens at the 2020 Wilson Cup OUA Championship on Saturday evening.

"We struggled with a few things throughout that game," Head Coach Brad Campbell offered after the game. "But [Carleton] is the number one team in the country... There's definitely some things we'll take with us to the National Tournament, and some things we'll flush as well... I think [the quick turnaround] is a good thing. The atmosphere of the National Tournament is an entirely different thing this game."
 
The Ravens opened up the game with some extreme shot precision that the Mustangs appeared to be missing. Between Munis Tutu and Lloyd Pandi, Carleton would establish an early lead and rattle the Mustangs' confidence as they failed to hit what would normally be predictable shots. Nikola Farkic and Julian Walker would keep Western within 6 points at all times, but with less than five seconds remaining in the first quarter, it would be Omar Shiddo that brought the Mustangs within 2 points of the Ravens at the end of the 1st quarter.
 
While the Mustangs have a talented band of three-point shooters, both teams were mainly scoring from inside the key. Carletons Isaiah Osborne would shut down Shiddo at the net and rush the court for his own two points. As the Mustangs fell to a five-point deficit, Head Coach Brad Campbell called for a time-out. The Raven's would hit their largest lead of the game thus far at 10 points with 3 minutes left in the second. Julian Walker and Aaron Tennant would make efforts to stop the bleeding before the margin could widen, the half ending at 44-38 for the Ravens.
 
Western's first few shots of the second half would be ill-advised and off balance. With the stands full and the fans vocal, spectators were quick to let the refs know of their opinions when it came to foul calls. A pass from Pandi allowed for a nice reverse from Osborne, putting the Ravens back at a 10-point lead. Nearing the two-minute mark, Jenkins would kiss the glass and bring the Mustangs within 5 points before going 2-for-2 for free-throws. While the Mustangs were keeping up, they would need to do more than just maintain the pace of the game if they wanted to walk out with the title as the quarter ended 64-53.
 
The Mustangs would put on the pressure and force the Ravens to call for a time-out at the start of the fourth. Tutu shot from the perimeter, highlighting Western's fatigue as they failed to make it out in time. With 6:49 on the clock, Carleton was threatening to blow the Mustangs out with a 12-point lead and no signs of slowing down. A beautiful feed from Pandi to Osborne would push the Ravens to an 18-point lead with less than three minutes to go.

Nearing the end of the game Campbell elected to put some of his bench players into the game, not as punishment to his starters but to provide an oppotunity to the younger members of his squad.

"This game was an opportunity to get some of our heavy-minutes guys off and our younger guys in. The future contributors to our team are getting prepared... Some of these guys are going to be playing major minutes for us in the future so it's a great to give them some court time in that kind of experience."

Carleton would hold onto to finish off the 90-68 win and mark their 12^th Wilson Cup banner in 18 seasons.

Western now shifts their focus to next week when they return to Ottawa to play in the U SPORTS National Championship.
 
"The Championships offer five days of great lead-up, all the teams are there, it's a really special event and we're really looking forward to it." When asked about the difficulty of the coming days looking at the other teams involved in the tournament, Campbell answered, "We've already began acquiring information about possible teams we will play and will find out the draw Sunday night. Then we will start putting together information, and video, and preparing for all of the things that go into it for us. We very well could see Ottawa in a second-round of playing."

In the few days between this game and the national tournament, the Mustangs will look to make some adjustments.

"Our defense has to get better overall when it comes to a few things, we have to rebound the ball a bit better. But we're a team that's not built on just one guy... We're a team-oriented system, especially on offense," said Campbell "Sometimes Eriq is going to have the night, sometimes Julian, sometimes Omar... We've got a lot of guys that can hurt you and that's why we're tough play."

Stay tuned to westernmustangs.ca for more information about the Mustangs games at the national championship next week.