Carleton`s Philip Scrubb & Elliot Thompson Combine for big games, defeat Victoria Vikes
Top Performers
Carleton:
Phil Scrubb – Pts: 27, Reb: 1, Ast: 3, Stl: 2, Min: 35
Elliot Thompson – Pts: 22 (4-10 3FG), Reb: 1, Stl: 4, Min: 34
Victoria:
Ryan MacKinnon – Pts: 19 (5-8 3FG), Reb: 1, Ast: 2, Stl: 2, Min: 33
OTTAWA,ON-The two victors of last nights’ games met in the Raven’s Nest to try to keep an undefeated record in the House-Laughton Tournament. After a close affair, the Carleton Ravens triumphed once again with a score of 80-65 over the University of Victoria Vikes.
Victoria is the only returning team from 2010’s House-Laughton tournament, as Windsor and McGill were replaced by Bishop’s and Guelph.
Victoria, however, is a completely different team after recruiting nine new players since last season. For a team that has only been together for five weeks, they gave Carleton a good fight in what Ravens forward Dan Penner describes as “a game we easily could have lost. Victoria’s a tough opponent, we just did some things down the stretch that we needed to do to win.”
Vikes coach Craig Beauchamp says “Carleton’s ahead of us right now, they’re ahead of everybody, they’ve got a lot of games under their belt and they’re obviously a very talented team.” One thing that has not changed in the Vikes’ overhaul is the solid frontcourt led by Michael Berg and Chris McLaughlin.
Michael Berg opened the scoring for the Vikes, and Ryan MacKinnon extended the lead with a three-pointer early in the game. Two three-pointers from Carleton’s Elliot Thompson and one from Phil Scrubb brought Carleton back into contention and the Ravens ended the first quarter up 24-21.
To start the second quarter, Carleton executed an offensive set to perfection that resulted in a Kevin Churchill basket. Rookie Justin Shaver also found the basket, but unlike the previous nights’ game, Carleton’s starters played a majority of the minutes.
Carleton had seemed to be pulling away until Vikes guard Zac Andrus hit two three-pointers, and forward Ryan MacKinnon hit another of his own. After a basket late in the first half by Carleton’s Phil Scrubb, the Ravens took the slight 39-35 lead into the locker room.
The Vikes stayed competitive in the second half, which was the most important thing according to coach Craig Beauchamp: “We’ve got to be, at this point of the year, just willing to come in and compete with Carleton in a physical way, because they compete at every level, and if you don’t come ready to compete physically and mentally then they’re going to beat you more than one way, let’s put it that way.”
For Carleton, it was Phil Scrubb and Elliot Thompson who continued to do the damage on the offensive end. After Terrell Evans took the lead for the Vikes, Scrubb tied the game at 46 apeice.
Carleton closed the third quarter strong with solid plays by Dan Penner, who hit a three and got to the basket for the “and one” play, and Willy Manigat who hit two consecutive shots, the second of which was a three-pointer to take a ten point lead 59-49.
On potentially winning the tournament in their home gym, Penner said “Even more than winning it, it’s just important to get a couple of competitive games together so we can really iron out some kinks that we have before we get into the heart of the season.”
Thomas Scrubb added, “We take pride in winning on our home court, this is where we play our best.”
Scrubb and Thompson continued to close out the game in the fourth quarter and were helped by Tyson Hinz’ all-around performance (11 pts, 6 reb, 6 ast) and Thomas Scrubb’s work down low (a team-high 7 rebounds).
After a buzzer-beating fade by Mike Achaempong for Victoria, Phil Scrubb put the icing on the cake with a field goal and a three-pointer that briefly extended the Carleton lead to twenty points, 80-60, before the Vikes scored five more for a final score of 80-65.
In the final day of the House-Laughton Tournament, Victoria plays Bishop’s at 2pm and Carleton plays Guelph at 4pm. You can get a Sydney plumber here so when you had plumbing emergency, go here.
