Both sides were left disappointed despite Ottawa guard Calvin Epistola’s stand-out performance, in Carleton’s Ravens 69-65 victory over the University of Ottawa Gee-Gees on Dec. 4.
Carleton coach Taffe Charles praised the Gee-Gees performance.
“They played gritty,” said Charles. “They played like a team that wanted to beat the number one team and we played like a team that don’t understand the responsibilities of being a number one team.”
“Close battle. Both teams played hard,” Gee-Gees head coach James Derouin said. “Obviously I’m disappointed we lost but it was a great basketball game.”
The Gee-Gees fell behind early but managed to take a lead by the second quarter. By the third, Carleton went on a run but Ottawa kept it close. However, they weren’t able to complete the comeback as Lloyd Pandi made numerous shots down the stretch.
“We defended and we rebounded and I was proud of the way we competed,” Derouin noted.
Carleton was led by Munis Tutu’s 23 points as well as Pandi’s 14 points. Epistola had a game-high 30 points.
Derouin added his players were disappointed as well.
“I want them to be disappointed,” he added. “There’s no moral victories here. It was close. We had a chance to win that game … really think we let one get away. We had a chance to steal one on the home court.”
Charles said the problems came down to discipline and not putting the Gee-Gees away earlier, and said the team didn’t do well in stopping Epistola.
“Reality isn’t winning by 70. Reality is more of these games and the problem is you kind of get sucked into thinking reality is hearing how good you are,” Charles said. “Reality is they’re tough and these are the kind of games we need to get more and more.”
The responsibility is on the players, especially the leaders, to improve their performance, according to Charles.
“You let them know what the issues are and then they got to look in the mirror and decide whether they’re going to address those issues,” he added.
The winter break will provide time for the team to practice as well as time for forward Biniam Ghebrekidan to recovery from an injury he sustained during the game. Charles said he thinks it’s a hamstring injury but he isn’t sure.
“It’s nothing knee-wise, which is good,” he said.
On the other side, Derouin praised the performance of Epistola, one of his team’s leaders.
The fifth-year guard from Toronto reached nationals in his first season in 2016 but hasn’t been back since. He’s improved his game and his stats every year. Derouin said it comes from his hard work and taking advantage of the resources and training over time.
“He’s completely changed his body,” he noted. “That’s just hard work.”
Epistola started off as a backup guard. He’s now the team’s leading scorer.
“He’s one of our hardest working kids. He’s our captain,” he added. “Calvin’s a model.” “”
“…we played like a team that don’t understand the responsibilities of being a number one team.” – Taffe Charles, Ravens head coach.
Derouin added that Epistola’s also continued to grow as a leader by “putting [the team] on his back.” They talked about him taking on that role this past summer.
“In the past, he deferred to some better players, maybe not as good players sometimes,” he said. “That was the frustrating part because he’s always concerned with being a great teammate that sometimes he deferred when maybe I didn’t want him to.”
Epistola didn’t defer against Carleton. He scored on a variety of drives to the rim and hit a trio of three-pointers. Though it wasn’t perfect as he missed some shots down the stretch as well.
Derouin said Epistola has the trust of the team, regardless of the misses. “If we’re going to lose, we’re going to lose because of Calvin,” he said. “I’m okay with that. His teammates are okay with that. Everybody is okay with that.”
Outside of Epistola, the rest of the team couldn’t provide much scoring. Sean Stoqua was the only other player in double-digits with 12 points.
“Now we just got to get Calvin some help,” Derouin said.
The Ravens now hold a 12-0 record and will return to action when they travel to North Bay to take on the Nipissing University Lakers on Jan. 10.
Feature image by Spencer Colby.
