The Carleton Ravens swept Opening Weekend presented by McKeen Metro Glebe with an 88-78 win over the visiting Lakehead Thunderwolves.
The new Ravens led the way in the opening quarter with Augustus Brazdeikis (Oakville, Ont.) and Noah Horobetz Simpson (Winnipeg, Man.) leading the offence in the opening ten minutes. By the end of the opening ten minutes, Carleton led Lakehead 22-9.
In the second quarter, the Ravens looked to pull away from the Thunderwolves with first-year point guard Xavier Spencer (Calgary, Alta.) commanding the ball through the paint on a series of end-to-end runs. The Ravens would get into foul trouble late in the quarter but continued to shoot over 50% in the half as they held on to lead 50-34.
Lakehead fired back to start the third, going on a 7-4 run in the opening 3:30 of the half. The Thunderwolves cut the lead to as little as 6 during the third, taking advantage of foul trouble for the Ravens to climb back into the contest. For the Thunderwolves, it was the three-ball that helped them climb back quickly with Chris Sagl hitting an acrobatic three late in the third to put pressure on the Ravens' lead. With both teams trading baskets late in the quarter, Carleton would lead by 7 after three.
The Ravens would see their lead slip to four midway through the fourth quarter with Lakehead finding success from three-point range but Carleton would stick with it. The Ravens would continue to take the quarter one play at a time and would rebuild their 9-point lead in the final minutes. With both teams in bonus, Carleton was able to use their physical offensive style to continue to work their way to the line.
The Ravens will finish 2023 with five consecutive games on the road before returning home to open 2024 in January.
