NBLC Recap: February 5th
An exciting two-game Wednesday night in the NBL Canada saw a re-match of the game the night before and a tense back-and-forth encounter in Nova Scotia that went all the way down to the wire.
Island Storm vs Halifax Hurricanes
The Storm took an early seven-point lead, erased by the Hurricanes late in the opening period, only for Alex Campbell to bring the visitors to one point behind and a last minute jump shot from Jalian Haslem put the Storm up by one at the end of the first quarter.
The Hurricanes regained their advantage in the second quarter, behind the offensive efforts of Ta'Quan Zimmerman and Antoine Mason. Alex Campbell and Antwon Lillard led the Storm's fight back in the third quarter, even with Halifax's still-relentless scoring. A two-pointer from Lewis Diankulu put the Storm up by one going into the fourth quarter.
There was little to choose between the teams in the fourth quarter, never more than four points between them. After being down by that deficit early on, the Storm led by four with 1:30 on the clock. Mason had four points in a row to give the lead back to the Hurricanes and CJ Washington capped off a resounding win for the home team.
Campbell was the standout for the Island Storm with 29 points, while the Halifax Hurricanes saw 16 points and 12 rebounds from CJ Washington, 24 points off the bench from Zimmerman and an incredible show from Antoine Mason, who had 43 points in the Hurricanes' 120-118 defeat of the visitors from Prince Edward Island.
Moncton Magic vs St. John's Edge
After a close start to the game, the Magic took a six point lead at the end of the first quarter, after which Montay Brandon came off the bench and provided a spark for the Edge, tightening the gap between the teams. Corey Allmond ensured that Moncton finished the first half on top, they led 59-55 at the half time buzzer.
In the third quarter the Magic scored almost double from the field what the Edge did, and with Allmond, Jeremiah Mordi and Jason Calliste still firing on all cylinders, Moncton stayed on course to see out the win, 127-113.
Cane Broome was the Edge's top scorer with 22 points, with Montay Brandon putting up another double-double of 12 points and 10 rebounds in 21 minutes on the court. Billy White also recorded a double-double - 18 points, 11 rebounds - while three of his teammates finished with twenty-plus points: Wayne McCullough with 21; Mordi with 22 and Allmond with a game-high 29 points as the Magic get their revenge on the Edge.
Picture: Tim Krochak
