By Charles Vanegas

The Ryerson men’s basketball team extended its winning streak to 10 after knocking off the #10-ranked team in the country, the Ottawa Gee-Gees, 76-71 at the Mattamy Athletic Centre on Friday.

Trailing 18-12 at the end of the first quarter, the Rams kicked it into overdrive and took control of the game, largely due to the play of guards Jahmal Jones and Aaron Best, who finished with 26 and 27 points respectively.

“[With} two nationally ranked teams going at it, it’s going to be good,” said Best.

Once the Rams got into their groove, the Gee-Gees added jersey-grabbing and hard-fouling to their defensive game plan, which gave the Rams 35 chances at the free-throw line (in which they converted 22).

“It was a frustrating game as a coach to watch,” said Rams head coach Roy Rana. “Although we had a lot of trips to the line, we could have had more. They were really clutching and grabbing us a lot, but I guess they (the refs) decided not to call it.”

Despite defeating their third CIS top 10 team of the season, Rana refused to put his team amongst the nation’s elite just yet.

“We just try to play as well as we can and focus on who we are. Ranking doesn’t matter. They’re nice but we need to keep playing well down the stretch.”

The Rams will face their toughest challenge of the season so far on Saturday, when they host the reigning national champions, the Carleton Ravens – currently the #1-ranked team in the CIS.

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