THE GEE-GEES COME UP SHORT IN BOTH GAMES IN THIS YEAR’S BYTOWN BATTLE
Nov. 22 was a special night at Montpetit, with fans ready to pack the stadium with fans for the annual Bytown Battle between the Gee-Gees and Ravens basketball teams.
The first game was a nail-biter— neck and neck all the way through led the Gees to a potential game-winning shot at the hands of Allie McCarthy, but fell just short, resulting in a 64-63 win for the Ravens.
The second game wasn’t much better for the men’s team, letting the game slip away in the fourth quarter as Marjok Okado took over for the Ravens, leading them to an 83-64 win.
Women’s Match-up
At the beginning of the first game, the Ravens were off to a 9-0 lead, but Bailey Russell gave some life to the Gees after draining a three. McCarthy and Russel were turning it up on the scoring as usual, trailing 18-12 after the first quarter, combining for ten points thus far. The goal for the next quarter was to shut down the Ravens guard Kyana-Jade Poulin, already at nine points, three rebounds, three assists, and two steals.
With five minutes remaining in the second quarter, Bailey Russell once again scored with a three-pointer, tying the game at 26. Enora Touloute gave the Ravens little breathing room on the defensive end, with three steals. As the half came to a close, the Gees were getting picked apart by quick buckets from the Ravens, trailing 38-32.
After a not so hot start to the second half, the Gees turned up in the final minutes, but still had no answer for Poulin who was at 20 points. For every bucket from the Gees, the Ravens had an answer. Down by eight points going into the final quarter, they needed to step it up to win the 2025 Bytown Battle.
Early on, the Gees came out swinging, a three from Russell forced a timeout from the Ravens as their lead was cut to three points, and then to one afterwards. With less than three minutes left, Russell hit a game-tying shot, and Monpetit went crazy— followed up by a big-time three, and the Gees had the lead.
A clutch shot from Olivia Richardson the following possession, tied the game 61-61with 1:40 on the clock. Then 63-61 after a Poulin steal and fast break layup. A big-time shot from McCarthy tied the game up again with 22.4 seconds left in the Bytown Battle. A foul from Russell got Abany Deng to the line, where she scored one of two free throws, and the Gees were down one with seven seconds for the final play. With the final play of the game in McCarthy’s hand, catching it quickly and releasing a three, but it was no good, and the Gees were defeated in a heartbreaking Bytown Battle ending.
Now 6-3 on the season, sitting in third place in the OUA east behind Carleton and Queens. It was a good battle— Russell and McCarthy combined for 49 points, 11 assists, and 18 rebounds, an absolutely dominant game for the duo.
Men’s Match-up
For the second Bytown Battle, the men’s basketball teams took over the Montpetit court. Number one in the OUA for points per game, the Gees were more than ready to take down the Ravens. First place in the east was on the line for this battle.
The Gees were off to a hot start in the first quarter, firing up the crowd with a stepback three from the shift guard Alex Phaneuf, followed by a chasedown block from Justin Tounkara. The Gees finished the quarter with a three from Owen Kenney, and a fade-away from Phaneuf, leading the scoring 19-16.
The 6’3 guard from Toronto, DeAndray Hamilton was showing flashes of Kyrie Irving on the court, hitting a fade-away from the baseline, and a jelly lay inside.
The Ravens took the lead with a dunk from Emanuel Ngo Kana Suz, 32-31— capitalizing on defence against the Gees, forcing them to call a timeout. It was a defensive game to say the least, finishing off the first half 39-35 for the Ravens. Going into the second half, the Gees needed to clean the glass after being out-rebounded 16-7 in the second quarter.
The Gees restored their lead with a clean three-pointer from Tesloch Luk, followed by a hook shot from Brock Newton, leading 48-47. The game was close and heated as expected between the cross-town rivals, and the top basketball schools in the nation.
Newton followed up his hook shot with a layup that had infinite finesse, scoping it behind the glass and behind his back, swish.
Despite some flashy buckets from the Gees, the Ravens were getting the best of them, going into the final quarter up six points. The Ravens had 20 offensive rebounds, getting open looks in close for easy points— it was time to put some presence in the paint if they wanted to stop them.
Emanuel Milon of the Ravens certainly put Montpetit in a sour mood after draining a three, increasing the lead to six. But the crowd was back on their feet after Isaac Pierre-Louis scored a contested layup, plus a conversion on the following free throw. PL was on a heat check after driving in for another heavily contested layup. A potential dagger deep three from Marjok Okado, leading the scoring for the Ravens, and increasing the lead to seven. An and-one layup from Cedric Mbiaba was the true dagger to this Bytown Battle, where the only ones with smiles on their face came from Carleton. Time came to an end, wrapping up the Bytown Battle with the Carleton Ravens as the victors once again, 83-64.
Coach James Derouin will look to sharpen the team on the glass after Ravens found their Achilles heel, he says “The story of the game is the glass, 29 offensive rebounds [for the Ravens], it’s insurmountable. Even just to hang on and be in striking distance when you give up almost 30 offensive rebounds. It’s just hard to win, and credit to them, that’s part of their identity, they rotate big after big in the game, and they all did their part.”
Coach Derouin talked about the team’s strength and how it didn’t live up to its full potential this game, “64 [points] isn’t enough to beat them, and 83 [points] is too high to beat them, we need this game in the 70s. We go 8-29 from three, got to be better than that, because our strength is our spacing and our shooting.”
The Ravens remain the number one team in the East, and risk falling to third. A tough Bytown battle for both teams, but it definitely showed that U of O can compete against high level teams. Luckily we get to see these teams battle it out in one more regular-season game at the Capital Hoops Classic on Feb. 6.
