Ravens Sports Information (Photo by Valerie Wutti)
OTTAWA - The Carleton Ravens swept their first home weekend of 2023, beating the Guelph Gryphons 78-73 on Saturday night.
After a close game on Friday night against the Ontario Tech Ridgebacks the Carleton Ravens started quickly on Saturday opening up a 9-2 run by the midway point of the first quarter. Khalid Ismail would help Guelph battle back, scoring seven points in the final two minutes of the quarter to give the Gryphons the 19-16 lead after 1.
The Ravens looked to settle back in early in the second quarter with Connor Vreeken (Kingston, Ont.) hitting a deep three to tie the game in the opening minute. Marjok Okado (Calgary, Alta.) and Wazir Latiff (Vaughan, Ont.) would add three-pointers of their own. The Ravens' small lead would be challenged throughout the quarter as Guelph continued to dig in. The two teams would go back and forth to finish the half before Ismail nailed a diving three at the buzzer to send the two teams to the locker room tied at 38.
The Ravens deep ball continued to be the difference in the third quarter. Four Ravens drained threes in the quarter as the team shot 63.2% from beyond the arc through thirty minutes. Despite the Ravens' hot shooting, they led by only nine after a last-second floater from Khalid Ismail fell for the Gryphons.
Guelph would battle back to start the fourth, a pair of jumpers from Emmanuel Ansah and a three from Ismail quickly erased the Ravens' lead. With the lead down to two, Vreeken and Ansah would trade threes as the game reached the final six minutes. After Emmanuel Ansah missed two shots from the line, Connor Vreeken stepped up and drained a long three to stretch out the lead.
After Keenan Dowell hit a corner three of his own, Marjok Okado would respond with his third of the game. After Viktor Nausedas made it a one-point game with a classic three-point play, the Gryphons were forced to follow. At the line, Grant Shephard (Kelowna, B.C.) went two-for-two giving the Ravens a three-point lead with 9.5 seconds to play.
On the ensuing inbounds, Dezayne Mingo’s inbound found Dowell but the long off-balance three wouldn’t fall. The Gryphons would be forced to foul again and the Ravens would grind out the rest of the matchup.
The Ravens are in action in Toronto next weekend before returning home to face Queen's on Friday, January 27, 2023.
"We played with effort today, we played pretty hard, we just turned the ball over too much."
"It's been a challenging week in terms of the stuff that we did. We found a way to get some results but we need to find a way to play better."
"We just got to make the best we can with what we have . . . we can't make excuse for it, we just have to find a way to get a bit better and to improve."
