Ravens stick to the basics in opening win over Dinos
Three-point shooting, rebounding key as Carleton kicks off nationals in style
Doing what they do best — rebounding and making threepointers — the Carleton Ravens opened the U Sports men’s basketball championship in Halifax with an 85-69 win over the University of Calgary Dinos on Thursday afternoon.
The Ravens doubled the Dinos on the boards, winning the rebounding battle 48-24, and made 14 threes, compared to just four for Calgary.
“When it really came down to it in the fourth quarter, I thought our depth did some positive things and they wore out a little bit at the defensive end,” Carleton coach Dave Smart said.
“They did a heck of a job defensively for three quarters. We got good looks and key offensive boards in the fourth quarter and that’s a credit to how hard we work throughout to turn it into a 40-minute game, as opposed to a slow-it-down, play-six-guys game.”
National player of the year Connor Wood was one of three Ravens to score 16 points, all but two coming in the second half. Calgary’s defence held him to just two attempts in the first half.
“I just felt like I started getting more open shots once (Emmanuel Owootoah) and Kaza (KajamiKeane) started making a few, so they had to get up on them and once they started penetrating, it got me open,” Wood said. “Especially when we started offensive rebounding in the second half, I got more looks off that, too, because they’d lose me.”
Owootoah and Kajami-Keane both had 16 for the winners, with Kajami-Keane adding nine assists.
The game was a rematch of last year’s national championship game, which Carleton won by 22 points.
“We knew Calgary was going to be a tough matchup. They’ve got three extremely explosive players and, debatably, the best scorer in the country the past two years in (Thomas) Cooper. We put a plan together in terms of slowing Cooper down as much as we could and to keep him off the foul line. I thought we did a decent job in the first half; in the second half, he got there a few more times,” Smart said.
Cooper had 17 points, six rebounds and four assists to lead Calgary, while Mambi Diawara had 15 and David Kapinga 11.
The one area in which Calgary outplayed its opponent was in turnovers. The Dinos forced 21 giveaways and at times made the Ravens look unlike their normally efficient selves.
“We’ve been struggling with turnovers all year and we’re trying to find answers. Part of it today was Kaza getting in foul trouble and not being on the floor as much. We have just as much talent, but we have a different set of guys on the floor together and sometimes we’re not on the same page,” said Smart, who happy with his bench, which outscored Calgary’s 36-11.
“In terms of scoring, it fluctuates, but in terms of what we get out of them defensively and in rebounding and pace changing, that’s been our strength.”
Carleton led 41-31 at the half and Calgary briefly cut the deficit to five at the end of the third quarter. With his season ending with losses to Carleton two years in a row, Calgary coach Dan Vanhooren said Smart’s team did nothing to surprise him.
“Not a thing, not one thing. They’re not about surprises. They run their ball screen, they’re going to relentlessly rebound and they went after the boards on us for sure; they had 17 offensive rebounds. Surprisingly, they turned it over 21 times and that shows where we’re at defensively and what we’re capable of,” Vanhooren said.
“I thought we battled in the third really well, then ran out of steam partway through the fourth and couldn’t sustain the energy level we needed to.”
When it ... came down to it in the fourth quarter, I thought our depth did some positive things and they wore out a little bit at the defensive end.