Saturday, March 19, 2016

Gameday -- March 19, 2016

Saint John 116 - Orangeville 111


The Mill Rats got the better of the Orangeville A's, one of the rare times the East and West squared off. It was a game filled with large momentum swings, leading to a huge final score.

The A's had initially come out of the first quarter with a four point deficit, but bounced back with some strong defence, out scoring Saint John 31-14 in the second quarter to head into the half with a 52-39 lead.

Unfortunately, Saint John found their groove in the third, pouring in 46 points in a prolific third quarter, causing Orangeville's lead to evaporate.  Orangeville managed to put a scare in the Mill Rats, making for an exciting finish, but it wasn't enough as the Mill Rats rolled to a 116-11 victory.

Doug Herring Jr. led the way for the Mill Rats with 26 points, and Gabe Freeman added 23 points of his own. Flenard Whitfield had a double-double for the A's with 22 points and 12 rebounds, Justin Moss had 21 points, and Dominic Cheek had 20.

The Mill Rats will visit Windsor on Sunday. Orangeville will take on the River Lions in St. Catharines on Sunday as well.

Stats can be found here.


London 113 - Halifax 107


The two top teams in the league put on a fine show in front of a crowd of 8,011 fans. The game opened with a ceremony for the Shine The Light campaign, focusing on ending women's abuse.

The teams were about even for the first half. The Hurricanes initially held the lead after one quarter, but only by two points. It was much of the same in the second, with both teams trading shots until the buzzer sounded for the half, with both teams tied at 50 points a piece.

The Lightning found themselves down early to start the third, but managed to pull together to end the third quarter with a lead of 83-75, thanks to huge performances from Tyshawn Patterson and Stephen Maxwell. Halifax brought the lead down to five with around 30 seconds left in the fourth quarter, but the Lightning never relinquished the lead, winning 113-107.

Stephen Maxwell notched another double-double with 22 points and 12 rebounds in his first game back from a concussion. Tyshawn Patterson and Akeem Wright also managed 20+ points for the Lightning. Kyle Hunt scored 22 points for Halifax and Mike Glover scored 19 points and grabbed 9 boards.

London will have the week off before taking on Windsor at the WFCU Centre on Saturday. Halifax will return home to host Saint John on Thursday.

Stats can be found here.