Magic Face Canadian and American Teams in NBL Canada Pre-Season
Reigning NBL Canada champions the Moncton Magic step up their pre-season preparations, taking part in two exhibition games which gave an intriguing early look at how the team could play out when the new season starts.
First they paid a visit to the 705 to take on the Sudbury Five, and looked the stronger side early on as they opened with an 11-0 run. Sudbury's Marlon Johnson and Jaylen Bland responded on offence to narrow the gap to three at the end of the first and JR Holder took over on offence to give Sudbury a two point lead at the half.
The game got more heated when it resumed after half time, with seven lead changes in the third quarter. In the final period Jeremiah Mordi and Corey Allmond combined to give Moncton a ten-point lead, only Sudbury’s three-point shooters to close the gap down the stretch. Dexter Williams gave them back the lead and Holder and Bland sealed the impressive comeback victory for the home team.
Justin Moss had an outstanding 23 points off the bench for Moncton, while Jaylen Bland finished with the same as Sudbury’s starting point guard, while his team mate Marlon Johnson finished with 17 points and 10 rebounds.
A few days later they returned to their home court, where they welcomed the Raleigh Firebirds of The Basketball League in a game that
The Magic were outstanding from three-point territory in the first quarter, sinking nine threes out of fifteen attempts, which played a big part in their early fourteen-point lead. Raleigh's Cordaris Townes did all he could to respond for his team, but Corey Allmond's shooting form continuing in the second quarter, the Magic retained the lead at half-time.
The Firebirds got to within one when the game continued, but Moncton responded with 13 unanswered points and still picking up points in the paint, they went twenty points clear of Raleigh. In the fourth quarter, Moncton's Ronald Delph exploded off the bench with 14 points as their opponents could not find an answer for the home side.
At the final buzzer the Magic had six players in double digits, with Corey Allmond leading all on the floor with 27 as they get the big win, 130 points to 96. Jonathan Milligan led the scoring for Raleigh with 14 points in the loss.
While the Magic did not get all the results they wanted in this pre-season run, they had some highly impressive moments in these two games. While they also had some shortcomings, there's still time to work on them, and overall here they showed they are still a team to be feared.
Picture: John Lappa
