The Carleton Ravens men’s basketball team defeated the Thompson Rivers Wolfpack 91-75 on March 17 in the first round of the Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) men’s basketball quarter-finals.
Hosted by the University of British Columbia, the Ravens and Wolfpack played in the opening game of the Final 8 at the Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Center. Carleton, looking for their sixth straight title, were challenged by the seventh-seeded WolfPack, who were playing in their first ever Final 8 tournament.
The WolfPack scored their first points of the game on a fastbreak dunk by forward Volodymyr Iegorov and proceeded to shoot well, making nine of their 14 field goal attempts in the opening quarter. The Ravens were able to stay in the game thanks to their six offensive rebounds, and nine straight points by Ravens forward Tajinder Lall put Carleton up 29-23 heading into the second.
“We have a lot of good players and we don’t really have a number one option. Anybody can go off any game,” Lall said.
Both team’s offences slowed down in the second, but the Ravens were able to take control of the game thanks to a huge effort by forward Ryan Ejim. Ejim, who scored six of the Raven’s nine points in the second, ended with 11 points and seven rebounds heading into halftime. Second-team All-Canadian Kaza Kajami-Keane, on the other hand, was unable to buy a bucket in the first half, missing all 10 of his shot attempts. The Ravens ended the first half leading by just five points.
“Kaza did a good job of just continuing to play his game,” said head coach Rob Smart. “Rather than getting tied up, he opened up things for Ryan [Ejim], Guillaume [Payen Boucard] and Connor [Wood].”
Thompson Rivers came out strong in the third quarter, with a pair of triples by Iegorov and guard Albert Medrano putting them up 43-42. Ejim responded with a putback to give the Ravens the lead again, and the two teams stayed close through the quarter.
With both tied at 50 apiece, Ravens All-Star Wood hit his second three of the quarter to put the Ravens up by three. On the Ravens next possession, Wood hit another shot to build on the lead. Guard Marcus Anderson ended the third quarter with a coast-to-coast layup, and the Ravens went into the final quarter up 65-60.
A huge block by Ravens forward Guillaume Payen Boucard to open the fourth gave the Ravens some momentum, and Carleton proceeded to score five straight points, including a Gavin Resch triple, to grab a 10-point lead, the biggest of the game. A fastbreak dunk by Lall with 3:24 left put the Ravens up by 15, and Carleton held the lead until the final buzzer.
“They were very good and we knew that coming in,” Ejim said. “We knew we needed a level of focus that was greater than we ever had.”
Ejim was the star of the game, putting up a huge double-double statline with 26 points and 14 rebounds. Wood added 18 points with five triples, while Payen Boucard also had a double-double with 15 points and 13 rebounds. Lall also had his biggest game of the year off the bench, with 15 points on six of eight shooting.
“Ryan [Ejim] did a great job of just seeing the ball and being the first one to it,” Smart said. “[Ryan] and T.J., those guys work their butt off when nobody sees it. The big thing about T.J. [Lall] is just how good he is defensively.”
Kajami-Keane ended the game just 1-15 from the field, but still contributed with nine assists.
“I knew if Kaza wasn’t scoring, he was going to find me,” Ejim said. “He’s not the type of person to just let one aspect control his entire game.”
Thompson Rivers forward Gerard Gore was the team’s catalyst, scoring 22 points.
“We knew it was going to be a fight from the beginning, and we know it’s going to be a fight next game,” Ejim said.
The Ravens will move on in the tournament to play either the Dalhousie Tigers on March 19 in a semifinal matchup.
