The Carleton University Ravens men’s basketball team bounced back from a loss to defeat the Laurentian University Voyageurs 83-71 Saturday night in Sudbury, Ont.

The first saw foul trouble for Ravens forward Kevin McCleery (Ottawa) who was hit with two early on. With strong offensive rebounding, Cole Hobin (Ashton, Ont.) was able to hit from the inside and Greg Faulkner (Kingston, Ont.) knocked down a three to give the team an 11-point lead with a minute to go. With a two from Laurentian’s Matas Tirilis (Mississauga, Ont.) at the buzzer, the quarter finished 22-12 for the Ravens.

The second saw more offensive rebounds from Carleton, including Aaron Chapman (Bloomfield, Ont.) who went up strong in the paint for two to widen the lead. Laurentian’s Jamie Weldon (Sault Ste. Marie, Ont.) hit a three with two minutes to go to bringing the lead back to ten. At the end of the half, Carleton dominated the rebounds with 42 compared to Laurentian’s 14.

Mike Kenny (Ottawa) dropped three early on in the third making it harder for the Voyageurs to grab momentum from the start. Manny Pasquale, (Victoria, BC) who finished with 17, kept Laurentian in the game as the team continued to chip away at the Ravens lead in the second half.

The Voyageurs tried to keep their rhythm in the fourth cutting the lead down to single digits after two foul shots by Georges Serresse (Sudbury, Ont.) with a little over two minutes to go in the game. Hobin answered right away with a three at the other end and the Ravens held on for the 83-71 victory.

High scorer for Laurentian was Serresse with 21. Ravens leaders were Tyson Hinz (Ottawa) with 21, McCleery with 16, Hobin with 13 and Kenny with 11.

The Ravens finished with 54 rebounds while the Voyageurs had 24.

This puts Carleton’s record at 17-2. The Ravens are back on the road next weekend taking on RMC Friday night and Queen’s Saturday night at 8 p.m.

Score by periods:
Carleton 22 19 22 20 = 83
Laurentian 12 19 19 21 = 71