The Ravens men’s basketball team remains undefeated despite a close game against the Wilfrid Laurier University Golden Hawks in their home opener.
The Ravens edged the Golden Hawks 80-77 on Nov. 2 and beat the University of Waterloo Warriors 84-41 the next night.
Against the Warriors, the Ravens led all the way through, going on a 12-0 run to start the game with baskets by Marcus Anderson, Yasiin Joseph, TJ Lall and a dunk by Eddie Ekiyor.
Their defence held the Warriors to only seven points apiece in the first and fourth quarters.
“We had to take care of the defensive end,” Joseph said. “I feel like yesterday we weren’t playing hard on defence and that was our goal today. We didn’t make shots yesterday. We came in more focused about making shots.”
The night before, Carleton also came out to a 10-0 lead but unlike Waterloo, Laurier came back. Despite starting point guard Ali Sow getting into foul trouble, the Golden Hawks rallied for a 13-1 run in the third quarter.
Laurier was ahead 63-57 entering the final quarter, led by guard Ntore Habimana’s 18 points in addition to Sow and forward Kemel Archer’s 15 points. Ekiyor and guard Munis Tutu led Carleton’s comeback as the Ravens shot 39 free throws compared to Laurier’s seven.
“That shows that we can battle with anybody,” Laurier guard Kareem Elliott said. “We’re one of the top teams in the country. All of our players can score. Everyone can come in and do something, fight.”
Elliott called it “a different atmosphere” and a good opportunity for his team.
“I feel like at first, it was optimism,” he added. “As we started playing, when we went on a 10-0 run in the first quarter, that’s when we knew okay, it’s not a joke anymore. We can bang with these guys.”
Anderson and guard Mitch Wood praised the Golden Hawks. Anderson said Carleton was outworked and the game could have gone either way.
“They’re really good,” Anderson added. “They can shoot the ball really well … they got a solid eight guys, if they can get it going, it’s going to be hard to stop them.”
The Ravens players also talked about how the lack of work ethic in practice had almost cost them.
“It’s definitely a wake-up call,” Wood said. “We’ve had multiple wake-up calls so hopefully this time it sticks.”
Joseph said the motivation in practices needs to improve.
“We need the leaders,” he said. “We need someone telling us what we’re doing wrong, just that extra push at the end of the day.”
Wood and Anderson put the onus on themselves as leaders.
“It’s just the conversations in the team room,” Wood said. “We need to make sure guys are disciplined and focused, just so it comes from communicating from each other.”
Anderson, who pointed out the work ethic wasn’t good enough after their season opener, said the team needs to “find some answers.” He called for “no more talk” but rather action instead.
“We got to push some young guys to step up, push some veteran guys to show up on time and be focused at every practice,” he said.
This was the first time this season the Ravens’ lack of work ethic nearly led to a loss—their first winning margin within five points.
“It’s now clear that we can lose any games,” Wood said.
The Ravens go on the road to the University of Windsor and Western University on Nov. 9-10.
“I’m not sure if it’s rock bottom but it definitely has to change right now and if we don’t change it, we’re not going to get anywhere where we need to go the end of the year,” Anderson said.
“Our goal is to win and compete at every game and if we don’t do that, then it’s not going to be good.”
Photo by Jeff Pelletier
