Straight A’s for Storm
Island squad streaks past Orangeville in fourth quarter
There was no defensive complacency in the Island Storm’s 111-99 win over the Orangeville A’s Friday in Charlottetown. The Storm finally took a 79-78 lead against the A’s at the end of the third quarter in the National Basketball League of Canada contest by hanging around, playing solid defence, especially in the fourth, then earned the home win by outscoring the A’s 32-21 in the quarter.
Akeem Wright led the Island charge with eight points in a key 15-2 run to open the final frame, leading the Storm to a 94-80 edge.
From there it employed a tough D to keep that advantage and posted a lead as high as 20 points midway through the frame.
It was the opposite of Thursday’s loss to Windsor, where the Express overran the Storm in the fourth.
“(Thursday) in the first half we played good defensively and got complacent when they put their second unit in,” said Wright, who tallied 19 points. “(Friday) we watched game film, learned from our mistakes and put a full game plan on the court.”
The Storm moved to 12-17 on the season, while Orangeville fell to 11-19.
Point guard Jahii Carson had a team-high 20 points for the Storm. Terrell Baines chipped in 18 points, while Al Stewart and Terry Thomas each went for 14. Orangeville’s Corbin Thomas led all scorers with 26 points and Stefan Nastic added 19 points and a game-high 12 rebounds. The game started slow for both teams, but Orangeville picked it up and nabbed a 32-24 lead after the first quarter. After two quarters the A’s had a 57-50 edge.
The Storm showed some jump in the third by tying things at 57-57 just over a minute into the quarter. From there the teams traded hoops until the Storm took the onepoint lead after three. Then came the clinching run during the opening three minutes of the fourth and the Storm never looked back. “We got defensive stops, got out in transition, shared the ball well and didn’t play hesitant,” said Wright.
Next up the Storm host the Kitchener Waterloo Titans on Friday, April 7.
Game time is 7 p.m. at Eastlink Centre.