This time, Aaron Doornekamp wasn't sitting on the sideline.
Doornekamp scored 20 points, including two three-pointers in the final three minutes, to lead the Carleton Ravens to their fifth consecutive Canadian Interuniversity Sport men's basketball title with a 52-49 win over Brandon Sunday.
Doornekamp, who missed last year's championship weekend with a broken ankle, was named tournament MVP and player of the game.
"It means a lot to me," said the six-foot-seven forward. "You don't know how much you miss this, until you actually do miss it."
Osvaldo Jeanty, the player of the year in university basketball, had 15 points for Carleton in the lowest-scoring championship game ever, and the first tournament meeting between Brandon and Carleton.
Stevens Marcelin and Dany Charlery each had 13 points for the Bobcats.
One of the baskets by Charlery, a six-foot-three guard, was a thunderous dunk off a lob pass from out of bounds.
Before the game, Brandon and Carleton were in a four-way tie for the second-most national titles, along with Saint Mary's and Windsor, all with four.
Victoria has won the trophy eight times.
Earlier, Benjamin Sormonte scored 23 points and Patrick Perrotte added 20 points and 12 rebounds to lead the No. 1 Concordia Stingers past the No. 2 UBC Thunderbirds 95-92 for fifth place.
The title gives Jeanty five championship rings, a feat shared by only three other players in Canadian basketball history.
A two-time national tournament MVP, Jeanty was also the player of the game in the final four times and was named top player in the country twice.
When he came to Carleton as a freshman, Jeanty vowed to play in the national championship game five times.
"I try to work as hard as possible and set my goals as high as possible," he said. "(Former national team coach) Jay Triano always said 'It's better to aim high and fail than to aim low and succeed.'
"Even if we didn't win five, I would still have been very proud of my career here."
When he's asked how his team wins so much, Carleton coach Dave Smart talks about little else other than rebounding and defence. In the first half, the Ravens went hard to the boards on every shot and corralled 12 offensive rebounds to Brandon's four, and converted that effort into nine second chance points.
Carleton led 32-26 at the half, despite shooting less than 30 per cent from the floor. They finished with a 43-40 edge on the boards.
Sunday's game marked the first time this season, 39 games in all, that Brandon had not scored at least 72 points. Bobcats coach Barnaby Craddock, the CIS coach of the year, refused to comment after the final but Charlery gave credit to the Ravens.
"They've been here five years in a row, they know how to play here at the national finals," the Montreal native said. "They've got a little more experience than us. We gave it our best and we lost by three, that's all I can say."
Carleton won its quarter-final and semifinal games by an average of 35 points, but found scoring against Brandon a greater challenge.
"Everybody's going to talk about how both teams didn't shoot well, but both teams defended, and Brandon did an unbelievable job defensively," said Smart. "They had one day to prepare and what they did to make everything tough on our guys was unbelievable."
With five straight championships, Carleton is now within striking distance of Victoria's seven titles in a row from 1980 to 86.
Smart said that record is not on his mind.
"I'm not thinking about seven, I'm thinking about one," he said. "Next year."
After 24 years in Halifax, the tournament moves to Ottawa next season for a three-year stay.