Ravens Capture House-Laughton championships

Top performers

Tyson Hinz (Carleton): 30 Pts, 6 Reb, 2 Ast

Marco Dolcetti (Victoria): 20 Pts, 4 Reb

OTTAWA,ON–The Carleton Ravens men’s basketball team concluded the House-Laughton Hoops Classic in convincing fashion on Sunday, defeating the University of Victoria Vikes 82-67 and capturing its tenth straight tournament title. 

Second-year forward Tyson Hinz was the story of the weekend, displaying a complete offensive game on his way to a game-high 30 points and the tournament MVP.  Hinz went off for 20 points in the first half of Sunday’s game, scoring on an array of post moves, driving layups, and even two treys.  He ended the game shooting almost 70%, including a perfect 5-of-5 from the free-throw line and 3-of-6 from deep.

“I just played aggressive,” said Hinz.  “It’s the third game of the tournament so everyone’s going to be tired, so just dig in, play aggressive, and good things happen.”

Ravens coach Dave Smart praised his young forward’s performance, but stated that Hinz still has work to do to get to the level of some former Ravens standouts. 

“Ty was great, but it was because the match-ups warranted it,” said Smart.  “He’s not Kevin [McCleery] yet, he’s not Aaron Doornekamp – he’s not whoever you put on him, he’s going to need double coverage. He’s very good and if he gets the right match-up, he’s unstoppable, but he has to get better at recognizing that.”

Smart was also quick to point out that his team as a whole needs to improve offensively.

“I think we have got to get out in transition a lot more than we did,” said Smart, who mentioned earlier in September that without a dominant post presence this season, Carleton would look to push the tempo more.  “We defended pretty well this weekend, but considering what percentage we held other teams to, we didn’t really get out in transition very well.  We’re not going to score if we don’t get out in transition and get some easy baskets.”

Both teams started the game quickly, with Vikes guard Marco Dolcetti and Ravens guard Phil Scrubb exchanging baskets and words on the court.  Scrubb shot considerably less in this game compared to earlier games in the preseason, with only six attempts at the basket.           

“I don’t think we have a lot of players on this team that can make plays and I don’t necessarily need to take a lot of shots for us to be successful,” said Scrubb, who ended the game with nine points and three rebounds.  “As long as I take care of the ball and play good defence, that’s all I’m focused on.”

Despite being noticeably outsized in the paint, Carleton outrebounded Victoria 37-27, including 11 on the offensive boards, allowing for multiple second-chance points.  With Hinz scoring seemingly every time he touched the ball and Carleton playing solid interior defence, the Ravens went into halftime up 41-32. 

Victoria came out blazing in the third quarter, with fifth-year guard Dolcetti scoring on a mixture of strong drives and threes.  The Vikes brought it back to within one before Carleton’s Willy Manigat hit a three, effectively stopping the bleeding and setting the stage for a dominant final quarter for the Ravens, who pulled away on the strength of back-to-back-to-back threes from Cole Hobin, Scrubb, and Hinz.

After the game, Smart applauded his team’s effort but pointed out its deficiencies, stating that the team is still in the “six, seven, eight range” in terms of national ranking.

“We get complacent… we’re just not that good,” said Smart.  “We don’t have the Aaron Doornekamp, the Kevin McCleery, the Stu Turnbull who, when things start going bad we can get them the ball and they can get us shots, so we can’t give up possessions defensively because offensively we have to be so precise.”

The Ravens now prepare for Laval University’s Rouge et Or tournament, which takes place this weekend.