The Raptors 905 got back in the win column with a 122-118 victory on Sunday night, taking care of business against the Long Island Nets at Place Bell in Laval, Quebec.
Mississauga’s squad is now 8-4 on the regular season, tied for second in the Eastern Conference. And with the bounce-back victory following Friday’s 131-122 loss to the same Nets, the 905 continues its streak of avoiding back-to-back losses. Now 12 games through the campaign without losing two games in a row even once.
The 905’s bench mob led the way in Sunday’s win, starting with Eugene Omoruyi. The Canadian big man scored a team-high 24 points off the pine, going 10-of-14 from the field in 22 minutes of action. Right behind him was Jared Rhoden who chipped in 17 points and five rebounds and Kennedy Chandler with six points and a game-high 10 assists.
Meanwhile, Ulrich Chomche had another tidy night as he scored eight points on 4-of-7 shooting while gobbling up a game-high 15 rebounds. Two shy of his career-high mark. The quartet helped lead the 905 second unit to a 61-23 edge in bench scoring over the Nets.
It wasn’t just the bench that did damage in the win, however, as the starting unit had its fair share of contributors. Frank Kaminsky finished with 18 points on 7-of-9 shooting with a block and a steal, A.J. Lawson added 16 on 7-of-14 while Jamison Battle scored 15 with three made triples. All in all,
The collective effort from the junior dinos helped subdue an impressive trio of performances from the Nets. Drew Timme — who spent a very brief period with the Raptors at Summer League — led the game with 29 points, 12 rebounds, seven assists and three blocks, while Killian Hayes and Trevon Scott (ex-CEBL player!) chipped in 26 and 20 points respectively.
Despite the narrow margin of victory, the 905 remained ahead for the majority of the ball game, winning every frame aside from the third quarter. And even when the Nets made a charge, like flipping a five-point halftime deficit into a two-point lead after the third, the junior dinos didn’t waver.
Even as the 905 trailed by as many as nine points in the final frame, they methodically chipped away. A 14-5 run bookended by triples from Battle and Rhoden had the game knotted up at 108-108 with less than six minutes to go and from there, the 905’s defence did the rest of the heavy lifting.
Long Island did not make a single field goal after the 3:41 mark of the fourth quarter, only managing to get two shots off while their remaining four points all came via the free throw line. The 905 also forced three turnovers during that pivotal stretch as they eeked out a four-point victory.
Up next
Despite being north of the border for their last two games, the 905 were the road team for both. Now the squad heads back home to the confines of the Paramount Fine Foods Centre as it gets ready to host the Birmingham Squadron on Wednesday. The 905 will look to exact a bit of revenge considering the Squadron narrowly defeated them, 111-108 in OT, back in their regular season opener a month ago.
Following that game, the 905 won’t be back in Mississauga for nearly two weeks as they go on a three-game road trip.