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Orangeville A’s host New Years Day home opener

January 6, 2016   ·   0 Comments

Busy opening weekend for O-ville squad

By Brian Lockhart

The Orangeville A’s have started their 2015 season.

The basketball club is playing their first season in Orangeville after relocating to the Athlete Institute and changing the team’s name from the Brampton A’s to the Orangeviller monicker.

The A’s played their season opener against the Windsor Express in Windsor on December 26, and managed to the leave the court with a one point win after edging out the Express 98-97.

Game two of the season was a re-match when the Windsor team arrived in Orangeville for a game on New Years day.

After taking a lead early in the first quarter the A’s fell behind and were trailing 28-26 at the start of the second quarter.

The Express managed to widen the gap to ten points at the end of the second quarter and kept up the point difference through to the end of the third.

The final resulted in a 111-94 loss for the A’s.

It was a good start to the Orangeville team’s season with a large and enthusiastic crowd turning out for the opening game.

The A’s were hit hard when they lost starters in the game – two were ejected and one was injured – but head coach Chris Thomas said that’s no excuse for the final result.

“We’re a no excuses basketball team,” Thomas said after Friday’s loss. “We believe in the ‘next man up’ philosophy and we’ve just got to respond to the physical challenges.”

The A’s played an excellent offensive game.

“Our system is good,” Thomas said, “We had a couple of mental break downs. Over all what we’re running is good action, good offence, swinging the ball from side to side. Just defensively there were too many break downs – simple, simple things. They’re not re-inventing the wheel offensively and we allow them to get to spots we’ve drilled since training camp. It’s our second game, we didn’t play any exhibition games. We’re in a position were we have a young group of guys trying to feel their way out. The best part about this League is we rebound and we roll again tomorrow night. It’s (tonight’s game) a lesson learned. It’s a young team and this is a growing moment for us. We’ll rebound and go from there.”

The team played two more game on the weekend.

The A’s travelled to London on Saturday, January 2, to take on the Lightning.

The Orangeville team kept pace but lost by five at the final buzzer with the game ending in a 106-101 win for London.

They made the trek to Niagara the following day for a Sunday, January 3, game against the River Lions.

This time the A’s came out on top taking a 108-105 win.

The win gives the Orangeville team a solid start for the season with a 2-2 record after the first week of action.

The A’s will be back at their home court at the Athlete Institute on Sunday, January 10, to host the London Lightning.

The tip-off is scheduled for 7:00 p.m.

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