Friday, March 18, 2016

Gameday -- March 18, 2016

Halifax (18-7) @ Orangeville (8-18)

The Halifax Hurricanes win an exciting one as they head into Orangeville and defeat the A's in one of the most exciting games of the 2015-2016 National Basketball League of Canada season.  It took overtime for this one to be decided as the Hurricanes take it 126-121.

A back and forth game from start to finish, neither team managed to pull away from the other.   In a game of runs, both teams found themselves even after 48 minutes of regulation action and needed extra time to decide the winner.  Halifax would ride the back of Shane Gibson and his 3 straight threes to gain the lead late after Orangeville erased the Halifax lead and started to build a lead of their own.  The Hurricanes took advantage of the overtime period and pulled away 126-121.  Orangeville put up a valiant effort despite only having 7 playable players after injuries late in the game.

This win puts the Halifax Hurricanes at an Atlantic best 18-7 while the A's fail to gain on Niagara in the Central Division and fall to 8-18.  Halifax now has the best record in the NBLC as they are a game ahead of the London Lightning.

For the visiting Hurricanes, Shane Gibson lead the way with a game high 42 points, hitting 10 of 16 from three point land, one of the NBLC record of 11 threes in a game.  Both Mike Glover and Justin Johnson scored 19 for their squad.  Glover also had a double-double with 12 boards. Canadian Joel Friesen scored 14 points in the start while big man Kyle Hunt added 11.  Point guard Clifford Clinkscales had an impressive game passing the ball as he had a monster 10 point, 16 assist game.

In the loss, Orangeville was lead by Dominic Cheek's near triple double of 29 points, 8 assist and 7 rebounds.   Canadian forward Richard Amardi had a solid showing of 24 points, hitting 6 big threes late in the game. Rookie sensation Justin Moss scored 20 points and hit all 10 of his free throws.  Louis Munks  (13), Flenard Whitfield (11), and Tyrone Watson (11) scored in double digits while point guard Da'Quan Brooks had another double-double of 10 points and 15 big assists.

Stats can be found here.