Carleton victorious in final Cross-border Battle Over UC-Santa Barbara

FOLLOW DEVIN GRAY ON TWITTER @DEVINGRAY33 & NPH @NORTHPOLEHOOPS

 

TOP PERFORMERS

Carleton: Phil Scrubb – 32 pts, 6 3pts, 2 ast, 37 min

UCSB: Orlando Johnson – 24 pts, 4 reb, 2 stl, 33 min

To cap off their cross-border competition, Carleton defeated UCSB 71-61 and finished with a winning record of 5-4 against NCAA opponents.

Carleton came out banging in this game and took a whopping 14-2 lead early on. As a continued part of the frosh week activities, the gym was packed with screaming fans, thunder-sticks, vuvuzelas, and red and black everywhere. Perhaps it was the atmosphere that made Carleton so intense and the University of California, Santa Barbara Gauchos so tentative to start the game.

The 14-2 lead was the result of hot distance shooting (4-5 3pt to start the game) and tenacious defense by the Ravens. The lone UCSB bucket belonged to Orlando Johnson, the American standout who carried the U.S. flag at the 2011 World University Games. Tyson Hinz and Cole Hobin were members of team Canada in the same tournament in which Canada won a silver medal and the U.S. lost in the quarter-finals. While they were away, their university teammates continued to play in these cross-border matches so Hinz refused to say he was tired; “these guys have been going just as hard as I have, there’s no difference.

Early in the game Elliot Thompson and Phil Scrubb were hitting three-pointers and the defense was forcing shot-clock violations and turnovers.

Hinz was outmatched in the post by 7’3″ Turkish import Greg Somogyi, who came off the bench, but used his inside presence to draw defenders and find open teammates. With a deep roster and balanced scoring, including a steal and fast break basket by Willy Manigat, Carleton took a 21-7 lead at the end of the first quarter.

The game was intense at the start of the second quarter as Scrubb was matched up against Johnson and the two were going at each other; hitting threes, and making strong drives, but Carleton soon found themselves unable to buy a bucket.

“We got off to a good start, we hit our shots, we defended well. I think towards the end they stepped it up a bit, but we were able to hold out,” explained Scrubb.

In the second half, the UCSB Gauchos briefly took the lead by getting into the paint, and stepping up on defense to not allow any Ravens player into their own key. The two teams traded exciting buckets for a while including 5’11” Manigat taking it right at 7’3″ Somogyi, and more Johnson-Scrubb rivalry. The Ravens extended the lead to 49-43 at the end of three quarters.

The fourth quarter was where Carleton sustained their activity and proved they could weather the attack from the Gauchos and took a ten point lead (61-51) and never looked back.

Scrubb was the star of the game with 32 points and 6 three-pointers without realizing it.

“It didn’t feel like a 32 point game [laughs], my teammates did a good job of getting me open shots, Ty [Hinz] gets me open alot when teams focus on him.”

Hinz finished with 17 points and 11 rebounds, but it was the balanced attack of the Ravens that gave them the lead to close out the game, and the toughness on defense to maintain the lead that they had earned.

Carleton plays next as the host of the House-Laughton Hoops tournament starting October 14th in Ottawa.

PHOTO COURTESY: CARLETON ATHLETICS

Leave a Reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.