Trailing by just a single basket after a close first half of the Capital Hoops Classic, the Carleton Ravens men’s basketball team could not prevail against the rival uOttawa Gee-Gees.
“I think they had a second gear, and we didn’t,” said Ravens head coach Taffe Charles. “I think that’s probably the biggest challenge we had.”
The Gee-Gees blew the game wide open in the second half to come away with a dominant 79-66 win, handing the Ravens their second straight Capital Hoops loss on Feb. 7.
For Carleton, it was a close game until it wasn’t. They clawed and fought, but in a heavy storm of uOttawa threes, the Ravens just couldn’t fly.
Led by guard Xavier Spencer’s four points and four rebounds, the Ravens started the game off hot with an early 12-6 lead. Midway through the first quarter, the Gee-Gees stormed back with a 10-0 run. A layup from Ravens guard Nelson Cilien managed to slow the bleeding as Carleton only trailed 16-14 by the end of the quarter.
The Ravens finished the first frame shooting 2-for-9 from beyond the arc, an issue that stayed with them the rest of the night.
In a second quarter plagued by turnovers, Charles called a timeout at its halfway mark.
The Gee-Gees finished the game with 19 points off turnovers, while the Ravens had none.
The Ravens came out of the timeout looking like a different team. They didn’t turn the ball over for the remainder of the quarter and shot 3-for-6 from three in the second quarter. Led by guard Marjok Okado, the Ravens ended the half trailing uOttawa 43-41.
Gee-Gees pointguard Dragan Stajic led the team through the first half, dropping all of his game-total 13 points in the frame.
“When you don’t have somebody like that, and they do, that’s a challenge,” Charles said. “We got guys who are capable at times, but I think it’s the consistency that you see from somebody with a lot of experience.”
The Ravens reclaimed a 44-43 lead early in the third quarter, but it proved to be their last as the Gee-Gees outscored the Ravens 25-11 by the end of the frame.
“We made a focus at halftime that we weren’t playing our type of basketball,” Stajic said. “We know we want to assert ourselves as the aggressors and I think we did that.”
Charles said the fatigue from their second-quarter comeback left the Ravens struggling to keep up with the Gee-Gees in the second half.
“As we’re coming back, we kept our guys on,” Charles said. “They kept their guys pretty fresh, and in the third quarter, it kind of takes its toll.”
The third-quarter takeover deflated the Carleton crowd, and a 68-52 deficit ahead of the fourth was insurmountable for the Ravens.
“When you’re on the winning end of that, you don’t mind,” he said.
With the win, the OUA-leading Gee-Gees stack up an 18-2 record with only two games to go in the season.
On the other end of the score, the Ravens will look to improve upon their 15-5 record as they meet the Queen’s Gaels on the road on Feb. 14.
Featured photo by Darren Tran.
