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Canada's #1 team, the Carleton Ravens played their first of two games at the Broward Community College (BCC) Jimmy V Foundation for Cancer Basketball Holiday Classic in Florida last night and came up with an easy 71-49 victory over Miami-Dade College Sharks, an U.S. Junior College. The Ravens led by as many as 32 points and all 13 Carleton players who dressed saw action in the first half as the Ravens came up with their usual sterling effort defensively, holding a very athletic team to just 49 points. The Ravens close the tournament today at 3 PM when they meet the host Broward CC in Florida. Broward, which features 6'3" Tony Dennison and 6'9" Miklos Szabo both headed to NCAA Division 1 program Hofstra, narrowly defeated Saskatchewan Huskies 70-69 on Saturday as Dennison hit a pair of late free throws. The Huskies rebounded yesterday as newly-crowned Huskies career scoring leader 6'7" Andrew Spagrud went 11 for 15 from the field as part of his 29 point, 5 rebound, 7 assist effort to lead Saskatchewan past Indian River CC 83-81. 6'2" Kyle Grant added 24 points for the Huskies who led 42-34 at halftime. Saskatchewan concludes the tournament at 1-1.

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From TRU Sports Info WOLFPACK MEN FINISH 2007 OFF IN STYLE. Its the best way for a team to finish a calender year: with a victory. That's exactly what the Thompson Rivers University WolfPack did on Sunday afternoon. Drew Bleth's (Ridgefield Washington) jump shot with four seconds left in overtime lifted the WolfPack to a 92-91 victory over the Whitman College Missionaries of Walla Walla Washington. The WolfPack led 49-48 at the half. Bleth was one of three TRU players to score 16 points in the ball game. " We were down by 15 points at one point"
said WolfPack coach Nevin Gleddie. The others were Freshman Geoff Matthews (Kamloops, BC) and Veteran Brian Smith (Maple Ridge, BC). Connor Agnew (Prince Rupert, BC)chipped in with 14 points. Coach Nevin Gleddies crew shot 45.3 per cent from the field (including 55.9 per cent in the first half). They were very effective from 3 point land in the second half (shooting 41.7 percent) . "Its funny, when we played in 2001, we lost by a bucket" laughed Gleddie. "It was good to get Brent Traxel (Cochrane, Alberta) back in the lineup" added the TRU Coach, referring to his veteran who has missed most of this season with injuries. "He shot the ball well but looked a little rusty". Chris Faidley had 29 points in a losing cause for Whitman College. The Washington State squad plays NCAA Division three and now have an overall record of 3 and 5. The WolfPack went 1 for 3 on their trip to the U.S. for exhibition games. They return to CIS play this coming weekend when they pay a visit to the Regina Cougars (Fri Jan 4 th) and the Brandon Bobcats (Sat Jan 5). Brandon is the top team in the Canada West Great Plains Division (9 and 1) while Regina is second (5-5). Larry Read, Sports Information, Thompson Rivers University lread@tru.ca WOLFPACK MENS BASKETBALL TEAM DROPS SECOND STRAIGHT IN IDAHO. A Little better but not good enough. The words of Thompson Rivers University WolfPack Mens Basketball Coach Nevin Gleddie after this team dropped a second straight game to the Lewis-Clark State Warriors of the N.A.I.A. in Exhibition Play Saturday. "We played a little better defensively" said Gleddie of his charges--who were missing three of their regulars (Kamar Burke, George Aramide and Simon Doty). The Warriors shot 80 per cent from the floor in the first half and 61 per cent for the game. They were also 57 per cent from the three point area. Rookie Guard Matt Pierce (Winnipeg, Manitoba) led the way with 12 points. They were all scored in the second half as he came off the bench. Fellow Rookie Geoff Matthews (Kamloops, BC) contributed with 11 points. After the WolfPack cut the Warriors lead to 13-7 early in the first half, LCSC went on a 25-9 run for a 38-16 lead and never looked back. The Warriors scored a season high 61 points in the first half and led by 32, 61-29, at halftime. TRU never got closer than 31 the rest of the way, while LCSC's biggest lead in the second half was 50. "We talked about focusing on our approach to the game and other than some blocking out issues, I thought we played well," Head Coach Tim Walker said. "We got their attention. I thought our ball movement was good." Senior forward Mike Gordy (Denver, Colorado) again had another solid outing with a game-high 25 points on 7-of-9 shooting from the field and a 10-of-12 effort at the foul line. "If we learned anything from the last two games" said Gleddie "Is that we have to be more disciplined in our preparation. From the proper rest and nutrition before the game to getting mentally ready'. The WolfPack lost for the 16th time in its last 17 games to fall to 3-16 on the season. They close out their 3 game exhibition series south of the border tomorrow (Sunday) with an encounter against Whitman College Missionaries of Walla Walla Washington. PACK NOTES: Doty remains on the sidelines with a stress fracture. Aramide is attending to a family situation in his native England. Whitman and TRU last played an exhibition game on January 1, 2001 when the WolfPack were known as the U.C.C. Sun Demons. Whitman won 81-80. At that time, The Sun Demons led their league at 7 and 0 and missed a last second bucket. The WolfPack visit Regina and Brandon as they resume play in the Canada West next Friday and Saturday (Jan 4-5).

Cascades defeat Langara College in consolation final of CBC tournament ABBOTSFORD, B.C. - For the second game in a row, UCFV rookie guard Ravi Athwal (Surrey, B.C.) led the Cascades in scoring as the team downed Langara College 88-70 on Sunday in the consolation final of the annual Bearcat Holiday Classic hosted by Columbia Bible College. Athwal paced UCFV with 24 points. The Fleetwood Park grad also added seven rebounds. Fifth-year guard Anthony Lao (Vancouver, B.C) had 11 points, while second-year forward Kyle Grewal (Surrey, B.C.) chipped in with 10 points. The Cascades resume Canada West regular season play on Friday when they travel to Brandon for a showdown with the No. 5-ranked Bobcats. Kimberly Moser, Sports Information and Marketing Coordinator UCFV Cascades University College of the Fraser Valley

GOLDEN HAWKS RUN TO WIN OVER UNB Courtesy of Mike Quigley, Laurier Men's Basketball Assistant Coach The Wilfrid Laurier Golden Hawks used an explosive 31 point 3rd quarter to win their final game over the University of New Brunswick Varsity Reds at the 17th annual Rod Shoveller Memorial Tournament at Dalhousie University. Despite missing their veteran captain and competitive heart of the team, Trevor Csima, who was left in his hotel room bed with the flu, the Hawks got their running game back on track and took the game to the Varsity Reds in the 2nd half outrebounding them by 10 and outscoring them by 18 to take the win by a final score of 77-63. The Hawks opened the 9:00 am game slowly and found themselves down 4-0 early in the quarter. Four successive steals led to a 9-0 Golden Hawk run to give them the lead midway through the 1st. However, a 14-4 UNB run gave them the lead back. The Hawks rallied with a small 5-0 run and trailed by 2 as the quarter ended, 20-18. The Hawks tied the game up early in the 2nd quarter but were not able to jump ahead. A couple of missed assignments due to a lack of communication on defense left Varsity Reds shooters for open 3's and UNB retook the lead. The Hawks have had a problem scoring in the 2nd quarter of many games this year and, despite holding UNB to 13 points for the quarter, they were only able to score 11 of their own. The Hawks trailed by 4, 33-29, as the half ended. The 3rd quarter opened with little notice that it might be one of the best offensive performances of this young Golden Hawk team of this season. The 2 teams traded points early and the Hawks slowly tied the game up at 35-35. The lead changed hands several times until the Hawks exploded, scoring on 11 of their final 12 possessions, turning a 4 point deficit at the beginning of the quarter to an 8 point lead by its end. This run was keyed by the Hawks fastbreak, which accounted for 14 of these points, some good defensive pressure and a very good job on the defensive boards, limiting the Varsity Reds to 1 shot and out. The Hawks led 60-52 at the end of 3 quarters. The Hawks kept their level of play up as the 4th quarter began scoring the first 6 points to open up a 14 point gap on UNB. An 8-3 Hawk run to close out the game gave them their first victory of the tournament by a final score of 77-63. The Hawks shot 48.8% from the floor in the second half of the game despite going 1/12 from the 3-point line. They were able to outrebound the Varsity Reds 60-46 and forced 21 turnovers defensively to spark their running game. Rookie Kale Harrison (wing, Stratford, ON) stepped up big in this one racking up his second successive double-double of the tournament with game highs of 26 points and 16 rebounds. Another rookie, Nick St. John (post, Cornwall, ON), took advantage of Csima’s illness and added 13 points on 6/9 shooting and 7 rebounds. David Crowley (3rd yr, wing, Oakville, ON) and Andrew Pennycook (2nd yr, post, Toronto, ON) were also strong on the boards adding 8 rebounds each. Colton Wilson (2nd yr, F, Grand Manan, NB) led the Varsity Reds with 23 points while Adam Creaghan (1st yr, G, Quispamsis, NB) added 16. Guard Alex DesRoches (1st yr, Dieppe, NB) led the Reds with 15 rebounds. The Hawks will now return home to Waterloo to celebrate the incoming New Year but will be back on the court on Jan. 2 to begin preparations for the second half of the OUA West season. Next game will be Saturday, Jan. 5 when the Hawks will host the McMaster University Marauders. Tipoff will be at 1:00 pm (a change to the previous schedule) at the WLU AC.