The Carleton Ravens men’s basketball team closed out 2021 with two wins against the York Lions this weekend, improving to 6-0 on the season ahead of a six-week break for the holidays.
Carleton struggled Friday in an eventual 92-71 win, trailing by one point at the end of the first quarter and ending the first half up only 44-41. But the team bounced back on Saturday, outscoring the Lions 47-19 in the first two quarters on the way to an 87-48 victory.
Entering this weekend, Carleton averaged 10.3 turnovers per game. The Ravens gave up 22 on Friday alone, which York took advantage of with 27 points off turnovers.
“It was sloppy,” head coach Taffe Charles said. “I’m not super happy. I thought we had an underwhelming performance.”
Charles said the Ravens struggled with court spacing; when one player has the ball, the other four on the court should know where to go. This was lacking on Friday.
The Lions are also a big and physical team, leading Ontario University Athletics (OUA) in blocks per game. The Ravens struggled to score at the rim, forcing them to change their game plan part way through the game.
Those errors allowed the Lions, with only one win this season, to stick around longer than expected before the Ravens pulled away with a 24-9 third quarter.
Friday was a continuation of the struggles that have plagued the Ravens throughout the early parts of their season. Carleton was sluggish in the first quarter of its opening weekend against the Nipissing Lakers and led by only two points after the first half last weekend against the Ontario Tech Ridgebacks.
Charles said part of the challenge is how the Ravens practice. They play against each other all week and are caught off guard when playing a different team that does things differently. Making adjustments to how the other team is playing requires experience, which Carleton is short of with a young roster.
“We have a hard time adjusting to [the opposing team] early,” Charles said. “It’s hard to get them to make that next level of adjustment.”
Despite the challenges, Carleton still leads the OUA in scoring margin by more than 15 points, a sign of the Ravens’ strength. For a program with sky-high expectations, that’s often not enough.
“Our program is based on winning it at the end,” Charles said. “That’s what we’ve signed up for and I think everybody we coach and everybody who plays understands that this is what we are.”
Carleton successfully adjusted on Saturday, fielding a more defensive lineup and leading the Lions 47-19 at the half after a buzzer-beating jump shot from guard Nelson Cilien. Carleton gave up only seven points on 10 turnovers.
The Ravens did slow down in the second half, outscoring York by only nine points.
“It’s hard to complain about things that happened in the second half when you’re up so much,” Charles said.
Forward Lloyd Pandi led the way for the Ravens, scoring 17 points in addition to his team-leading 19 points on Friday. Forward Grant Shephard also contributed a combined 25 points over the weekend.
On York’s side, guard Prince Kamunga put up a combined 44 points, the most by any player on either team.
Carleton won’t play again until Jan. 8, when they face the uOttawa Gee-Gees in the second half opener. Charles said the team will use their six-week break to get healthy and establish roles for young players on the team.
Featured image provided by Sanmaan Bodake/York Lions.
