Only a week after the Carleton Ravens men’s basketball team scraped together their slimmest victory of the season over the Nipissing Lakers, the Ravens pieced together one of their most complete games in a 90-45 blowout on Jan. 25.
Beating the Laurentian Voyageurs the previous night by a 83-55 score, the Ravens completed a perfect double-header weekend and sit third in a stacked OUA East division with a 14-3 record.
For head coach Taffe Charles, the lofty score was an opportunity to put his team’s roster depth to the test.
“Oftentimes when you’re winning, you’re not playing someone, and you feel kind of bad,” Charles said. “I want everybody to play.”
Charles cycled 10 Ravens players throughout the game, with nine of them putting points on the board. It was a good sign for Charles to gauge the readiness of his bench.
In a rematch of the Ravens’ 82-77 road victory over the Lakers the previous week, the Ravens extended their home winning streak to four games.
The Ravens led from the outset, jumping out to a 14-2 lead within the game’s first four minutes. Carleton led 23-14 by the end of the first frame, and didn’t let up in the second.
With five minutes remaining in the half, four straight three-pointers for Carleton within 90 seconds forced Nipissing to call a timeout as they trailed 39-18.
Led by guard Xavier Spencer’s 20 points and Marjok Okado’s three baskets from behind the arc, the Ravens ran one of their most complete halves of the season. After just two quarters, the game was already slipping out of reach for Nipissing, who were down 47-23.
The Lakers rallied in the next frame, but the Ravens still matched Nipissing’s 16 third-quarter points.
The Ravens outscored Nipissing 27-6 in the fourth quarter, squashing any of the visitng team’s momentum. Ravens guard Domac Domac stepped up, netting 12 points in the final frame alone.
The Ottawa local and freshman took charge throughout the game, sinking four of his six attempts from beyond the arc. Domac is second in the OUA in three-point accuracy, shooting an astounding 47.9 per cent.
The Ravens’ three-point shooting was on display all game. The team shot a combined 40.6 per cent from deep, knocking down 13 triples while Nipissing only mustered three.
Despite missing a number of key starting players, the Ravens doubled the Lakers’ point total in the 90-45 victory. Spencer led the Ravens with 24 points on the night, only a week after he posted 25 points against the Lakers on Jan. 17.
Heading into the rematch, much of the Ravens’ focus was on defending the Lakers’ star guard, Darnaz Mabanza, who is averaging nearly 19 points per game on the season. The Ravens held him to just 12.
“We just had to make him pass the ball. He gets frustrated,” Charles said. “We did a good job of having two people cover him, because 1-on-1, he is pretty tough.
Looking ahead, the Ravens approach a trio of important games in the next two weeks against divisional rivals. They’re set to take on the 6-10 Ontario Tech Ridgebacks on Jan. 31 and the 14-2 Queen’s Gaels on Feb. 1.
Only a week later on Feb. 7, Carleton will take on their rival uOttawa Gee Gees in the annual Capital Hoops Classic at TD Place Arena.
Featured photo by Nailla Sibomana/The Charlatan
