The Carleton Ravens men’s basketball team led off their regular season with a 93-65 routing of the Algoma Thunderbirds on Nov. 18 at the George Leach Centre.
Ravens guard Kaza Kajami-Keane poured in 24 points, added seven assists, and hit two three-pointers to lead the scoring for the top-ranked team in the nation.
Algoma’s Jermaine Lyle led the Thunderbirds with a 13 points.
The first quarter of the game marked the debut of Ravens guard Joe Rocca, who had transferred to Carleton from McMaster University. Rocca sat out last season in order to be eligible for the current season, and scored all eight of his points in the first quarter.
The Thunderbirds showed fight in the second quarter after trailing by as many as 14 points. They cut the deficit to just six after Algoma guard Adam Benrabah hit an and-one three pointer.
However, the Ravens went on to extinguish the Thunderbirds’ spark by halftime. With the help of triples from Connor Wood and Kajami-Keane, and a ferocious slam by Ryan Ejim, the Ravens led 47-29 at the break.
The Thunderbirds attempted to play catch-up in the second half, though they ultimately fell short. For the game, they scored just 65 points on 39.3 per cent shooting.
Carleton, meanwhile, had no trouble scoring. They shot above 50 per cent from the field and had five players score in double figures.
The Ravens’ suffocating defence also racked up 17 steals by the final buzzer and Ravens second-year guard Marcus Anderson recorded seven of them.
Some other notable performances came courtesy of Wood, who provided a team-high three three-pointers, and T.J. Lall, who was a perfect four-of-four from the field.
As a team, the Ravens outperformed the Thunderbirds in every statistical category en route to their 28-point victory.
The team will likely retain their number one ranking in Canada, as they will head to North Bay next weekend to take on the Nipissing Lakers on Nov. 25.
