The Carleton Ravens men’s basketball team improved their record to 8-0 after beating the Wilfrid Laurier Golden Hawks 84-68 in a battle of the undefeated Dec. 3 at the Ravens’ Nest.
“I think we’re getting used to each other and we’re improving on offense,” said third-year guard Philip Scrubb. “I think there’s still room for improvement but we’re having fun.”
The Ravens quickly took an 11-point lead about two minutes into the game — a lead they never gave up thanks to strong defensive work.
The Ravens used their full-court pressure to force turnovers and generate offence.
“If we can keep the pace . . . then we become tough to cover and if the pace gets slow then our lack of size becomes an issue,” said Ravens head coach Dave Smart.
Scrubb and third-year forward Tyson Hinz led the team offensively, netting 21 and 18 points respectively.
Despite the 84-68 win, Smart said the Ravens need to improve defensively.
“We can’t make some of the fundamental mistakes we made tonight in terms of switches and things like that,” Smart said. “If we get better defensively, then we can get out of transitions well.”
Both Smart and Scrubb said the team also needs to work on their rebounding in the second half of the season.
“We’ve gotten away from [rebounding] the past few weeks and we’ve gotten out rebounded by other teams, but we just got to keep working hard,” Scrubb said.
The win against Laurier followed a 102-53 victory over the Waterloo Warriors the previous night.
Third-year forward Dan Penner led the Ravens with 22 points, while fifth-year guard Willy Manigat chipped in with 21.
Penner got a few crowd pleasers in Dec. 2 against the Warriors, slamming home a dunk halfway through the third quarter followed by back-to-back three pointers.
The Ravens will look to continue their winning streak against the York Lions Jan. 6 at the Ravens’ Nest.
CIS Top Ten Rankings:
1. Carleton University
2. St. Francis Xavier University
3. Lakehead University
4. University of Saskatchewan
5. University of Victoria
6. University of Alberta
7. University of British Columbia
8. Wilfrid Laurier University
9. University of the Fraser Valley
10. Concordia University
— source: Canadian Interuniversity Sport
