Alain Louis knew his shot was perfect the moment it left his hand. From behind centre court, the guard watched as the ball soared 15 metres through the air at a quiet Ravens’ Nest, filled only with family members of players and season ticket holders.
When the ball swished through the basket at the other end of the gym and the second-quarter buzzer rang out, Louis’ arm was still raised. The Carleton Ravens men’s basketball team was headed into halftime with the shot of the season.
Louis’ unbelievable three-pointer, part of his impressive 17-point, 10-rebound night, led the Ravens to a resounding 71-58 win over the uOttawa Gee-Gees in the annual Capital Hoops matchup on Friday night. It was a game between two giants of Ontario University Athletics (OUA), both undefeated and nationally ranked.
The Ravens, despite being 8-0 entering Friday and the top-ranked team in the country, had yet to face a team with a winning record. The Gee-Gees, ranked third in the nation, represented Carleton’s first real test.
MBB | #13 Alain Louis with the half-court buzzer beater🚨🗣️ #CARvsOTT pic.twitter.com/oizIk7Oy3g
— Carleton Ravens (@CURavens) February 19, 2022
The Ravens battled in the early minutes and ended the first quarter up 12-11, the second-lowest single-quarter score for Carleton all season.
Louis said the team started slow against uOttawa’s defence, which has allowed the second-fewest points per game in the country after Carleton.
“I’m never going to be disappointed in a win but I’m disappointed in the way we bounced back from last week,” Louis said, noting the team struggled with endurance after a 77-day break before last weekend’s games. “This game, I think we were playing just as slow as them, which is just not us.”
The Ravens emerged in the second quarter, breaking through uOttawa’s defence and outpacing the Gee-Gees 23-10. It was the only quarter in which Carleton outscored uOttawa by more than one point.
The Gee-Gees came back from Louis’ halftime buzzer-beater with new life, trading baskets with the Ravens and going on an 8-3 run to end the third quarter. In the fourth, uOttawa clawed back to within eight points with two minutes left, but Carleton pulled away to secure the win.
Carleton centre Biniam Ghebrekidan ended the game with 14 points. Guard Gage Sabean led the Gee-Gees with 23 points and five rebounds.
Capital Hoops was the only game the Ravens lost in the 2019-20 season. Despite the win this year, head coach Taffe Charles said there is still more work to be done.
“Twenty-five per cent of the game I liked. The other 75 per cent I didn’t like,” Charles said. “We weren’t ready to compete at the level we needed to compete.”
Previously this season, Carleton beat up on teams with more losses than wins. They’ve played the 1-8 Ontario Tech Ridgebacks, 2-7 York Lions, 3-6 Nipissing Lakers and 4-5 Laurentian Voyageurs. By comparison, the Gee-Gees were 8-0 entering Friday.
“They caused a little bit more issues that we normally don’t see,” Charles said. “We’ve probably been playing like that the whole time, just some teams don’t make us do that.”
Charles said the team needs to get out to a faster start and improve sharpness on the offensive end. They also need better purpose and consistency, he said.
The benefit of facing a strong team like the Gee-Gees is the Ravens now have video of how a good team will attack them, according to Charles. Instead of pressing players for mistakes made against losing teams, Carleton’s coaching staff has real examples of what a good team will do to them.
“Now you can see that, yeah, guys, this is what we’ve been talking about,” Charles said. “When we don’t do things properly, then we’re going to be in trouble.”
Carleton now has only four regular season games left—two next weekend against the University of Toronto Varsity Blues, then two against the Queen’s Gaels on March 11 and 12. The OUA playoffs begin March 16 with the U Sports national championship scheduled for April 1-3.
“We’re still making strides. We’re still practicing hard and there’s things we need to fix,” Louis said. “We’re still not ready.”
For Louis, though, just being back at Capital Hoops is a win in itself.
“A year ago, I had no idea if we were going to play again,” Louis said. “It’s a blessing more than anything else.”
Featured image by Isaac Phan Nay.
