Olynyk and U19 Team Canada headline Crown League Week 3
Nike Crown League season three has its signature moment.
1 Love T.O. is losing 90-88 to ACE with less than 30 seconds left, but they have newly signed Miami Heat forward Kelly Olynyk at the free throw line. He misses the first. Then he misses the second, possibly on purpose because Olynyk grabs his own miss and fights to get it up and in to tie the game at 90.
ACE went down the floor and missed an elbow jumper, but they left 1.7 seconds left on the clock. That was just enough time for Olynyk to send Kerr Hall into a frenzy. The Toronto born big man got some space on an inbound pass and banked in a buzzer beating three. 93-90, 1 Love T.O.
After making the shot, Olynyk ran directly for the U19 Team Canada boys who were sitting court side after a special presentation for their historical victory at the FIBA U19 Basketball World Cup.
During his post-game interview, Olynyk spoke about how special winning the gold medal is. “It’s unbelievable. To see them back here with that thing around their neck, that means something. I was so happy for them watching those games. It’s something special and to see them come down here. That (shot) was for them, that was gold, that was golden right there.”
The Crown League put together a tribute video for the World Champions that was shown during halftime of the M.A.D.E vs CIA Bounce game.
M.A.D.E (2-1) 102-85 CIA Bounce (1-2)
Team M.A.D.E easily defeated CIA Bounce 102-85 in the opening game of Crown League week three. M.A.D.E bounced back after a week two loss to dominate CIA Bounce and improve their record to 2-1.
Despite the large gap in score, the game became very intense and scrappy towards the end. M.A.D.E’s Junior Cadougan and CIA Bounce guard Freddy Appiah were seen talking trash to each other and got in each other’s face after multiple hard fouls.
After the game, when asked his hard battles with Cadougan, Appiah told North Pole Hoops, “I told him it’s about to be a dog fight. I’m not going to lie down, you better come at me and I’ll come right back at you.”
Cadougan and Aaron Best both had 23 points to lead the way for M.A.D.E. Cadougan scored 19 of his points in the second half with three buckets from deep. He also had five rebounds, five assists and one steal. Best was one rebound shy of a double-double but ended with nine rebounds and one steal while shooting 9/14 from the field.
Kyle Johnson shot the lights out from deep for M.A.D.E. Five of his eight field goals came from behind the three-point line. The sharpshooter finished with 21 points, four rebounds, one steal and one assist.
Oshae Brissett finished with a game high 27 points on 8/17 shooting led CIA Bounce. He also had eight rebounds, two assists and one steal. Olu Ashaolu chipped in with a strong 21 point and nine rebound game.
ACE (1-2) 90-93 1 Love T.O. (2-1)
1 Love T.O. escaped with a 93-90 win over ACE by a Kelly Olynyk buzzer beating three pointer. Defending champions ACE have now last two straight games.
Olynyk made a guest appearance for 1 Love T.O on Friday night and was the main reason they were able to come back and win the game. ACE led for the majority of the game but they couldn’t close it out when they had chances.
Olynyk led the way with 38 points, 30 points in the second half, 13 rebounds and three assists. Despite only shooting 8/22 from the field, Olynyk shot 19/24 from the free throw line.
Murphy Burnatowski added a complete performance with 16 points, nine rebounds and seven assists.
ACE sniper Warren Ward had a team high 24 points on 9/11 shooting including 4/6 from deep. Ward also added three assists, two rebounds and two steals.
Kaza Keane’s perfect three-point shooting night helped him to 15 points while also adding four rebounds, three assists and one steal.
During his post-game interview, Olynyk said he is proud to come home, play in the Crown League and see Canada basketball on the rise.
“I was born here, lived here and played here. Coming back here and seeing the city develop a passion and love for the game of basketball, I want to be a part of it. The USA got it already but we’re growing something here,” said Olynyk.
6Man (2-1) 91-76 Northern Kings (1-2)
6Man takes care of business against the Northern Kings in a 91-76 victory to close out Crown League week 3.
Right from the start, 6Man dominated the game when they jumped out to a 14-0 lead that the Northern Kings could never come back from.
Richard Amardi of 6Man won week 3 Player of the Week with his incredible complete performance.
Amardi finished with 28 points, nine rebounds, three blocks and two assists. He shot 11/15 from the field and 3/5 from deep. His affect on the game goes deeper than the score sheet. His endless energy and incredibly high intensity won the game early from a mental standpoint.
Christian Kabongo was heavily involved in the game and added 16 points, six rebounds, two assists and one steal.
After Negus Webster-Chan’s Player of the Week performance last week, the Raptors 905 guard had another great night. He finished with 21 points, hitting three from the perimeter and four rebounds.
Check out the week 3 highlights at the NPH Instagram page.
Week 4 is Semi-Finals week at the Nike Crown League. Claim your seat here.
