ONL U19 make winning a regular habit

Coming into the 2016-2017 season, there were a lot of question marks surrounding the U19 program for Head Coach Andrew DiMillo.

 

Of the 82 players that attended tryouts in September, only 7 had played on one of the previous ONL U19 teams, and this would be the first new group for Coach DiMillo in over three years.

 

"It was a great opportunity to start fresh with a new group, but a little bit scary at the same time", claimed DiMillo, who was coming off a Division 2 Championship at the 2016 U19 Ontario Cup.

 

The roster started out at 22 players - a mix of former ONL U19 players, ONL U17 players, a couple of players who were returning to the program after having departed to Ottawa Elite, and a couple more who were new to Ottawa club ball altogether.

 

As the fall progressed, the team saw some early success, taking home championship banners in their first four competitions: the Gatineau Phenix Invitational, the Tournoi Pré-saison de Brébeuf, the North Country Tip-Off in Potsdam, and the prestigious Tournoi de l'Express in Montreal.

 

Overall, the team sported a record of 24-5, and seemed to be gaining more and more chemistry with each passing week. That was until they headed to Toronto for the Phoenix Anti-Bullying Awareness Tournament at Ryerson University in Toronto. Of the two split squads that Coach DiMillo brought, neither advanced past the quarterfinals, finishing with a 4-3 record overall.

 

"It was a rough weekend. Our opponents were bigger, faster and stronger, and we paid very little attention to defense. Our turnover numbers were higher than they had been all season and the concept of team basketball just didn't seem to exist for us."

 

Following that tournament, weekend, the team spent the month of December fine-tuning before the prestigious Sun Youth Invitational in Montreal, where scouts and top programs from across Eastern Canada would be in attendance. Despite going 1-2, Coach DiMillo said it was a good learning experience.

 

"We played some very talented teams and saw where we need to get to. Winning at this level consistently means playing good defense, hitting shots and winning battles."

 

Entering 2017, the focus for the team shifted to learning how to play sound defense. The team brought in longtime youth basketball coach Cliff Quain to help introduce a new defensive system, and have worked on the small details of the game since then. In their one and only tournament in January, the team battled hard and took home gold at the Classique des Nomades at College Montmorency in Laval.

 

Next up for U19 is the Gloucester Wolverines Boys Invitational, where they took home silver in 2016 (losing by 18 in the finals to Ottawa Elite).

 

Offensively, the U19 Team is led by three-time Ottawa HS all-star MVP Ali Sow, as well as a host of other elite talents. For full roster and bios, be sure to stay tuned to our Twitter account, @ONL_Basketball, and our Instagram page- they should be popping up in the next few weeks!