A slow opening period made life difficult for the North Okanagan Reapers, as they lost 10-8 to the Kamloops Venom in Thompson Okanagan Junior Lacrosse League (TOJLL) action on Wednesday night.
The Reapers, playing in front of another rowdy home crowd at Armstrong's Sunbelt Arena, let in six of the first seven goals.
Ryder Elliot, Jeremy Mcinnis, Nate Van Unen (twice) and Seamus Bankier (twice) scored for the Venom in the first 18 minutes, with Kohen Pounder scoring the sole Reapers goal.
With just 34 seconds left in the period, Pounder would score another, and with one second left on the first-period clock, Zack Milne's strike would make the deficit bearable, at 6-3.
In the second, North Okanagan would rattle off three straight goals to knot the game up at 6, led by a pair from Colten Colmorgen.
Leland Vince would then restore Kamloops' lead at the 5:10 mark of the second. The third opened up with teams trading goals, before a Mcinnis unassisted snipe would give the visitors some insurance, 9-7.
Pounder brought the Reapers to within one with a minute left, but Van Unen's hat trick with four seconds left sealed the victory.
Leading the way for Kamloops was a six-point night from Van Unen (three goals, three assists), while Alex Von Hollen added three assists.
Milne had a massive eight-point effort in the loss for the Reapers, involved in every goal (two goals, six assists). Pounder had a hat-trick and two assists while Colmorgen added two goals and two helpers.
The Venom (6-1-1) win entrenched their top spot in the TOJLL standings with 13 points, while the Reapers' loss (3-3-0) drops the team to fourth in the league, with six points.
The two teams will tango again in a week (Thursday, May 15), this time in Kamloops Memorial Arena. Face off is at 7 p.m.
