While almost everyone in Ontario University Athletics (OUA) spent most of the past two years idle, Alain Louis spent his 2021 summer doing what he does best: playing basketball.
He donned the black and red of the Ottawa BlackJacks, one of the newest teams in the Canadian Elite Basketball League (CEBL), and played in 15 games. He averaged just over 22 minutes and seven points per game.
But beyond his numbers, Louis faced taller and faster opposition. The impact of the tough competition on Louis showed on Friday, when the guard dumped 15 points on the Nipissing Lakers en route to a mammoth 106-39 win for the Carleton Ravens men’s basketball team.
The Ravens also took a 103-56 victory Saturday, walking away from their first court action in 607 days with two wins on opening weekend.
Louis said playing in the CEBL had a “huge impact” on his development.
“I feel like I see the game slower now,” he said. “The game is a little easier.”
Head coach Taffe Charles praised Louis’ size, speed and strength and said the next area of growth for Louis is his mental game.
“He’s got to stay focused,” Charles said. “When he’s focused, he’s the best player in Canada.”
Louis was joined in the CEBL by Carleton teammate Lloyd Pandi, who played for the BlackJacks in their inaugural 2020 season before donning a Niagara River Lions jersey in 2021. Both were finalists for the CEBL U Sports Player of the Year this summer.
Recent Carleton transfer Grant Shephard also played in the CEBL for the Fraser Valley Bandits in 2019 and the River Lions in 2021.
The advantage of playing in the CEBL was in full force in the first six minutes of Friday’s game. Carleton went on a 21-0 run and ended the first quarter up 36-10, scoring almost as many points as Nipissing did the whole game.
“We played with energy right from the start,” Charles said, adding that their pace caught the Lakers off guard. “If we’re energized, we’re a tough team to beat.”
Forward Biniam Ghebrekidan led the Ravens with 17 points, followed by Louis and Pandi, who both had 15.
Carleton’s strength in the early-goings Friday was its weakness on Saturday. The Lakers learned from their mistakes and played aggressively in the first quarter, leading 10-9 after four minutes before the Ravens pulled away.
Guard Aiden Warnholtz, who scored 24 points Saturday and 13 Friday, said the Ravens expected the Lakers to “punch us in the mouth early” after being embarrassed Friday, but Carleton struggled being physical on rebounds and communicating defensively.
Due to pandemic protocols, Carleton will face the same opponent on back-to-back days for the rest of the season. That’s a first for Charles, who said complacency set in.
“I don’t think our leadership really took it as seriously as they needed to, which is disappointing,” he said.
Repeating that mistake in future weeks against stronger opponents could cost Carleton, Charles said he told the team.
He praised Warnholtz for bucking the trend and approaching Saturday’s game exactly the same as Friday’s, despite the blowout. Warnholtz, in his third year of eligibility but his first as a starter, should be an example for his team, Charles said.
“He didn’t do anything differently,” Charles said. “He was as prepared as he was yesterday, mentally and physically … I don’t think that happened for all of our guys.”
Carleton led 44-29 at halftime but secured the game in the third quarter, when Nipissing started getting into foul trouble and had to play cautiously with their bench players.
As encouraging as the weekend was for the Ravens, it meant more than just what happened on the court. The games were Carleton’s first in front of their home crowd since winning the U Sports national championship in March 2020.
Charles said a highlight of being back is reconnecting with people he hasn’t seen in nearly two years.
“We took it for granted … and almost forgot about some of these guys,” Charles said Saturday. “You’d always have that interaction over weeks, over years, so it’s nice to see some people face-to-face.”
Another bonus of being back?
“This is the first time I wore a suit in 19 months,” Charles said Friday.
Featured image by Spencer Colby.
