NBL Canada This Week: 21st-25th March

There was plenty of action and highlights in the penultimate week of the NBL Canada regular season, which also saw the last playoff place won.

The week began with a back-and-forth game between the St. John’s Edge and the Kitchener-Waterloo Titans, who played host on Wednesday night. Darren Duncan put the Titans up by two at the end of the first, but an amazing second quarter performance from Carl English - 17 of his final tally of 23 points, put the Edge up by nine points. Justin Hurtt had 26 points and 12 rebounds for the Titans, while the team was led by Ed Horton in the second half, 21 points from him helping the team to within one of the Edge with two-and-a-half minutes remaining. A three-pointer from Coron Williams - who had 20 points off of St. John’s bench - and Charles Hinkle and Ryan Reid doing well to draw fouls helped the Edge see out a tense end to an exciting game.

The next night at the Meridian Centre, Xavier Ford had an amazing 24 points and 9 rebounds off the bench for the Edge against the Niagara River Lions. Charles Hinkle, Wally Ellenson and Jarryn Skeete all joined him in scoring twenty-plus points, but Samuel Muldrow was perfect in the first quarter, helping Niagara take the lead, but only just. The Edge went eleven points clear in an explosive second quarter, and in the second half of the game points came flying in from both sides, though mostly from the Edge. Kris Joseph and Connor Wood worked to reduce the arrears, but the result was never beyond doubt. The St. John’s Edge take their second win in a row, 118-103, with an outstanding offensive performance in this high-scoring game.

Also on Thursday, a twelve-point run saw the Saint John Riptide go 15 points in front of the Island Storm. A great show on offence, scoring more than half from the field and 15 three-pointers, saw the Riptide in complete control of the game. It was an otherwise good game for the short-handed Storm - their starting five all scored in double figures, with Chris Anderson finishing as the game’s top scorer with 26 points. This night, though, they were simply outclassed and came up short when they needed to find inspiration. The Riptide clinch the final playoff place with the 118-96 win, with Aly Ahmed registering 22 points and 13 rebounds with Aaron Redpath adding 21 off the bench.

With good play in the paint, Windsor Express had an early lead against the Titans. Fighting back for the Titans were Justin Hurtt and Darren Duncan - Hurtt had an amazing game with 33 points and 15 rebounds, while Duncan had 26 points off the bench, which included four threes. The Titans took the lead twice in the mid-section of the game, Windsor went back into a comfortable lead with a ten point run late in the third. The game was tight going down the stretch, but behind a team-high 27 points and 8 rebounds from Logan Stutz, Windsor had the advantage. Darren Duncan had six unanswered in the last minute for the Titans, but they ended one point short of keeping themselves alive.

The Titans were in action again on Saturday, and had a big second quarter in what was an otherwise close game against the River Lions. The teams were matched almost basket-for-basket, but a slack show on offence just before halftime found Niagara with a 24-point deficit they couldn’t recover from. Justin Hurtt, Ed Horton and Tramar Sutherland all scored over 20 points for the Titans, with Sutherland also picking up 10 rebounds for a double-double. KW get the win against Niagara, 126-107.

Meanwhile, Saint John were up by one at the end of a back-and-forth first quarter against the Halifax Hurricanes. The Riptide took an even bigger lead in Q2 with a nine-point run and good work from their shooters saw them up by 12 at the end of the first half. They then led by 20 points with a minute to go in the third, after which Halifax finally got into gear. Their three-point shooting, led by Renaldo Dixon and Ta’Quan Zimmerman, going a long way to reduce the arrears.

One three-pointer from Zimmerman halfway through the fourth put Halifax in the lead, and Dixon and Mike Poole added five more to put them up by seven. Jeremiah Modri and Aaron Redpath made threes to try and keep the Riptide alive down the stretch, but the team missed vital shot attempts and gave away turnovers. The game slipped away from the Riptide, and two free-throws from Dixon completed the unlikely and amazing comeback from the Hurricanes, who won by 90 points to 82.

The Riptide looked to get revenge the next night against the Island Storm, and they got off to a good start, leading by eight early on. It wouldn't last, though, as the Storm took the lead in the second quarter. The Riptide contested, but as the second half went on the Storm went ahead by double-digits, the game got further and further out of Saint John's reach. Malcolm Miller led all scorers with 21, a small consolation for the Riptide. Du'Vaughn Maxwell had a double-double, 19 points and 10 rebounds, along with good work from the whole team on defence and 38 second chance points, the Storm take the win at the end of the week, 109 to 85.

Also on Sunday night, Windsor Express came back from nine down against the London Lightning in the first quarter to lead by on early in the second. The quarter would be London's, though, scoring 41 points to lead 61-38 at half time, and in the second half they were relentless on offence. While Kevin Loiselle had a good game for Windsor with a game-leading 25 points, all of London's starters scored in double figures. Ryan Anderson came off the bench, but still led his team in scoring with 24 points, which included five threes. Windsor salvaged some pride in the fourth quarter, but it was still a blowout win for London, not exactly reflected in the 119-106 final tally.

It looked like plain sailing early on for the Hurricanes against the Highlanders, but mid-way through the game Cape Breton levelled the scores and kept edging into the lead. They could not shake off Antoine Mason and Billy White on Halifax's offensive end, though. The Hurricanes ended the game with a no-nonsense fourth quarter, as they upped their defence and played high-percentage offence, trying to secure the win and put the game to bed - Ta'Quan Zimmerman had all of his 15 bench points in the game in the fourth. Bruce Massey Jr had an amazing 45 points for Cape Breton, but it wouldn't be enough as Halifax secured top spot in the Atlantic Division for themselves with a 118-111 win over the Highlanders.