The Carleton Ravens men's basketball team went 1-1 to start 2026 with a win over Queen's on Friday, followed by a 67-59 loss to Ontario Tech on Saturday.
The Ravens came out strong against the Gaels on Friday, outscoring the visitors 19-13 in the first quarter. Emanuel Milon was the driving force in the first quarter, delivering 8 points and five rebounds as Carleton quickly built their lead.
Carleton's momentum faltered in the second as Queen's battled back with 8 points from Ashton Bain. Despite the Ravens shooting 47.4% in the quarter, a layup from Ollie Engen in the final minute saw Queen's outscore Carleton 22-21 and cut the lead to 5 at the half.
Engen continued to drive the Gaels in the third quarter as they erased the Ravens' lead and took a five-point lead of their own into the fourth. After the Gaels extended their lead to 7, MJ Okado hit back-to-back shots, and Milon drained a jumper to tie the game at 59, less than two minutes into the quarter. After Queen's regained the lead. Mark Dike and Aubrey Dorey-Havens scored back-to-back to give Carleton the lead midway through the quarter.
The Gaels made it within two before Okado drained another pair of threes with three minutes to play, putting Carleton ahead by 8. Scoring 17 points in the fourth quarter, Okado would put the game away as the Ravens downed Queen's 84-72.
Carleton's 32-point fourth quarter on Friday didn't translate into early success on Saturday. Emanuel Milon had 6 points and 5 rebounds in the first quarter, but it wasn't enough to slow down the red hot Keon Baker as he led Ontario Tech to a 17-16 lead. Baker had 12 points on 4-7 shooting as he built towards a career-high 42 points.
Baker would shoot 54.5%, including going 5 for 7 from downtown, to lead Tech all night long. Already with 26 points at the half, Baker was proving tough to stop for the Ravens, though they did lead by three at the break. Trying to go toe-to-toe with Baker, Milon led the Ravens with 7 points in the second quarter while Okado hit a pair of threes and connected with Emanuel Suzama on an in-bound pass alley-oop dunk for one of his two assists on the night.
Running a smaller line-up without Louth Coulibaly, the Ravens struggled inside in the third quarter and shot only 30.8% from the field. With Emmanuel Okonkwo heating up in support of Keon Baker, the Ridgebacks held Carleton to 12 points and took a 5-point lead into the fourth.
Baker single-handedly outscored the Ravens in the fourth, dropping another dozen points, while Carleton went 0-5 from the deep. Carleton did claw their way back, making it a 1-point game with 3:41 to play, but the Ravens never scored again, as Baker scored 5 of the Ridgebacks' final 7 points to put the game out of reach.
Carleton now hosts Toronto and TMU at home on January 16 and 17. The Ravens are throwing it back on Friday with $2 student tickets and a special Y2K Night, including custom playlists and special prizes for students in the crowd.
