Raptors 905 lose against Skyhawks in a coin flip
With less than 40 seconds left, A.J. Hoggard’s desperation 3 put the 905 within three points. But it was a case of too little, too late.
The 905 lost to the College Park Skyhawks, 129-132, in a coin flip of a game. There were 16 lead changes and six ties. Both teams went at it until the very end, both were in the bonus, and even the Skyhawks head coach Steve Klei had a bloody finger during the game, punching the poor clipboard out of frustration.
But the final score could have been much worse. In the fourth quarter alone, the 905 got lucky twice. They left MJ Walker wide open in the corner and he missed his only 3 of the game (he went 3-4 from downtown). Alijah Martin was slow to close out on Mississauga native Caleb Houstan, but the latter missed. Some defensive rotations were missed, most notably in the second quarter when Asa Newell’s wide-open 3 forced the 905 to take a timeout. Tyreke Key’s body language screamed “WTF man!” and Coach Jones was furious.
There was also a lot of CanCon in this game. A.J. Lawson led all scorers with 28 points (6-for-9 from downtown), including a triple right in RayJ Dennis’s face. Atlanta Hawks assignee Caleb Houstan (15 points on 4-for-9 3-point shooting) hit a side-step corner 3 on his hometown team while maintaining perfect balance . When Dennis passed out of the full-court pressure, it was former Ottawa Blackjack Isaih Moore who found 905 killer MJ Walker in the corner, who splashed a triple to build an eight-point lead.
Raptors assignee Jonathan Mogbo got some valuable offensive decision-making reps in. He put the ball on the deck and even brought the ball up at times (which resulted in a dish to Martin on the wing, getting the ball back, and throwing it down). His lone block came after Dennis made the No Dunks guys “oooh and ahh” on the broadcast, and finished with a nice euro on the other end.
Martin had 14 of his 21 points in the third quarter. The back and forth between Martin and Dennis was interesting to watch. Martin bullied Dennis and Erik Reynolds II down low. Dennis answered back by attacking a switch. Dennis also had a beautiful behind-the-back pass to Basheer Jihad (25 points and nine rebounds) on the perimeter after Martin threw a nice dime into Mogbo earlier in the quarter.
The other guys
Julian Reese was one board shy of a double-double with 16 points and nine boards. He was aggressive throughout the game and showed a lot of emotion. It’s been great watching his growth throughout the season.
Olivier Sarr, too, was one board shy of a double-double (13 points and nine boards). He had a big board in the first quarter, where he pushed Moore out of the way, after saving Mogbo’s airball from going out of bounds. Sarr hit two 3s, including a corner 3 to get the 905 their first lead. He has now hit at least one 3 in his past nine games; the streak continues.
Jarkel Joiner finished with 10 points. He had a nice finish after airballing a 3 early in the game and had a nice shovel pass to Sarr while on his butt. At the end of the first quarter, he made up for a bad turnover by hitting a tough shot at the end.
Key had 18 points and Hoggard was one assist shy of a double-double (13 points and nine assists). He made his mark in the fourth quarter, taking a smaller Dwight Murray, Jr. off the dribble and hitting the desperation 3.
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