The Carleton Ravens men’s basketball team clinched yet another title at the 22nd annual House-Laughton Hoops Classic Oct. 16, cruising to a 104-61 victory over the Guelph Gryphons in the final game of the three-day tournament.
The tournament crown marks the 11th straight for the Ravens at the pre-season event.
Things were always going to be difficult for the winless Gryphons, as Carleton came into the contest on the back of two straight victories over the Bishop’s Gaiters and the University of Victoria Vikes.
Sophomore guard Philip Scrubb led the Ravens once again, notching a game-high 21 points and adding five assists. With Scrubb running the point, Carleton jumped on top early, closing out the opening quarter with a commanding 22-9 lead.
The Richmond, B.C. native picked up right where he left off Oct. 15 against the Vikes, when he posted a tournament-high 27 points to go along with three assists and two steals.
With an average of 19.3 points over the three games, Scrubb was named tournament MVP during the trophy presentation ceremony.
He received a standing ovation from the crowd inside the Ravens’ Nest.
“It’s always good to get individual awards, but the most important thing is that we won as a team and I think we played pretty well all weekend,” said Scrubb, who also received MVP honours at the Eric Garland National tournament Sept. 30-Oct. 2.
Just as they did in their opening game of the tournament against the Gaiters, coach Dave Smart’s men dominated the battle on the glass, out-rebounding the visitors by a 42-16 margin.
But while the Ravens did much of their damage in the paint in the previous two games, they put on a shooting clinic from beyond the three-point line in their final game of the tournament.
Fifth-year veterans Willy Manigat and Elliot Thompson led charge, each connecting on a handful of shots from downtown.
“We just like to take what the defence gives us, whether it’s threes or lay-ups we’ll take anything we can get,” Scrubb said. “They gave us some open looks and we knocked them down.”
Despite the convincing victory, Smart said there’s still work to be done before their 2011-12 regular season campaign begins.
“We did some good things, but we’re struggling with some things just in terms of putting 40 minutes of concentration together,” he said. “But it’s still early in the season and everybody has those struggles.”
While another trophy in the cabinet is nice, both Smart and Scrubb agreed that this tournament is more important for the development of the younger players on the roster.
One of those youngsters is highly-touted rookie Justin Shaver, who said he’s using these pre-season games to help him get accustomed to the Ravens’ style of play.
“[I’m learning] to be tough, both mentally and physically, fighting through walls and just bearing down and digging in. That’s what Carleton pride is all about, so I’m trying to get that into my game and once I do everything else will follow,” he said.
“I get to learn from the best players in the country day-in and day-out and that’s the one thing I enjoy the most, just trying to become as good as I can, as fast as I can.”
Another youngster who impressed over the weekend was 6”5’ guard Guillaume Boucard.
With the crowd simply going through the motions watching their Ravens cruise to another easy win, Boucard decided to get them out of their seats with two big plays in the second half against the Gryphons.
First, the Montreal native raced back to deny a Gryphons lay-up with a soaring block, rising up and swatting the ball against the backboard. That was followed by an equally impressive two-handed dunk in the final quarter.
The slam put an exclamation mark on a successful weekend for the Ravens, who now have almost an entire month to prepare for their regular season tip-off against the McMaster Marauders Nov. 11.