The Raptors 905 (2-6) couldn’t overcome being outscored by 20 points in the second quarter on Thursday night, losing 121-114 to the Maine Celtics (4-3) at the Paramount Fine Foods Centre.
A two-point margin is all that separated the two squads after 12 minutes, but a 12-2 Celtics run en route to a 34-14 frame blew the game wide open. Drew Peterson scored 12 of his career-high 33 points in the second quarter as Maine led 65-43 at halftime.
Leading the 905 in the loss was Quincey Guerrier who finished with a team-high 27 points on 52.4 per cent shooting and five rebounds. The Montreal native returned to the lineup after missing three games while away with the Canadian senior men’s national team for FIBA AmeriCup qualifier duties.
“He’s a pro, he’s young but he plays with a maturity and physicality that helps us,” 905 head coach Drew Jones said following the loss when asked about Guerrier’s return performance. “When he’s on the floor we’re a better team … we trust him.”
Kennedy Chandler chipped in with 25 points on 12-of-16 shooting to go with seven assists and three steals. Meanwhile, DJ Carton made his return after missing five games with an ankle injury and the starting guard struggled as he notched 10 points on 3-of-10 shooting to go with four assists while finishing the contest as a team-low minus-19.
Describing the first half by the 905 “sloppy” felt like an understatement. The Mississauga squad racked up 15 turnovers through the first 24 minutes with nine of them coming during the calamitous second quarter. It didn’t help that the team shot 39.5 per cent from the field and 15.4 per cent from beyond the arc in the half.
Thankfully for fans in attendance, the team got back to basics in the second half and picked up the intensity. The 905 jumped out the gates in the third quarter, forcing four turnovers while running out in transition for easy looks. Chandler scored 11 points in the frame while Eugene Omoruyi added 10 of his 16 points as well.
“We got stops, we rebounded the ball and we touched the paint,” Jones said post-game when asked about his team’s success coming out of the break. “We started playing for each other, we got out of ourselves and we got into the team.”
And while Ulrich Chomche had one of his quietest games in recent memory, finishing with more fouls (5) than points (4) he did cap off a strong third quarter for his team with back-to-back blocks. The 905 scored 45 points in the frame — more than what they put up in the first half and over three times their production in the second quarter — and cut the deficit to 93-88 after the third.
Chomche only played 20 minutes on the night as his stints were cut short due to foul trouble. He picked up two quick fouls in the first, sitting for most of the opening half, and then his night was over less than three minutes into the fourth quarter after the 18-year-old racked up three fouls in the span of 20 seconds.
The 905 were able to cut the lead down to three points during the final frame thanks to a slick euro-reverse layup by Carton but that was as close as they came to pulling off a comeback.
Maine hit four triples in the fourth, two of which came back-to-back right after Carton’s make which helped spark a 9-0 run that sealed the victory. The Celtics made 14 threes on the night, converting on a 38.9 per cent clip.
The 905 have spent much of the season digging themselves out of holes made mostly on their own. Thursday night’s effort was yet another example of just that.
Had the 905 played an average second quarter, they likely would’ve won the ball game considering they won the second half by 15 points (71-56) and outscored the Celtics by 13 (100-87) through the other three frames.
Jones spoke after the game about the lackadaisical second quarter, why it proved so costly and why he doesn’t care much for the late rallies and almost comebacks.
“Urgency and effort … there’s no secrets in this game,” Jones said. “You got to be ready to play, tonight we played 24 (minutes). In the previous (win) we played a whole 48, tonight we played 24 and that was the outcome.
“We have to choose who we want to be.”
The 905 won’t return to action until Tuesday when they host Jared Rhoden and the Greensboro Swarm.
Raptors fans might recognize that name from a couple of months ago when he was signed to an Exhibit 10 deal by Toronto during training camp. The guard was one of the final roster cuts for the Raptors heading into the NBA regular season and was subsequently picked up off waivers by the Charlotte Hornets. Rhoden has played in two games for the Swarm, averaging 23.0 points, 5.5 rebounds, 3.0 assists and 1.5 steals.
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