The Carleton Ravens men’s basketball team are OUA silver medalists after falling 66-56 against the TMU Bold.
The Bold led by seven after six minutes of play as Carleton shot just 22.2% from the field. Despite six points from MJ Okado, the Ravens couldn’t find an answer for TMU’s depth as 7 different scorers netted baskets in the opening ten minutes.
Carleton found only a little more rhythm in the second, shooting just 27.8% while also going 0-2 from the foul line. For their struggles in the opening half, the Ravens trailed by 11 at the half.
Carleton started mounting a comeback in the second half, coming to within six points before turnovers cost the Ravens their comeback. With 28 turnovers on the night, when Carleton wasn’t missing shots, their ball control was an issue. Nelson Cilien led the charge in the third. The newly crowned defensive player of the year cranked up the offence, scoring 7 points as Carleton tried to claw back.
The Ravens would shoot over 40% in the fourth quarter and bring the score to six on multiple occasions, but the early gap was too much to overcome as Carleton would lose by 10.
Despite the loss, the Ravens had already qualified for the U SPORTS Final 8 in Calgary. They’ll learn their seed and first-round opponent on Sunday afternoon. Tournament action gets underway on Friday with quarterfinal games.
