NBL Canada This Week: 27th February - 4th March

Carl English of the St. John's Edge. Image: VOCM.com

It was an exhausting week in the NBLC, but one in which history would be made. Here is a full rundown of everything that happened in all eleven games that took place in the last six days:

It was not a good start to the week for the Kitchener-Waterloo Titans. Despite three players in twenty points, they couldn’t come back from 69 first-half points from the Halifax Hurricanes on Tuesday. The following day, Derek Hall recorded 20 points and 19 rebounds for the Titans against the Moncton Magic in a much closer game in New Brunswick. With the scoreline tight, Moncton started to pull away late in the third quarter, taking a double-digit lead and finishing 125-108 in front at the final buzzer. 30 of Moncton’s points in this one came from Corey Allmond, while Terry Thomas and Anthony Anderson both had double-doubles.

Saint John Riptide then ended their four-game losing streak on Thursday with a 21-point victory over the Magic. Mareik Isom and Jeremiah Mordi put up plenty of points for the Riptide early on, and for the remainder of the game the team ensured there was no way back for the Magic. Isom finished with 23 points in the Riptide’s much-needed win over a team they are jostling for position with in the Atlantic Division.

The Island Storm showed strength from inside, which the Halifax Hurricanes matched them from long range during the two’s thursday night encounter. Their contrasting abilities showed in the first half scoreline, with seven points being the biggest gap between the two. The Storm looked threatening for the first time in the third quarter, where they took their biggest lead of the game at eight points. Halifax fought back late, tying the game down the stretch. The Storm’s shooters, though, would give them a comfortable buffer, and after a scrappy conclusion to the game, they emerged victorious by three points, with Franklin Sessions leading all in scoring and on the boards - 27 points and 14 rebounds.

The Hurricanes then met up with the Riptide at the Harbour Stadium on Friday. Saint John’s shooters looked to be getting it done for them early on, they led by eight points at the start of the second quarter and by five at half-time. Malcolm Miller and Aly Ahmed were the standouts for Saint John at this point, they would finish with 21 and 19 points respectively. In the second half, CJ Washington and Billy White ignited a somewhat lacking Halifax side. They re-took the lead, though the Riptide challenged their hold on the game. As the game wound down, the usual suspects for Halifax kept adding to the scoreline, while Saint John flatlined. Halifax got back into the win column, while Saint John

On the same night, Windsor would not let London Lightning break away, with the scores tight throughout the first quarter. In the third quarter Garrett Williamson and Royce White's play from close range gave the Lightning their first double-digit lead of the game. Windsor were undeterred, however, and kept finding open looks all over the floor to eat into London’s lead. Omar Strong had a big game off the Express bench, putting up 22 points and doing well to find his team mates for open looks late in the game. Seven points from Windsor’s Maurice Jones in the crunch final quarter levelled the scores with seconds to go. Coming out of a timeout, Kyle Johnson got a three-pointer to drop right at the death, sealing the win for London, in a game in which Williamson became the team's all-time scoring leader.

The weekend saw a double-header between the Titans and the St. John’s Edge. On Friday, the Titans had an early lead, but the Edge proved hard to stop in the paint. St. John’s offence was led by Carl English, who had 20 points, in a game where all their starters finished in double figures. The Titans attempted to turn the game back around in the fourth, but to no avail. KW’s Derek Hall had 10 points and 7 rebounds in the final quarter (he finished with 28 points and 18 rebounds), but the Edge finished on top, 113 points to 107. The next day, Anthony Miles had 28 points and Derek Hall had a double-double of 23 points and 10 rebounds for the Titans the following night, but another performance would turn heads in this game. The story of the night was Carl English, who, in 38 minutes on the floor, put up 58 points for the Edge - a new record for most points scored by a player in a single NBLC game. He helped St. John's to the win, 127-117, and wrote himself into the history books.

Saturday night also saw the Cape Breton Highlanders come back from two double-digit deficits against the Island Storm, and finally took the lead in the third quarter. The scores were tight and there was no let up in this game from start to finish, but vital three-pointers from Kemy Ossey and Tyler Scott made all the difference in the outcome of the game. Cape Breton could do no more, and were resigned to losing by only seven points. The Storm have now won four in a row.

Meanwhile, the Niagara River Lions had a ten-point first quarter lead over Windsor, after which the Express put up a big shooting effort to get themselves back into the game. The two teams fought for the lead in the second quarter, and throughout the second half Windsor kept building on their lead, which reached as high as 20 points. Niagara came up short in the second half, lost six straight games. 21 points from Omar Strong, Damontre Harris and Braylon Rayson for Windsor, who clinched a playoff berth with the 120-107 win. This game also saw Kevin Loiselle become the first NBLC player to record 1,000 career rebounds.

The week concluded with a back-and-forth game between London and Moncton on Sunday. The teams shared the lead throughout three quarters, with Moncton finding themselves down by three ahead of the final period. With their accuracy from both the three-point territory and the foul line, the Magic turned the game around and built themselves a late, comfortable lead. London played catch up throughout the fourth quarter, with two points separating the sides in the closing minutes. Al Stewart had the final say in the game, a layup from him in the last seconds ensuring victory for the Magic. Kyle Johnson had 21 points off the bench for London, while Moncton’s Terry Thomas scored 29 points and 12 rebounds as they took the win by five.