The games may not matter in the standings yet, but the four-time defending national champion Carleton Ravens men’s basketball team made a statement with their sweep of the House-Laughton Hoops Classic tournament at the Raven’s Nest.
The Ravens kicked off the weekend with a narrow win over the Guelph Gryphons on Oct. 13, winning by only six points in a 76-70 win.
Carleton won much more convincingly the next day with a 75-62 win over the Saskatchewan Huskies.
They followed it up on Oct. 15, the final day of the tournament, with a 93-77 win over the UQAM Citadins in which Ravens guard Marjok Okado had a 30-point game, which included four three-pointers.
Ravens guard Emmanuel Ugbah said the tournament was pre-season action, but the team put weight on the result of every game.
“We just got to get better each and every game even if it’s preseason, regular season, scrimmage, it doesn’t matter. We have to get better every day,” Ugbah said.
The Ravens were able to find success even with guard Wazir Latiff out with a lower-body injury. Ravens head coach Taffe Charles said he hopes Latiff will be back in the lineup for the start of the regular season.
“We’re trying to give him a chance to get healed 100 per cent,” Charles said. “Obviously we need his experience, but he’s been banged up pretty much for the whole pre-season.”
The game against Saskatchewan had special meaning for Charles. In his time as an assistant coach with Carleton, he worked with Huskies head coach Jamie Campbell.
“Although we don’t play them very often, a lot of the stuff they do is very similar to what we do,” Charles said. “So it was kind of a unique situation where … I kind of knew how they would prepare and I knew how hard they would play.”
The matchup with Guelph had extra significance to the whole team as a preview of their season-opener on Nov. 4. Charles said the team learned some things about their opponent from the game, but he noted that Guelph likely did the same about them.
Carleton’s title defence will tip off in Guelph on Nov. 4 at 8 p.m. The Ravens’ home opener will wait until Nov. 17 against the Brock Badgers.
Featured image by Charles Fortin.
