AROUND OUA: No. 1 Ravens win Top 10 encounter with No. 5 Badgers
OTTAWA, ON — The Carleton Ravens men’s basketball team overcame their toughest challenge of the early season on Friday, handing the Brock Badgers their first loss of the campaign in an 80-68 win at home.
SCOREBOARD
McMaster 59 @ Ottawa 79
Algoma 76 @ York 73
Brock 68 @ Carleton 80
Laurentian 75 @ Laurier 81
Nipissing 83 @ Waterloo 78
No. 1 Ravens win Top 10 encounter with No. 5 Badgers
OTTAWA, ON — The Carleton Ravens men's basketball team overcame their toughest challenge of the early season on Friday, handing the Brock Badgers their first loss of the campaign in an 80-68 win at home.
Senior guard Kaza Kajami-Keane (Ajax, ON) led Carleton with 16 points and 9 assists, as the Ravens improved their record to 4-0 in the regular season to remain undefeated.
The Badgers opened up the scoring with a triple by Tyler Brown. The Ravens came right back with a Connor Wood (Guelph, ON) three, and the two teams traded baskets to start the game. Rookie forward Eddie Ekiyor (Ottawa, ON) had a great opening quarter for the Ravens, scoring 6 points to give them a 19-12 lead at the end of the first.
Dani Elgadi of the Badgers, who won CIS First-Team All-Canadian honours last year, picked up two quick fouls in the first and another at the beginning of the second, reducing his playing time to just seven minutes in the first. Without their star player, the Badgers struggled to create consistent offence, shooting just 36.7% in the first half.
The second quarter saw more back and forth play from the Ravens and Badgers, with Brock able to hit some jumpers to shrink the gap. Both teams played with a balanced offence, with no player on either team scoring more than 6 points by halftime. The Badgers outscored the Ravens 18-16 in the second, and Carleton remained ahead by five points, 35-30, going into the third.
The third quarter began with some hot shooting by both teams, with the Ravens and Badgers shooting a combined 7-for-8 to start the second half. Carleton finally took control of the game halfway through the quarter, going on a 10-0 run that included two huge dunks by Ekiyor and Ryan Ejim (Toronto, ON). After a nice stepback jumper by Connor Wood to end the third, the Ravens went into the final period with a ten-point lead, 59-49.
The Badgers went on a small run near the end of the fourth, but by then it was too little, too late. The lead never went back down to single digits and the Ravens walked away with their fourth win of the season.
Kajami-Keane and Ekiyor were two of the four Ravens to score in double digits, joined by Wood with 15 points and Marcus Anderson (Brampton, ON) with 10. Ekiyor had 6 boards to go with his 12 points in a terrific showing off the bench.
With Elgadi in foul trouble for most of the game, the Badgers looked to Johneil Simpson, who responded with an 18-point outing, along with four rebounds and two huge blocks. Elgadi finished with just 8 points in 15 minutes.
The Ravens will play the McMaster Marauders tomorrow (Dec.3) at the Raven's Nest, where they will look to keep their winning streak alive.
Source: Carleton Ravens
Garnet and grey top Marauders 79-59
The no. 4 nationally ranked Gee-Gees men's basketball team came out on top of its first Top Ten matchup of the regular season, taking down the no. 7 ranked McMaster Marauders by a 79-59 score on Friday night.
Jean Emmanuel Pierre-Charles led all scorers with 21 points and also collected three huge blocks and three steals as part of another strong defensive effort from Ottawa. McMaster was led by 19 points from Connor Gilmore, but shot just 35 per cent from the field as a team.
"Our defence sets the tone for us," said Pierre-Charles. "The first time playing at home it was easy to get energy to play D and we kept coming. The energy got the hops going and we pride ourselves on being an athletic defensive team."
Caleb Agada and Adam Presutti, who was masterful against his former team, added 17 points apiece for the Gee-Gees cause. Brody Maracle led the squad with eight rebounds.
Using the home crowd to buoy the energy, Ottawa jumped out to a 17-5 lead to start the game. After McMaster made a run to open the second quarter and close the gap to 23-20, the Gee-Gees responded out of a time out with a pair of transition buckets from Pierre-Charles before
Matt Plunkett stepped into a quick-release three to make it 41-29. At that point the electricity in Montpetit Hall was cranked up loud by the packed student section.
The physicality picked up at the start of the second half; inside buckets were harder to come by and rebounding meant risking a trip to the floor. Solid two-way player Calvin Epistola provided energy-adding plays to a game that was not lacking in energy. Presutti capped off the third quarter with a three-pointer at the buzzer which put Ottawa up by 20 points for the first time in the contest.
"Overdue is the word for the energy tonight," said Derouin. "To have the parents and the students out here was really good energy. You could see the energy written all over the game."
Source: Ottawa Gee-Gees
Thunderbirds come back in second half to defeat Lions
The Algoma Thunderbirds men's basketball team came back in the second half offensively and defensively to defeat the York Lions, 76-73.
The Algoma Thunderbirds men's basketball team came back in the second half offensively and defensively to defeat the York Lions 76-73.
Jermaine Lyle led the Thunderbirds in the win with 18 points, 1 rebound, and 1 steal. Jacob Clendinning had 13 points, 5 rebounds, and 3 steals.
Algoma's field goal percentage was 34.7%, they shot 26.5% from beyond the three-point line.
With the win, Algoma snapped their four-game losing streak and improves to 2-6 in the OUA West.
Brandon Ramirez led the Lions with 16 points and 4 rebounds.
Algoma closes out their 2016-17 season on the road in Kingston tomorrow night at 8:00pm against the Queen's Gaels.
Source: Algoma Thunderbirds
Warriors falter down the stretch in loss to Nipissing
Waterloo was seemingly in control of their second last game of 2016 holding the lead for the majority of the contest but a pair of late three's would give Nipissing the 83-78 win on Friday night at the PAC.
The Warriors held a five point lead into half and extended it to a 10 point lead but the Lakers kept coming back at the black and gold. The Warriors and Lakers finished with almost the exact same field goal percentage (41.6% vs. 41.3%) but the difference came from the free throw line as Nipissing went to the charity stripe 22 times, with 13 of those dropping in. The visitors also corralled more rebounds with 45 boards compared to 38 for Waterloo.
David Ramon Prados (Madrid/Virgen de Atocha (North Platte College)) had an impactful game off the bench, finishing with a team high 15 points going 5-for-7 with four three-pointers. Justin Hardy (Waterloo/Sir John A. Macdonald Secondary) and Nedim Hodzic (Waterloo/Sir John A. Macdonald Secondary) both put up 12 points while Simon Petrov (Waterloo/Sir John A. Macdonald Secondary) had 11 and Mike Pereira (Kitchener/Resurrection Secondary) had 10. Pereira was also a monster on the boards with 12 rebounds in the loss.
Nipissing's attack came primarily from Jordon Campbell who had a game high 19 points while teammate Marcus Lewis was just as good with 14.
Waterloo will look to close out 2016 on a winning note tomorrow night when they host Laurentian at 8pm. The game can be viewed live on OUA.tv.
Source: Waterloo Warriors