NBLC Recap: January 8th & 9th
The NBL Canada saw two very different games across two days late in the week.
St. John's Edge vs KW Titans
A three from Jesse Jones would be what separated the two teams at the end of the first quarter, and when the game resumed the Edge’s field shooting gave them a double-digit lead. They went to the locker room leading the Titans by seven points.
Neither team gave the other room in the second half as the Edge worked to maintain their lead and the Titans looked to take it. Playing the higher-percentage basketball, though, it was the Edge who would emerge as winners, by 100 points to 86.
Jared Nickens had a game-high 27 points for the Titans in the loss, while Jones led St. John’s with 18 points off the bench and Karrington Ward finished one rebound short of a double-double, finishing with 14 points in the game.
Sudbury Five vs Halifax Hurricanes
Jaylen Bland and Braylon Rayson both reached double digits in the first quarter, a high scoring start to the game which saw Sudbury lead Halifax 46 points to 28. Bland continued his scoring run into the second, where Antoine Mason and CJ Washington tried to ignite a comeback for the Hurricanes.
In the second half Mason and Washington tried to erase the deficit more, but it was clear there was too much ground to make up, especially with Sudbury’s front court players still on firing form. Sudbury ran home to the win, 158 to 141.
Mason led all on the floor with 44 points, while Washington totalled 28 points and 10 rebounds off the bench - one of two double-doubles (the other being Cliff Clinkscales, who had 16 points and 11 assists) and twenty-point bench performances (along with Joel Kindred who had 20 points in 28 minutes).
For victorious Sudbury, eight players who took to the court finished in double digits, Bland the leader with 31 points, followed by 23 from Marlon Johnson and Brady Skeens, who had 17 points and 12 rebounds in the win for the Five.
