Oakville’s Pocrnic named U SPORTS basketball player of the week after win at nationals

A big performance on the court at the national championships in Halifax has landed Oakville’s Kali Pocrnic the U SPORTS basketball player of the week for the period ending March 12.

The second-year point guard and Psychology student, who was named the tournament’s most valuable player, helped lead the Carleton Ravens to a weekend sweep and to a second Final 8 championship in the university’s history.

The former St. Ignatius of Loyola Secondary School student helped Carleton rally from a five-point deficit in the gold medal game to beat the Queen’s Gaels, 71-59.

Pocrnic scored a team-high 20 points and eight assists to lead the top-seeded Ravens past the No. 3 ranked Gaels.

Carleton opened the national championship tournament with a 56-51 quarterfinal win over host Cape Breton with Pocrnic leading the way with 15 points and four assists.

🏀🏆 The @CURavens are your 2023 U SPORTS Women’s Basketball Final 8 Champions! This is Carleton's second banner in program history!

🥇 @CURavens
🥈 @queensgaels
🥉 @BearsandPandas#ChaseTheGlory | #ViserHaut pic.twitter.com/UmuluGKjvn

— U SPORTS (@USPORTSca) March 13, 2023

The sophomore followed that up with another big performance on the court, recording 17 points and seven assists in the Ravens’ 65-46 semifinal win against St. Mary’s on Saturday.

The women’s championship capped off a big weekend for Carleton, which also won the men’s title, defeating St. Francis Xavier University 109-104 in double overtime.

It was the fourth-straight national championship for the Ravens’ men’s team and marked the first time in 38 years that one university has claimed both national titles.