The Carleton Ravens men’s basketball team got two big wins this weekend against the Western Mustangs and the Windsor Lancers.
The Ravens took on the Mustangs first on Nov. 27, Western coming into the game as the sixth best team in the Canadian Interuniversity Sport, were led by their star swingman Greg Morrow, who had 21 points and seven rebounds in the loss.
The Ravens started the game with some interior defence, holding the Mustangs to just five points in the first quarter. After previous concerns about focus and readiness for games, the Ravens squad showed why they are the number two seeded in the country.
Carleton guard Stanley Mayambo closed out the first half with three three-pointers in the last three minutes, and Carleton had a comfortable 41-16 lead at halftime.
Gavin Resch, fifth-year Ravens guard, set a career high with seven threes. After making just one three in the opening half, he went six of eight to close out the game, finishing with 21 points on seven made threes.
Resch credited his teammates, saying, “A lot of them were catch and shoots, technically those points should go to whoever passed me the ball,” he said. “I do get more aggressive after I’ve hit a couple shots, though.”
Ryan Ejim added 12 points in the second half, along with two huge dunks, to put the Ravens over the top, and the Ravens ended the game up 83-47.
“I just gotta play my role, bring energy, rebound, defend,” Ejim said. “If I get an opportunity on offence I take advantage of it, but I don’t try to do too much.”
Ejim finished with 18 points and seven rebounds.
On the second night of their back-to-back, the Ravens took on the Windsor Lancers, fresh off a loss against the University of Ottawa (U of O). The Ravens started the game red-hot, outscoring the Lancers by 23 in the opening quarter. With a balanced effort, 10 different Ravens scored in the first half, and the Ravens were up 63-26 by the end of the second.
“We made that effort in practice—to come out strong and stay strong and hold everyone accountable,” Ejim said.
“They’re big and they’re athletic, so we have to play a certain way against them fundamentally,” Resch said.
The Lancers were unable to get any momentum during the game, being outplayed by the Ravens everywhere. The Ravens especially dominated the boards, where they outrebounded the Lancers 56-26. The Ravens starters played under 20 minutes as coach Rob Smart opted to give his younger players some game experience.
Ejim had another big game off the bench with 10 points and 10 rebounds, and Kaza Kajami-Keane and Guillaume Payen Boucard both added 19 points for Carleton as the Ravens defeated Windsor 99-52. Kajami-Keane also added six assists to put him at 48 on the season, good for first in the CIS.
With the two wins, the Ravens now sit at 7-0 to close out the first half of the season, tied for first with the U of O Gee-Gees. Carleton will have a little over a month to prepare for their next game, an eagerly-awaited matchup with the Gee-Gees on Jan. 17.
