The Carleton men’s basketball team opened their season with an 89-67 victory against the University of Ottawa (U of O) Gee-Gees.
But, teammates say work ethic in practice remains a work in progress for the Ravens.
“Getting the win is always good but we need to focus more on defence and we got to work on putting a full 40 minutes together,” Ravens forward Eddie Ekiyor said.
Carleton and Ottawa went back-and-forth in the first quarter before a pair of dunks by Ravens forward TJ Lall and a three-pointer by Isiah Osborne blew the lead open. Lall finished with a game-high 31 points.
“TJ Lall just had one of those nights,” Gee-Gees head coach James Derouin said. “He was phenomenal. That’s option three or four for them. He was the difference . . . that was a breakout performance for him tonight and we didn’t have an answer for him.”
Ravens forward Marcus Anderson—who came to Carleton with Lall in 2015—praised his work ethic.
“Like everybody, he has his ups and downs,” Anderson said. “His ups are really good but his downs are really bad and he just needs to find a balance to make it consistent every day.”
Anderson, who Osborne called one of the team’s vocal leaders, criticized the team’s defence and lack of work ethic during practices.
“Some guys don’t try and bring enough competitiveness to every practice,” Anderson said. “It’s all about caring and if you don’t care to try to get better and bring intensity every day, you’re not going to get better.”
As one of the leaders and reigning U Sports Defensive Player of the Year, Anderson said he shoulders responsibility for increasing competitiveness and defence. He called it “a change of the culture of the team.”
“That’s great that they say that but I know they’re one of the hardest working teams in the country,” Derouin said. “They push them even past that and that’s what makes them great.”
Meanwhile, Derouin said he was pleased with his own team’s performance and the play of two rookies: Guillaume Pepin and Kevin Civil who combined for 19 points and 12 rebounds in the game.
The Gee-Gees have lost one or two key players every year in recent history. Gone are Johnny Berhanemeskal, Mike L’Africain, Caleb Agada, and former Raven Jean-Emmanuel Pierre Charles.
“That’s probably been the biggest challenge for this program,” Derouin said.
The Gee-Gees won the Wilson Cup in 2014 over Carleton and made the national championships a few times but have fallen short of the U Sports title.
With former Raven Brody Maracle sitting out the semester due to concussion issues, Derouin said veterans Brandon Robinson and Calvin Epistola have to step into leadership roles.
“He’s making an effort—he’s making strides,” Derouin said of Robinson. “I thought he played hard today, put his body on the line a number of times, inspired his teammates a little bit. It’s coming, it’s coming. This is the game leadership is all about.”
He added that Epistola, one of the captains, is a quiet leader who “really takes care of this team and makes it go.”
The constant “turnover” of players for the Gee-Gees has made beating the Ravens even harder now.
“I feel like this is the third time in a row we’ve played Carleton with three new starters or four new starters,” he said. “That makes it really difficult to beat them because they’re returning five, six, seven guys.”
The Ravens kick off their home opener at the Raven’s Nest against the Wilfrid Laurier Golden Hawks and the Waterloo Warriors on Nov. 2 and Nov. 3 respectively.
Photo by Tim Austen
