Carleton topples StFX in double-OT thriller to win 4th straight men's basketball national title

The Carleton Ravens won their 17th W.P. McGee Trophy since 2003 with a thrilling 109-104 double overtime victory over the St. Francis Xavier X-Men in the final game of the 2023 U Sports men's Final 8 basketball championship on Sunday in Halifax.

The win came in front of over 9,000 fans at the Scotiabank Centre, part of the contingent of a tournament record-breaking attendance of 40,092 over the three-day event.

With 213 total points, Sunday's game was the highest-scoring Final 8 game of all time, beating the previous record of 210 set in 2016, when Ryerson (as it then was) defeated UBC 109-101 in overtime.

X-Men guard Avan Nava had four of the first six points for his team, and the Nova Scotians led by a point after the first three minutes. Both teams came out to play, and the loud Halifax crowd helped push the action in the X-Men's favour. The Ravens went 4-10 on 3-pointers in the first quarter while StFX was solid on defence, creating 10 points on turnovers, giving themselves a 27-17 lead after the first 10 minutes.

Dondre Reddick gave the home fans something to cheer about with a big dunk off a steal early in the second quarter, igniting an impressive run for the hosts, who took a 23-point lead — their largest of the night — with 3:22 left in the half. Carleton, which has never lost in a national championship game, did not fold under the pressure though, and cut the lead to 13 points at 48-35 as the half ended with a last-second three-pointer from Wazir Latiff.

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The Ravens went on an impressive 11-1 run early in the third quarter, cutting the X-Men lead to three points in the first four minutes. Defensive player of the year and second-team all-Canadian David Muenkat had a big