NBLC Recap: February 17th
The week got off to a great start on the NBL Canada courts, the Monday night line-up saw games that were too close to call and finished completely differently to how they started.
KW Titans vs London Lightning
The low-scoring opening quarter ended with the Titans ahead 13-6, after which, Randy Phillips and Tyrell Green’s field play woke up the Lightning, who closed the gap to one point at half time. Damon Lynn led the charge for the Titans when play resumed, pushing the lead back out to eleven at the end of the third quarter.
KW could not hold on to that form in the fourth, though, and trailed down the stretch, but Lynn saved the game with a layup to force overtime. The lead changed hands throughout the extra period, at the end of which a Marvin Binney three-pointer for a second period of overtime.
After London took a five-point lead, Ed Horton came to the Titans’ rescue with six unanswered points, which brought an end to the game after Mareik Isom missed what would be the last scoring chance of the game.
Phillips had 28 points and 12 rebounds in the game, while Green and Binney came off the Lightning bench to post 19 and 16 points respectively. For the Titans, five players finished in double digits, with Lynn leading with 26 points in the 108-107 double OT victory.
Sudbury Five vs Windsor Express
After a close start to the contest, a perfect second quarter performance from Marlon Johnson powered Sudbury into a more comfortable lead, which stood at seven points at half time and 13 in the third quarter.
In the same period, Windsor’s higher-percentage basketball, led by Kemy Osse, gave them back the lead, which stood at four points going into the final phase of the game. The lead changed hands throughout the fourth, with the Express leading by five ahead of the final minute of regulation. JR Holder scored nine points in the remaining time to save the game for Sudbury, the final score 116-114 in their favour.
Quinnell Brown led the scoring for Windsor with 23 points, Chris Jones had 19 off the bench and Osse had 19 himself along with 11 rebounds in the loss. Holder had 23 points in the game for Sudbury, as did Dexter Williams, while Johnson was outstanding with 37 points and 16 rebounds in the narrow victory.
Moncton Magic vs Island Storm
The Storm had a six-point lead in the first quarter, where their own Robbie Robinson had 13 points. The second quarter was a very different story, Wayne McCullough and Jeremiah Mordi between them turned the game around as the Storm took their double digit lead at half time.
Billy White then picked up the scoring slack for the Magic, giving them their largest lead of the game of 28 points, and a last-ditch attempt from the Storm in the fourth quarter only did to limit the damage.
Robinson had a game-high 30 points for the Storm, closely followed by Antwon Lillard with Six Moncton players finished with double-digits, McCullough the leader with 24 and Mordi and Marcus Lewis registering double-doubles in the 109-93 win.
