NBL Canada This Week: 26-31 December
- Jan 1, 2018
- 4 min read
Image:thechronicleherald.ca
The National Basketball League of Canada ended 2017 in style, with a week of big, high-scoring performances, close encounters and some unexpected results. Here is everything as it happened:
At the start of the week, Royce White returned to action for the London Lightning and notched up 28 points and 13 rebounds in London's routing of the Kitchener-Waterloo Titans. On the same day, Tydran Beaty and Bruce Massey had double-doubles to go with 27 points from Duke Mondy in Cape Breton Highlanders' come-from-behind victory over the Saint John Riptide, who fell behind after leading by as much as 20 points.
Moncton Magic led Island Storm for much of their boxing day match-up, but 41 points in the final quarter from the visitors from Charlottetown made the game all the more tense as the clock ticked down. Franklin Session did all he could to help the Storm keep their noses in front, while a three-pointer from Anthony Anderson closed the gap to just one in the final seconds. There was no time left for Moncton to get another shot off, and the Storm's Andre Stringer made a last-second layup to make it official: Island Storm win this tense and unpredictable game against the Magic.
On Thursday, the Kitchener-Waterloo Titans notched up their second win of the season against the Niagara River Lions. The Titans had an eleven-point lead early in the second quarter, which would give them an edge throughout the remainder of the game as the team worked to contain multiple fight back attempts from the River Lions.
A three-game friday saw Halifax Hurricanes start well against the Highlanders, but in Q2 the visitors outscored the Hurricanes by twelve points and finished the half with a five-point lead, which continued to grow as the game went on. Cape Breton were able to continue this form for the rest of the game, emerging from a hotly contested final quarter to take the win 108-102. On top of this, the Highlanders could celebrate going unbeaten this week.
On the same day, Saint John Riptide looked in control for much of their game against the Magic, at one point leading by 13. A big push from Moncton in the second half, however, closed the gap down the stretch. A Terry Thomas three-pointer made it a one-point game ahead of the final minute of play; Thomas would finish the game with 40 points and 12 rebounds. Mareik Isom pushed the Riptide lead back out to four, only for Al Stewart to narrow the gap to just one with ten seconds left. Moncton's Brent Jennings' game-winning three point attempt missed and Malcolm Miller grabbed the rebound to see out a great 100-99 win for the Riptide.
Friday night also saw a high-scoring affair at the Budweiser Gardens between London Lightning and local rivals the Windsor Express. A combined 84 points were scored by both teams in the third quarter alone, with two Windsor players and three from London scoring twenty points or more. Kyle Johnson finished as the top scorer with 30 points for the Lightning, who were in complete control in this game, eventually winning by 129 points to 106.
A 119-102 loss to London Lightning on Saturday capped off a disappointing, winless week for the River Lions. London, meanwhile, were outstanding; sinking over half of their shot attempts, excellent on defence and terrific performances from Ryan Anderson (31 points), Royce White (21 points, 9 rebounds, 8 assists) and Doug Herring Jr off the bench (10 points and 11 assists). After a bad start to the season, the defending champions end the week on a five-game winning streak.
Meanwhile, the Riptide could not keep up their form from the day before against the Island Storm, despite leading by 15 points early in the second quarter. The Atlantic Division leaders were composed and alert, taking control of the game behind 24 points from Chris Johnson and running out winners by 99 points to 94.
Halifax and the Island Storm were evenly matched when they faced each other on New Year's Eve: both teams had 50 points in the paint, scored more than 50% from the field, were both great on defence and had good play from off the bench. The Hurricanes topped the Storm in three-point shooting, however, and a late push from Antoine Mason - who had 18 points in the final quarter, taking his final total to 32 - would give Halifax the push they needed to take a big 123-116 win.
Finally, at the Aud in Kitchener, Greg Morrow and Russell Byrd helped lift the Kitchener-Waterloo Titans to an early twelve point lead against the Windsor Express, but Windsor's terrific inside play powered them in front in the second quarter and for the rest of the game. Logan Stutz of the Express was the top performer in this game, scoring 30 points and grabbing 15 rebounds, and was a big part of his team's authoritative and dominant win. This was also the last NBLC game of 2017.
For regular news, updates and full information on the league and all games, head to the NBLC official website.
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