Orangeville Prep returns to action for the first time in 19 months

Canada’s No.1 high school program will play their first home game in almost two years this Saturday September 18.

During the 2019-20 season, Orangeville Prep completed an undefeated regular season going a perfect 20-0 and then cruising through the playoffs en route to the Canadian high school national championship.

Nine of the 12 players who helped Orangeville win the national championship received scholarships to various universities across the United States including Matthew-Alexander Moncrieffe who starred for Oklahoma State last year alongside Cade Cunningham who was the No.1 pick in this years NBA draft (the three players that didn’t get scholarships were too young and not eligible for college yet).

Orangeville Prep was the subject of a six-part docuseries called “Anyone’s Game” that aired across Canada on CBC TV and CBC Gem.

Everything was going perfect for Orangeville Prep up until March of 2020 when most of Canada was thrust into a nationwide lockdown.

Those lockdowns continued on and off on a rolling basis for almost 15 months with just about all youth sports being banned across Canada. While most of their American counterparts were playing in gyms across the United States, Orangeville players were left to practice and stay in shape alone.

There were times over the past year and half that it seemed plausible that Canada’s No.1 basketball program would never play another game again.

Thankfully, a few prayers have been answered and Orangeville Prep will play their first home game in Mono, Ontario on Saturday September 18 vs Lincoln Prep.

Their last home game on Feb 19, 2020 was a 97-62 win over Lincoln Prep which turned out to be a heated contest that saw Lincoln star Jefferson Koulibaly (now at Washington State) ejected for getting into an altercation with Orangeville’s Shemar Rathan-Mayes (now at Youngstown State) who was also ejected.

Both programs have produced some of the best players in North America with Lincoln alum Josh Primo being selected in the first round of this years NBA Draft (12th overall by San Antonio) along with six previous Orangeville players making it to the NBA including Jamal Murray (Denver) and a possible seventh this upcoming season with Eugene Omoruyi signing with the Dallas Mavericks during the summer.

Some of the key players for Orangeville heading into this season are Jefferson Monegro who has already been offered by Oklahoma State among others and 6-foot-11 Jeremy Foumena was rated as the No.27 player in the state of Florida last season who returns home to Canada for his senior year.

Orangeville Prep vs Lincoln Prep will tip-off at 7pm ET and will be available to watch via the Orangeville YouTube channel.