Sports stats



A's Drop 2nd Straight to London

January 16, 2016 - National Basketball League of Canada (NBL Canada)
Orangeville A's News Release


Orangeville hosted familiar faces at the Athlete Institute this Saturday, as the A's welcomed the London Lightning for the tail end of a two game season series. Both teams had previously met last Sunday in Orangeville, in a close game that saw London edge out Orangeville in the dying minutes, 111-106. Orangeville entered today's matchup with a (2-3) record on the season, hoping to gain some ground against London (5-2) in the Central Division standings race. Despite the fact Orangeville entered today's contest a single game under .500, the A's boasted an impressive rebounding margin of (5.0) and Offensive Rebounding Per Game AVG of (15.4), making them the 2nd best rebounding team in NBLC.

In the 1st quarter the London Lightning got off to an early start, leading 17-10 over Orangeville after 6 minutes of play. The A's fell into early foul trouble, allowing London to score 6 points at the free throw line out of 7 attempts during the 1st quarter. Justin Moss provided some desperately needed offense during the 1st, scoring 10 points and grabbing 8 rebounds along the way. The A's finished the quarter with a deficit of only 10 points, trailing 31-21 at the end of the 1st quarter.

Orangeville caught fire early in the 2nd, closing the gap to only 2 points with 5:35 remaining in the quarter, 43-41. Thanks to a concentrated effort on defense, the A's were able to slow down London's interior scoring and forced them to take contested shots. The A's managed to grab a late 2nd quarter lead of 55-53 with 1:36 to play in the 1st half thanks to efforts of Moss, who finished the half with an impressive 21 points. During the 2nd A's player Richard Amardi came down awkwardly on his left knee leaving the game immediately, only to return at the end of the 2nd quarter. Orangeville finished the 1st half with a 3 point deficit, 60-57.

The A's started the 3rd quarter on a mission, after a few consecutive 3 pointers from Jameson Tipping closed the gap to only 2 points, 68-66. London and Orangeville continued to go back and forth, trading leads several times throughout the quarter until London pulled ahead to a 9 point lead with 3:39 to play in the 3rd, 81-72. Both teams ran into significant foul difficulty during the 3rd, with a total of 12 team fouls between both squads over the duration of the 3rd quarter. London finished the 3rd quarter with an 11 point lead, 91-80.

The A's weren't going to go down without a fight, pulling within 5 points at the 9:55 mark of the 4th quarter. Flenard Whitfield kicked it into high gear during the 4th, pouring in 8 points during the 4th quarter, finishing with a tally of 19. London and Orangeville traded several buckets back and forth, seeing the lead grow to as much as 10 points with 7:30 remaining in the 4th quarter. Orangeville wasn't able to find a way to slow down London player's Tyshawn Patterson and Stephen Maxwell, who finished the game with 24 points each. The game's final score was 123-108, after a 4th quarter that saw the A's get outscored 32-28. The leading scorer for the A's tonight was Justin Moss, who collected 32 points tonight. The A's unfortunately have not been able to find their rhythm from the 3 PT line this season, entering today's matchup with a 3 PT % of (.283) on 6.0 attempts per game, placing them last in the NBLC. The A's were unable to improve their long-range shooting today, after only hitting 3 of 13 attempts throughout the night.

Orangeville will play their next regular season game on Sunday, January 17th as they take on the Windsor Express at the WFCU Centre in Windsor, Ontario; hoping to improve their record to (3-4) on the season. Head to asbasketball.ca and nblcanada.com for more info on how to get tickets of your own!

• Discuss this story on the National Basketball League of Canada message board...

National Basketball League of Canada Stories from January 16, 2016


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

OurSports Central