Carleton pulls away to slip by Gryphon basketball men

GUELPH – The Carleton Ravens pulled away in the final five minutes of their OUA men’s basketball season opener to defeat the Guelph Gryphons 89-84 Saturday night at the Guelph Gryphons Athletics Centre.

While the game was Carleton’s first of the season, the Gryphs had been downed 86-66 by the Ottawa Gee-Gees a night before at the GGAC.

Against the Ravens, the Gryphs led 74-72 with 5:09 to go in the game, the last time they were ahead. The hosts twice got the gap down to a single point, the last time being an 83-82 deficit with 1:03 to go. Carleton sank a layup and four free throws after that while the Gryphs sank one layup and missed two.

Emmanuel Ansah (30 points) and Dezayne Mingo (29) collected the majority of the points for the Gryphs. Both also latched on to seven rebounds while Mingo had eight assists and Ansah had a block and three steals.

Aubrey Dorey-Havens struck for 19 points for Carleton while Marjok Okado had 16, Wazir Latiff had 13 and Xavier Spencer had 10. Noah Simpson had 10 rebounds, Spencer had five assists and two steals and Emanuel Milon had three blocks.

The Gryphs shot 41 percent on field goals, 35 percent on three-pointers and 76 percent on free throws. They grabbed 26 rebounds, had 12 assists, a block, five steals and were called for 23 fouls and had 10 turnovers. They also scored 26 points in the paint, 17 off turnovers, seven on second chances and 40 from their bench.

The Ravens shot 48 percent on field goals, 32 percent on three-pointers, 82 percent on free throws, pulled down 39 rebounds, had 13 assists, five blocks, six steals, were called for 25 fouls, had 13 turnovers and scored 44 points in the paint, 10 off turnovers, six on second chances and 45 from their bench.

The Gryphs (0-2) are to play the Waterloo Warriors (0-1) twice this week. They’re to play Wednesday at 8 p.m. at the GGAC and Saturday at 4 p.m. at Waterloo’s Carl Totzke Court.

• Guelph Sports Journal