NEWS RELEASE
ORILLIA LAKERS
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The Orillia Lakers U15 boys had a strong weekend to complete an undefeated regular season in Hoop City AAA league play.
They also extended their overall win streak to nine games.
The team started off the weekend a little short-handed as several players were away with high school team commitments. The team brought in Twin Lakes Secondary School standout Hayden Vuong to help fill in for the weekend.
The seven available players stepped up with two wins on Saturday — a 62-51 win versus Burloak Elite and 66-56 over P3P Prep. Both games were close throughout. In each game, the Lakers went to a lineup of Caden McFee, Jayden Spezzano, Nathan Litherland, Takoda Plett and William LePage, who used every bit of their experience playing with each other for six years to pull away in the fourth quarter.
On Sunday, the team returned most of its squad and put together one of their strongest performances of the season, running away from a strong Brother’s Keeper team 70-44. McFee led the team with 15 points, 16 rebounds, three assists and four steals. Mason Chapler (13 points) and Darius Wilson (11 points) led the balanced and efficient scoring while strong team defence limited the talented opponents.
In the final game, the Lakers clinched the top playoff seed with a 62-49 win over Ottawa Next Level. The Lakers started fast and built a big lead, but Ottawa crept back and made the game close in the fourth quarter. Dmitri Zakiev, who returned after leading his Maple Ridge junior boys team to the Barrie City Championship on Saturday, dug deep for a huge fourth quarter, making three threes and finishing with a unique stat line of six points, 15 rebounds, five assists, seven steals and two blocks while leading the Lakers defence.
The Lakers finished league play as the top-scoring team at 63.6 points per game and had the second-ranked defence, holding teams to 46.5 points per game. The Lakers will be the top seed in the Hoop City playoffs Feb. 16 to 18 and return to National Junior Circuit play next weekend.
The Lakers would like to thank their sponsors: JL Construction, Rama First Nation, Flynn Group, Simcoe Development, Telford Property Management, and Cubic Feet Designs.
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