The Carleton Ravens men's basketball team springboarded their way back up the OUA standings this weekend with a pair of wins over Toronto and TMU. After beating the Varsity Blues 82-70 on Friday night, Carleton kept the party going on Saturday with a 77-56 win over the Bold.
On Friday night Carleton won all four quarters outscoring, leading 28-25 after a tight first quarter and slowly pulled away as the night went on. Wazir Latiff (Vaughan, Ont.) and Augustas Brazdeikis (Oakville, Ont.) led Carleton offensively on the night, with the graduating guard Latiff scoring 13 points in 21 minutes of play. Brazdeikis was fantastic all weekend for Carleton, scoring a double-double with 14 points and 14 rebounds on Friday night before recording 14 points and 8 rebounds on Saturday.
Callum Baker was red-hot for Toronto, recording 30 points in the loss. Still, Carleton could contain the Varsity Blues for most of the night holding Toronto below 35% shooting while dominating on rebounds 49-24.
The strong play on the glass continued for Carleton on Saturday, after honouring the veteran Latiff pregame, Carleton jumped out to a 16-13 lead after the first quarter and never surrendered the lead. Starting for the second straight night, Marjok Okado led Carleton with 20 points, while adding four rebounds and four assists.
The Ravens' towering centre, Noah Horobetz Simpson continued to impress inside. After eight points and nine rebounds on Friday, Simpson recorded 11 points and nine rebounds Saturday night while going a perfect 5-for-5 from the field. Carleton's effort on the glass, led in part by Horobetz Simpson, played a huge role in the team's success as they came away with 14 second-chance points to TMU's 2.
The Ravens will now head on the road to wrap up their regular season by facing Queen's and Ontario Tech next weekend before entering the OUA playoffs. Carleton is currently in a log jam amidst the top half of the OUA standings battling hard to host a playoff game on January 21.
