Ravens guard Nelson Cilien (23) dribbles around a Gee-Gees defender on Dec. 4 at the Ravens Nest in Ottawa. Cilien scored five points in Carleton’s 71-62 loss, their second in a row. [Photo by Marc Lafleur/Carleton Ravens]

Despite a hot start, the Carleton Ravens men’s basketball team dropped their Dec. 4 contest 71-62 to the uOttawa Gee-Gees in front of a sold-out home crowd at the Ravens’ Nest.

Carleton led by 12 points, in their last game of the calendar year, but the Gee-Gees pieced together a comeback, dropping the Ravens to a 9-2 record heading into the winter break.

After starting the season on a nine-game win streak, Carleton is now on a two-game losing skid. 

“Just not good enough,” said Ravens head coach Taffe Charles on his team’s performance. “Not skilled enough, not strong enough, not confident enough.”

He said his young Ravens team struggled against the more experienced Gee-Gees.

After a back-and-forth start, the Ravens pulled away early and took a commanding 33-21 lead. Guard Aubrey Dorey-Havens lifted the home crowd to their feet, leading the way for Carleton through the first two quarters. He scored all of his 11 total points and shot an impressive three of four attempts from beyond the arc in the first half.

“He played better, and he is a bit of a key for our team,” Charles said. 

Dorey-Havens finished the game shooting 42.9 per cent from three after hitting just one of his last 15 attempts over the previous three games.

Halfway through the second quarter, the Gee-Gees took over, going on an 18-3 run to end the half ahead 39-36. 

Gee-Gees guard Ankit Choudhary closed off the quarter with a massive dagger from the arc to put the Gee-Gees on top. Choudhary and guard Jacques-Mélaine Guemeta fueled the comeback with 16 points and 11 points, respectively, by halftime.

Choudhary finished with a game-high 28 points on the night. His dominance continued as the Ravens played from behind for the entire second half.

The Ravens were able to keep the Gee-Gees within reach in the third quarter thanks to a strong quarter by forward Emanuel Milon and nine points of help from the bench. Milon finished with a team-high 13 points and grabbed 6 rebounds. 

“It wasn’t enough to help my team win, so I’m not even thinking about it,” Milon said.

The Ravens managed to cut the Gee-Gees’ lead to just three points midway through the fourth quarter, but that was as close as they would get, as the Gee-Gees held on for a 71-62 victory.

Milon said the shots “weren’t falling” for the Ravens as their lead slipped away in the second quarter.

The Ravens’ accuracy struggled, going 32.4 per cent from the field compared to the Gee-Gees’ 44.3 per cent rate. They were also plagued by turnovers, giving possession away 15 times throughout the game.

“We start off games OK, but at the end of the day, when the other teams are down, we’ve got to decide whether we’re going to take a stand or not and we haven’t shown the courage to do it yet,” Charles said.

Heading into the month-long break, Milon said the focus is on improvement in the new year.

“Right now, we’ve just got to focus on us getting better every day,” Milon said. “The past is the past, now we’ve got to focus on who we are as a team right now.”

Charles said even though he’s disappointed the team won’t have an opportunity to bounce back for another month, the break is an opportunity for his players to get healthy and get stronger.

“I get to sit back and really figure out where we need to go,” Charles said. “We’re not where we need to be.”

The Ravens will have to wait until Jan. 10 for their next game, when they take on the Toronto Varsity Blues on the road.

They will tip off against the Gee-Gees once again on Feb. 7 for the annual Capital Hoops Classic at TD Place Arena.

Featured Photo by Marc Lafleur/Carleton Ravens

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