December 5, 2022 - By: Korry Brankin (Photo by: Valerie Wutti / Blitzen Photography)
OTTAWA - The Ravens bounced back and grab a dominant 99-71 win against the Algoma Thunderbirds to end the first half of the season.
Starting the game slowly, the Ravens were forced to play a back-and-forth game early but an Aiden Warnholtz (Ottawa, Ont.) three started the Ravens' scoring and it was all uphill from there as he finished the quarter with 12 points to lead all scorers. The Ravens finished the quarter shooting 50% from the field and 44.4% from the beyond as they took a 27-20 lead.
“Kind of started off a little bit slow in the competitive level," acknowledged head coach Taffe Charles. "You know at the end of the day it’s about getting possessions. Each team has 90-100 possessions, we probably started slow on the first 10-15 possessions, we got another 85 possessions” said Head Coach Taffe Charles on his team’s start against Algoma.
The Ravens zoned in on their offence in the second quarter and fed the hot hand in Wazir Latiff (Vaughn, Ont.) as he finished the quarter with 15 points and 2 assists and Grant Shephard (Kelowna, B.C.) added 6 of the 14 points in the paint for the Ravens, helping them outscore the Thunderbirds 25-11 in the quarter to take a 52-31 lead heading into halftime.
The Ravens came out from the break pushing the pace and playing strong, physical basketball. MJ Okado (Calgary, Alb.) came alive in the third quarter, scoring 14 points and going 4-7 from beyond the arc as Wazir Latiff (Vaughan, Ont.) added 6 more to his point total along with 3 rebounds as the Ravens took an 80-47 over the Thunderbirds.
As they headed into the final quarter, the Ravens looked to close out the game by playing consistently on both ends of the floor. The Ravens shot the ball well, going 9-19 from the field but gave up too many fouls and allowed the Thunderbirds into the bonus with 1:26 remaining in the game. Algoma went on to outscore the Ravens 24-19 in the fourth quarter, but this was not enough to pull out the win as the Ravens went on to defeat the Thunderbirds 99-71.
Head Coach Taffe Charles emphasized that “it’s about the results, it’s not about how much you score.” The Ravens will use this momentum when they return to the Ravens' Nest on Friday, January 13, 2023, against the Ontario Tech Ridgebacks (1-7).
