OTTAWA - The Carleton Ravens have reclaimed their twelth Capital Hoops Classic title after a tough battle against the University of Ottawa Gee-Gees. The Ravens defeated the Gee-Gees 71–58.
Cordell Veira (Toronto, Ont.) had a strong performance for the Ravens both offence and defence. He finished the game shooting four for six from field goal range and racking up four defensive rebounds.
Carleton wrapped up the first quarter with a tight lead of 12-11 but pulled away in the second. Just before entering halftime with the lead, Alan Louis (Montreal, Que.) launched a half-court buzzer beater, sending the bench into a frenzy and ending the second quarter up 35-21.
Louis knew as soon as the ball left his hands it was going in. "The thing is as soon as it, I said to myself "that's going in". I knew it," Louis explained. He was the team’s top scorer during Friday’s game finishing with 17 points. The Ravens would keep their lead the rest of the game.
In the victory, the Ravens also got a notable performance from Biniam Ghebrekidan (Gatineau, Que.), who shot 7-for-13. Ghebrekidan scored most of his baskets from inside the paint even with the pressure from the Gee-Gees’ defence.
Despite the win, Coach Taffee Charles acknowledges the team has work left to do as they look to tighten up strategy. "We needed to do things with better purpose, better precision and more consistency," said Charles on the team’s performance.
For Louis, the improvement starts with maintaining control of the court. "I think we were playing slow, which is just not us. We need to play faster and just control the tempo of the game," he explained.
Now that the Capital Hoops trophy has returned to Alumni Hall, the team prepares for their next four games before the playoffs. They'll play against the University of Toronto on February 25th at 8:00 p.m. and February 26th at 5:00 p.m.
