The Carleton Ravens men’s basketball team extended their undefeated record to 17-0 with road wins against the Queen’s Gaels and York Lions.
The Ravens beat Queen’s 93-50 on Feb. 10 before defeating York by a score of 114-50.
“Both games were pretty good,” said forward Marcus Anderson following the games. “We started off pretty rough but we came out strong.”
The Queen’s game was close halfway through the first quarter, as the home team took a 7-6 when Gaels forward Jesse Graham hit a pair of free throws.
The Ravens struggled offensively, as leading scorer Connor Wood was one-for-five from three-point range in the opening quarter. The team was two-for-seven from three-point range and eight-for-23 overall.
But they reeled off 17 straight points to end the quarter with a 23-7 lead. Ravens guard Emmanuel Owootoah’s three-pointer and forward Eddie Ekiyor’s basket, along with a foul, began the run.
Carleton stretched its lead to 26 straight points when Wood hit a three-pointer two minutes into the second quarter, prompting Queen’s coach Stephan Barrie to call timeout.
By halftime, Carleton led 51-26, but Queen’s managed to keep up in the third as Carleton only outscored them 13-12.
Wood recovered from his slow start to lead the team with 17 points, while Kaza Kajami-Keane and Stanley Mayambo had 14 points each for the Ravens.
The Ravens got off to a better start the next night at York. They started with 13 straight points before York answered when Lions guard Jayden Fredrick hit a jumper three and a half minutes in.
Wood scored Carleton’s opening eight points. He hit a three-pointer 15 seconds in and a floater 30 seconds later. His corner three led to an early York timeout, and he finished with 17 points in the first and 20 overall.
The Ravens defence and three-point shooting was key to their 38-4 first quarter advantage. Carleton forced 11 turnovers in the quarter and 22 for the game. They scored 32 points off turnovers, while York only had eight.
Their three-point shooting percentage was better than their field-goal percentage at the end of the first half. Carleton shot 71.4 per cent from three and 71.1 per cent overall.
Ravens guard Joe Rocca and Owootoah led the three-point attack as Rocca was four-for-eight, while Owootoah was three-for-five. Rocca was also the leading scorer with 22 points.
“It’s all about spacing,” Anderson said. “Our coach preaches a lot of spacing so if we space well, we’re going to have a lot of open shots.”
“We try to focus on going hard all the time,” he said. “Our coach keeps on preaching intensity so if we’re intense and we’re causing turnovers, then we’re going to get a lot of points.”
The team closes out the regular season at home against the Ryerson Rams and University of Toronto Varsity Blues. The Ravens will have a chance to clinch first place and potentially host the Wilson Cup finals.
– Photo by Trevor Swann
