The Carleton Ravens men’s basketball team swept all three of their games at the Eric Garland National tournament Sept. 30-Oct. 2 at the University of New Brunswick (UNB).
In the Ravens’ first exhibition games against Canadian competition this year, the team put on a dominant display, beating the Laval Rouge et Or, the UNB Varsity Reds, and the Saint Mary’s Huskies 104-48, 91-53, and 108-66 respectively.
Despite winning their games with ease, the team didn’t play at the level they want to play at during the regular season, according to veteran guard Elliot Thompson.
“Overall, I think we did fairly decent, but there are still a lot of things that we need to perfect and work on as a team,” Thompson said. “There were a few let-ups on the defensive end both mentally and physically, so we have to get to a point where every possession needs to be perfect at both ends of the floor.”
But fellow veteran guard Cole Hobin said he thought the team has improved since finishing up exhibition play against National Collegiate Athletic Association teams at the beginning of September.
“We’re definitely improving as a team,” Hobin said. “There are a lot of guys playing really well right now, and that is something we can be happy with.”
Second-year guard Philip Scrubb drew high praise from his teammates for his strong play in all three games, and he received tournament MVP honours.
Another player who stepped up his play in the tournament was Thompson, who was able to get the rare opportunity to play in his hometown of Fredericton, N.B.
“It was awesome to play in front of my friends and family, and show them what Carleton basketball is all about,” Thompson said.
Even though they didn’t play at the level they wanted to, the Ravens still learned from the experience, said rookie guard Gavin Resch.
“It helped us figure out some stuff that we want to work on going into the season, and we had a great time [in Fredericton],” Resch said.
“It’s good for our team to win, but it’s nothing huge,” Thompson said. “Like always, we’ll just focus on what we did well and what mistakes we made, and try to correct those moving forward.”
Resch said the team is comparable to last year’s national championship-winning squad, given they lost just two players after last season. Guard Mike Kenny graduated and would-be veteran Aaron Chapman left the team this summer to bring his Type 1 diabetes under control.
“We’re using a lot of the same stuff we were playing last year because we have a lot of the same guys,” Resch said.
But despite having several returning members, Thompson wasn’t ready to say this year’s squad will be equally successful.
“We’re still trying to fill the gaps we have from the veteran players that we lost,” he said. “We aren’t close to where we were last year at this point because we were a national championship-winning team last season.”
But that’s not to say the team’s sights aren’t set on this year’s championship.
“Winning another national championship has always been our goal,” Hobin said. “It’s been our goal since 20 minutes after winning the last one. We want more.”