Raptors 905 112, Erie Bayhawks 78 | Box Score
Assignees: None (905), None (Bayhawks)
Two-ways: Lorenzo Brown, Malcolm Miller (inj) (905), Josh Magete (Hawks)
For a second consecutive preseason game, Raptors 905 opted not to broadcast or stream tonight’s proceedings, so once again we were in the dark. I had gambled on a stream being available since the Toronto Raptors play at 10 p.m. and I couldn’t do both. Luckily, I managed to find a feed from the second quarter onward, so we can get at least some sense of the players on the bubble – 36 of a possible 96 minutes is better than nothing. Because it’s a partial preseason recap, we’re going to go notes style for the recap.
Q1: Raptors 905 23, Erie Bayhawks 22
Negus Webster-Chan and Richardi Amardi drew into the starting lineup in place of Kennedy Meeks and Davion Berry. Webster-Chan was inactive in the opener due to knee soreness, and the team likely wanted to get a longer look at him, Amardi, and Aaron Best before decisions come later this week. Lorenzo Brown and Edy Tavares were the other starters, with Meeks the first man off the bench.
The Bayhawks shot 48 percent but were 1-of-6 from outside and the 905 cleaned up the glass, helping them to the one-point lead through a frame despite some turnover issues. Brown led the way with eight points and four rebounds in the quarter, and the 905 as a team shot 50 percent but hit just a lone three (Kethan Savage).
Q2: Raptors 905 52, Erie Bayhawks 48
Savage showed some nice energy on the glass and around the paint early on, even if it was a bit erratic. He helped set up a Kaza Keane triple with an offensive rebound and then got to the line for a second time on the night. He’d have a big block later in the quarter, too. Keane had a really good stretch here, too.
The 905’s big advantage, Tavares, didn’t have much luck around the rim or with the whistle, but some solid second efforts and a vicious block in transition still made him largely a positive. It’s pretty rare when things are going tough enough that you see Tavares say anything or even look at an official, and after a few non-calls and a moving screen violation, he’d had about enough. He got the and-one whistle the next time he was given a look.
Tyler Cavanaugh was the primary force for Erie, scoring 15 points in the half, and the team as a whole shot 6-of-12 on threes in the second. The 905 briefly went to a zone, wanting to get some experience with it in, but they were better late in the quarter dialing up the aggression. The Bayhawks had a scary moment when Jeremy Hollowell and Aaron Best collided going for a loose ball, with Hollowell’s head hitting Best’s shoulder and the center looking quite shaken up.
Aaron Best closed the half with a three set up by a terrific Lorenzo Brown zip pass, sending the 905 into the break up four. Head coach Jerry Stackhouse has called Best the most impressive player in camp, which is high praise for a guy trying to work his way onto the team. Best made a ridiculous pass to a corner shooter driving baseline late in the first half that really popped. Brown and Tavares each had 11 in the half and 10 different 905 players scored.
Q3: Raptors 905 84, Erie Bayhawks 66
After a strong first half, Savage drew the second-half start in place of Webster-Chan. His big transition dunk off of a turnover was a nice exclamation point on a strong early-quarter run buoyed by solid defense and a huge rebounding edge. Not even an attempted Tommy Williams poster of Tavares that somehow rattled in could slow things, as Best responded with a falling three-and-one to extend the lead to 12. That pushed to 19 late in the quarter, sending Erie scrambling to a timeout. They’d cut it to 15, only for Eric Washington to hit a half-court buzzer-beater to end the frame, setting up a fourth quarter in which Stackhouse would have some freedom to get a longer look at the fringe roster players.
FINAL: RAPTORS 905 win 112-78
Things didn’t go much differently for Erie early in the fourth, with Tavares absolutely destroying Magette under the bucket as part of an 8-2 run. Washington followed up his big buzzer-beater by eating a painful-looking charge from Cavanaugh, a nice way to make an impression with limited minutes. The other Washington – Andre Washington – then finished an alley-oop from Keane. A pair of Amardi triples sandwiched around more great defense from Savage and the lead was up over 30.
Stackhouse rolled with a Canadian-heavy lineup late, with Keane, Amardi, and Liam McMorrow sharing the floor with Savage and Roger Moute a Bidias. It’s hard to take much from these situations due to the score effects, and there were instances of players on both sides maybe trying to do a little too much (Amardi had two tough turnovers here, of his six on the night). If nothing else, the 905 players who received fourth-quarter run defended actively and with success, helping hold Erie to just 30 second-half points. The turn in 3-point shooting – they were 12-of-21 on threes after an icy start – helped, too, and all told, it was a much stronger performance than it sounded like Saturday’s opener was.
And that’s great. Stackhouse, Dan Tolzman, and company are surely happy to have some good tape to evaluate off of along with the bad tape and a week of practices that were almost definitely hell. There are six spots open from a group of nine players, and while I won’t try to judge the final spots too much from a three-quarter sample, Best, Keane, and Savage looked really good here and would seem to be in good shape. On top of those battles, the set names looked good here, too, with Brown leading the way with 20 points, Meeks contributing 10-4-3 in 21 minutes off the bench, and Tavares scoring 14 points with a pair of blocks and looking to be in really good shape.
As far as preseason games go, this was about as good as the 905 could have hoped for heading into cut-down days.
Notes
- Davion Berry (rest) and Malcolm Miller (ankle) were inactive. Berry was a case of being a known commodity the team didn’t necessarily need a longer look at with so many other players on the bubble needing minutes. Miller is still working his way back from summer ankle surgery.
- DeAndre Daniels was inactive for Erie, saving the DeAndre Daniels Revenge Game for the regular season.
- The 905 now have until Thursday to cut the roster from 15 to 12. The season officially begins Friday, though to 905 don’t get underway until Sunday afternoon.
- They return home Wednesday for their home opener. A friendly reminder that promo code “REPUBLIC905” will get you a discount at this link all season long.
- The 905 will hold Media Day tomorrow. It will be interesting to see if they make their cuts ahead of time or use a couple more days of practice to make their decisions.
