Ravens Sports Information (Photo: Colin McKay)
OTTAWA (Nov. 3, 2024) - The Carleton Ravens men's basketball team continued their strong start to 2024 over the weekend picking up a sweep of Kitchener-Waterloo. The Ravens started the weekend strong on Friday night with a decisive 86-77 win over the Waterloo Warriors on Friday before beating Laurier 69-60 on Saturday night.
The Ravens' win on Friday looked to be a sure thing after a 31-13 first quarter, but quickly came into jeopardy as Waterloo came to life in the second quarter shooting 53% while Carleton cooled off to a limp at 26.3%.
Though Waterloo mounted a second-quarter comeback, narrowing the gap by outscoring Carleton 24-13, the Ravens never surrendered the lead.
In the third quarter, Carleton reasserted their dominance, outscoring Waterloo 24-21 and building back a comfortable margin. Noah Horobetz-Simpson (Winnipeg, Man.) was strong for the Ravens in the third, scoring 8 points in the paint on 4-5 shooting.
Timely free-throw shooting in the fourth quarter secured the Ravens' lead as they warded off Waterloo’s last-minute efforts to catch up. Going 6-8 at the line, Carleton was able to extend the lead on Waterloo and improve to 3-0.
The Ravens got off to a very different start on Saturday finding themselves in a battle with Laurier from the outset. With both teams needing more than three minutes to score the first field goal of the evening, shooting appeared to be a challenge for both teams.
Shooting just 25% in the opening quarter including a difficult 2-7 from beyond the arc, the Ravens struggled to find consistency. Continuing to struggle with the three ball in the second, the Ravens worked the ball inside to Horobetz-Simpson who scored seven points to help Carleton outscore Laurier 20-12 and take a six-point lead into the half.
Augustas Brazdiekis and MJ Okado (Edmonton, Alta.) got hot in the third quarter, helping the Ravens to fend off a Laurier comeback while extending the lead to eight after 30 minutes. The Ravens inability to take advantage of Laurier's seven turnovers in the frame limited their ability to pull away and proved challenging in the final quarter.
The Ravens starters carried the load in the fourth, scoring all 18 points to hold of Terrell Lloyd's 12 points and thwart the Laurier comeback.
"It was a good weekend overall," explained Ravens head coach Taffe Charles. "We got the results we wanted." Asked about the teams shooting struggles Charles would explain, "We didn't have a particularly great shooting night Saturday, but we found a way to win."
The Ravens now set their sights on a rare Sunday night home game when they host York, a challenge Charles and crew won't take lightly. "Our goal is to work on being more consistent during practice this week."
