By Mike Ainger
In the weekly return to what many about town are beginning to regard as the premier men’s basketball league in Muskoka, the 705 Spruce League faithfully delivered on its well-earned reputation of quality sports entertainment.
The Spruce Glen hardcore was filled to capacity for the evening matches, with the number of players and spectators steadily increasing week over week. Whispers of the potential for expanded gym time were heard throughout the evening, with the league’s popularity and notoriety further ascending to new levels.
As the players for the evening tentatively navigated new faces to the regular lineups, there was a tangible uncertainty in the air. Perhaps best described by famed coach Gordon Bombay, a team isn’t a bunch of kids out to win. A team is something you belong to, something you feel, something you have to earn.
In relation to Wednesday night’s affair, the teams the players belonged to were determined by free throws, as per tradition. The rest, however, felt foremost by those at the court level, was earned through blood, sweat, and tears.
Team Black continued to assert itself, as has been the case through most of the season, easily winning the first two matches of the evening. Their early success seemed to lie in their ability to spread the floor and adapt their offensive system’s fluidity based on their opponent.
Team Red managed to salvage a degree of redemption in matches three and five. The Mixed Team finished last, with a singular paltry win for the evening, largely due to anemic defensive and infighting at points suggestive of a group of individuals rather than a cohesive team.
Injuries for the evening were limited to one player having the wind temporarily knocked out of him, and several others winded in general. Play in the 705 resumes next week
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