Ottawa, Ont. – In front of another sold‑out crowd at the Ravens Nest, the Carleton Ravens improved to 3–1 in preseason play with a convincing 86‑76 victory over the visiting Memphis Tigers of the NCAA’s American Athletic Conference (AAC). The Ravens jumped all over the Tigers, drilling 8‑of‑15 (53.3%) three‑pointers in the first quarter for a 33‑15 lead and never looked back, picking up their third straight win against a division I opponent for the second straight year.
Carleton’s All‑Canadian guard Philip Scrubb torched the Tigers all night long with a near triple‑double of 35 points, ten assists and seven rebounds. Scrubb shot 12‑of‑21 from the floor and 5‑of‑10 from deep, including a late dagger that sealed the game after Memphis cut a game‑high 32‑point lead to nine points with 1:35 left.
Despite the win, Carleton head coach Dave Smart was extremely upset following the victory, which saw the Tigers completely outplay the Ravens in the fourth quarter, outscoring the defending champions 29–12. Smart took his star point guard aside for an additional five minutes, laying into him as if they had just dropped a game and as if Scrubb hadn’t just dropped his highest point total against an NCAA team.
“He wants to be an elite point guard; he’s got to have his team playing with a chip on their shoulder all the time. He’s got to have his team playing with confidence, and that’s not who we are right now! It has to change – we can’t beat Ottawa U or Memphis on Tuesday if you don’t have that chip.”
“That’s our problem. We’re talented, but there isn’t a lot of emotion. We lost a lot in Kevin Churchill, Willy (Manigat), Elliott Thompson, and Cole Hobin. Obviously, Ty (Tyson Hinz) is a talented guy – I’m talking pure toughness and meanness. We have talent; those guys were tough, tough, tough kids.”
“We’ve got a lot of talent, but we don’t have a lot of toughness.”
“Our biggest fight is how we defend, how our culture is, how confident we play, how tough we play. We’re confident when it’s bad, anybody is good when it’s going well, like confident in war, when you’re not getting the call and our practices are not that. Our practices have been a nightmare for twelve years, and that’s why when it gets tough we generally respond.”
Thomas Scrubb cooled off in the second half after scoring 12 of his 21 points in the first quarter on 7‑of‑14 shooting. Connor Wood and Victor Raso both finished with nine points each on three triples; Wood also added nine rebounds, helping the Ravens match the much athletic Tigers on the boards at 36–36.
Memphis head coach Josh Pastner was proud of his team’s second‑half effort despite dropping their preseason opener on the road.
“Carleton was just tougher than us in the first half and competed harder. In the second half I’m really proud of our effort, our competitive nature, our ability to bounce back. That’s a good team and very well‑coached.”
“Philip is really good – he can shoot the ball. They punched us in the mouth in the first half, but we fought back and made it a game in the second half.”
The Tigers were paced by 6’7” forward Nick King, who totaled 19 points on 8‑of‑15 shooting. Chris Hawkins added 14, Dominic Magee had 11 points and five rebounds, and Shaq Goodwin provided intensity and vocal leadership with nine points and eight rebounds.
Memphis trailed 71–39 (32 points) with 3:10 left in the third quarter and used an early 19‑6 run to cut the deficit to under 20 points at 80–61. With 6:25 remaining, they came up just short after another 12‑0 run cut it to 82–73.
Carleton finished the game with 16 three‑pointers (16‑35, 45.7%) compared to Memphis’s only two of nine (22.2%). The Tigers also shot poorly from the charity stripe, going 20‑of‑34 (58%), while Carleton went 12‑of‑18 from the free‑throw line.
The Ravens (3–1) will get two days off before wrapping up their 2014 NCAA/CIS series with another game against the same Memphis squad on Tuesday. The Tigers will now face the Ottawa Gee‑Gees (3–0), who have already knocked off the Indiana Hoosiers, Vermont Catamounts and the University of Illinois‑Chicago Flames.
