The Carleton Ravens men’s basketball team continued their drive for their first Wilson Cup championship since 2015 by beating the Laurentian Voyageurs 83-69.
The two teams were locked in a tight first half before the Ravens pulled away midway through the third quarter.
The Ravens were missing the services of point guard Emmanuel Owootoah, who hasn’t played since a win against the York Lions on Jan. 13.
The Voyageurs were without leading scorer and last season’s Ontario University Athletics (OUA) rookie of the year Kadre Gray due to an injury he suffered in a loss to Carleton on Feb. 10.
Laurentian made up for his absence with balanced scoring led by OJ Watson’s 18 points.
Carleton’s two leading scorers in the season were also their leading scorers in the game as Ottawa natives Eddie Ekiyor (20 points, seven rebounds) and Yasiin Joseph (26 points, 10 assists) led the way offensively.
The teams traded baskets throughout the first half with Carleton out to a quick 13-6 lead after a Stanley Mayambo three-pointer and a Joseph drive to the rim.
A lot of Carleton’s offence was centred around Joseph and Ekiyor attacking the paint. However, a late run by Laurentian cut Carleton’s lead to 19-17 to end the first quarter as the Voyageurs also ran their offence down low.
Watson dunked the ball to cut the Ravens’ lead to 22-21 early in the second as the visitors continued to attack the Ravens’ interior.
The teams kept exchanging layups as Ekiyor scored four straight points to put Carleton up 30-27. Laurentian’s strong play finally paid off as David Aromolaran three-pointer gave them a 32-30 lead.
However, Carleton would claw back to be up 39-36 at halftime thanks to layups by Joseph and a three-pointer by Cam Smythe.
The third quarter is when Carleton opened up a relatively sizeable lead as they held the Voyageurs to only 10 points.
Back-to-back three-pointers by Smythe and Marcus Anderson put the Ravens up 45-38. While Laurentian fought back with a Nelson Yengue layup, Carleton scored six straight points afterwards—courtesy of Joseph and Smythe scoring down low.
The lead would keep growing as Carleton opened the fourth quarter strong. The Ravens opened up their long-range as Joseph and Mitch Wood knocked down shots.
Carleton was able to draw fouls as Joseph (nine for 11 on free throws) and Ekiyor (two for five) got to the free throw line often to ice the game.
Joseph credited a sense of urgency for the second-half surge.
“The feeling in the locker room [at halftime was] it could have been our last game so we have to put our all in and just came out and competed at the end,” he said.
Joseph also downplayed the hype of a playoff-game against a nationally-ranked opponent—Laurentian finished the regular season ranked number 10 in U Sports.
“It’s a regular game,” he said. “They came out, they’re playing hard. We have to play harder. We have to match their intensity.”
However, Joseph said he expects the team’s playoff mentality to continue as the postseason does.
“There’s a sense of urgency because nationals are coming soon, OUA [finals] are coming soon,” he noted. “We just have to come as a team and work hard.”
The Ravens will now take on the Windsor Lancers in the semi-finals on Feb. 28.
Photo by Michael Sun
