MONvsHAL - Game 1 Recap

This year's NBL Canada division finals got underway with an exciting, unpredictable game at the Avenir Centre.

After coming out on top after a close, back-and-forth opening quarter, the Moncton Magic found their form on offence and took a 13-point lead over the Halifax Hurricanes just before half-time. Trey Kell led the Magic’s offence with 14 points in the first half alone.

Moncton seemed to be in the driver’s seat as the game resumed, but Mike Poole was rampant on offence, and along with similar efforts from Terry Thomas, Chadrack Lufile and Jordan Washington, Halifax slowly but surely cut the deficit to one, and Washington put them in front with seconds to go in the third.

Opening the fourth with eight unanswered, the Hurricanes took a double-digit lead, and kept building despite the best efforts of the Magic to re-ignite themselves. The Hurricanes led by as much as 18 points in the game, and at the final buzzer notched up game one by a scoreline of 102-87.

Kell stood out on the Magic, with a team-high 23 points and 9 rebounds. For Halifax, Poole, Washington and Thomas finished with 24, 23 and 21 points respectively (with Washington also grabbing 14 total rebounds) as they get the first win of this series.