NBL Canada This Week: 24th-28th January

Even though it was a shorter week in Canada's National Basketball League, with nine games, that didn't mean there was any less action or excitement:

Moncton Magic set the tone early in their game against Island Storm on Wednesday, outscoring their opponents by ten points at the end of the first quarter, and were ahead by 20 at the end of the first half. Island Storm contested, but there was no stopping Moncton's offence in this one. Brent Jennings was outstanding for the Magic with 24 points off the bench as they won comfortably 113 to 88. The same night, Ahmad Starks and Kevin Rogers burst out of the starting blocks for the Kitchener-Waterloo Titans against the Cape Breton Highlanders, giving their team an early 14-point lead. Cape Breton responded to this bad start with a huge second quarter, scoring 43 points, and they made more than half of all their shot attempts and racked up 54 total rebounds. The Highlanders completely turned the game around in impressive fashion, and in the end won comfortably, 135-117.

It was the start of a busy week for Cape Breton, who had four games in as many nights, the second of which came the next day against the Windsor Express. Windsor played well from close range, with 60 points in the paint, and did well to contest possession and share the ball. Having previously won so convincingly, the Highlanders were now outplayed in a game where Logan Stutz had 25 points for the victorious Windsor Express, who won 109 to 92.

Cape Breton's next game against the Island Storm was close shortly after getting underway, but the Storm's shooting gave them an early double-digit lead. Cape Breton had many attempts at a come back, which included briefly taking the lead in the second quarter, the Storm's shooting unit made sure they were in control, eventually winning 126-112. Franklin Session was the standout with 28 points for the Storm, including five three-pointers, in a game with plenty of high-scoring individual performances.

After a stringy opening against Moncton Magic, 27 second-quarter points from Halifax Hurricanes - nine of which unanswered - put them ten points in the lead. Corey Allmond and Denzell Taylor worked to get Moncton back into contention, and Anthony Anderson put them back in front shortly after the start of the second half. Halifax then had to play catch-up, and behind a great showing from Antoine Mason, who had 26 points in the game, and 42 points from their bench they looked poised to recapture control of the game, but Moncton's offence worked hard to keep their lead up, which reached as high as nineteen in the fourth quarter. Moncton got their second win of the week here, finishing ahead of Halifax by ten points.

Against the Saint John Riptide, Bruce Massey Jr had 12 points in the first quarter for the Cape Breton Highlanders, to which the Riptide responded with big interior offence and an onslaught from three-point territory - the team had 13 threes in the game. Kevin Loiselle came off the bench and put in a great showing with 17 points, but it would not be enough to lift Cape Breton, as Saint John stay top of the Atlantic Division with an 18-point win.

Meanwhile, Island Storm found themselves on the back foot in the first half of their matchup against the Halifax Hurricanes. Shortly after the second half started, though, Andre Stringer put the Storm up for the first time, and he, Franklin Session and Du’Vaughn Maxwell worked to maintain that lead in the face of constant pressure from the Hurricanes. The Storm were up by eight with eight minutes left in the game, but Billy White began the Hurricanes’ comeback and Rhamel Brown ended it, making two dunks in succession in the last 1:05 in the game to give the Hurricanes the win by three.

Windsor won their second game in a row against the London Lightning who, conversely, lost their second in a row, and their only game of the week. Windsor did not look back after a big first quarter performance, which included stopping London’s late comeback attempt. Shaquille Keith was the game’s top scorer with 26, one of three Windsor players to score in the twenties along with Chad Frazier and Braylon Rayson off the bench, capping off a fantastic week for the team with a well-earned win over London.

Kitchener-Waterloo Titans did not have a good start against the Niagara River Lions, whose play from the field put them up by double digits after one period of play. Behind an amazing performance from Derek Hall who had 21 points and 18 rebounds, and an equally impressive 23 points from Kevin Rogers, the Titans fought their way back into the game. No more than four points separated the teams in the final period, which also saw the lead change hands six times in short succession. After Jaylon Tate put Niagara up by three in the final half-minute, Darren Duncan increased the tension by narrowing the gap to one with three seconds left in the game. In the remaining time, Joe Rocca added one more point for Niagara from the foul line and Ahmad Starks missed a game-winning three-point attempt, bringing an end to this highly exciting and entertaining game and sealing the win for the River Lions.