Box Score Guelph, ON - The top ranked team in the country, the Carleton Ravens, spoiled the Gryphons Men's Basketball home opener on Friday night in front of a soldout crowd at the W.F. Mitchell Athletics Centre as the Ravens won 85-59. With the result, Carleton improves to 3-0 on the season while the Gryphons fall to 1-2.
The start was promising for the Gryphons against the defending CIS Champions as their defense held up early but as the quarter went on, the Ravens started to assert themselves both offensively and defensively. A tightly contested opening quarter would end with Carleton's Kaza Kajami-Keane knocking down a half-court buzzer beater, silencing the crowd and helping the Ravens take a 22-14 lead after the opening quarter.
The Gryphons did a great job getting to the free throw line in the first half, going 14 of 17 from the stripe, and after an evenly contested second quarter in which Carleton outscored Guelph 19-16, it was the Ravens who were up 11 at the break. The Ravens, who boast one of the top defences in the country year in year out, limited the Gryphons to just 25% shooting from the floor in the first half while Carleton shot 45% from the floor.
The third quarter played out very much like the second as the Ravens weren't able to put away the Gryphons as Guelph was able to hang around and keep it within nine to 12 points throughout the quarter. Foul trouble was a major issue for the Gryphons that quarter as they allowed the Ravens to go to the free throw line 11 times as they made 10 as the hosts were unable to cut into the deficit. The turning point of the game came with 23.3 seconds left in the third quarter when the Ravens Kajami-Keane was able to drive to the basket and make the basket while fouled and he was able to make the free throw to make it a 16-point Ravens lead and they would never look back.
The Ravens rode that momentum in the fourth quarter as they took control of the game with excellent ball movement, finding the open man and hitting the open shots. Their defence put the clamps down on the Guelph forcing them into shooting low percentage shots. The Gryphs made this a game for three quarters but the reigning CIS Champions for five years running and the number two ranked team in country showed how good this team can be in the final quarter as the Ravens outscored the Gryphs 25-12 in the quarter leading them to an 85-59 victory.
Kajemi-Keane of the Ravens led all scorers with 26 points as
Daniel Dooley led the Gryphons with 13 points, going 7-8 from the free throw line.
Jack Beatty came off the bench to score 12 for the Gryphs including going 2-4 from three and
Ahmed Haroon scored 11 as he went perfect from the line going 5-5.
The 1-2 Gryphons will have another tough test tomorrow night at the W.F. Mitchell Athletics Centre has they host the top ranked team in the country in the Ottawa Gee-Gees. Tip is set for 8pm.
