NBLC Highlight Games: London vs Windsor, December 28th
The 2019-20 NBL Canada season was days old, but the London Lightning and Windsor Express proved it's never too early for a heated, unpredictable basketball game which would go right down to the wire.
That this was the latest instalment in the oldest rivalry in the Central Division and Windsor's first home game of the new season, with them wanting to make a statement early on, built into a night of drama at the WFCU Center.
The Express began the game with a 14-2 run, with new signing Derrick Nix leading the early close range attack for the home team. Led by their top scorers, Mo Bolden and Garrett Williamson, London would turn the tables to lead for much of the second quarter and finished the half ahead by ten points.
When play resumed, Windsor took advantage of a lapse in concentration on offence by the Lightning, forcing them into giving up the ball (Twenty-five of their points in the game came from turnovers) while Sam Muldrow took charge on the defensive end. All of which closed the gap, which stood at just one point ahead of the final period.
London went back out to five before Kemy Osse tied the scores as 70 apiece, after which there were four lead changes midway through the fourth quarter, at the end of which the Lightning had made it a multiple-possession game. There would be no stopping Osse in the fourth, though, as he brought Windsor's arrears down to one.
As the game entered its final stretch, no one able to find the net until the closing seconds when Shaquille Keith put up a crucial jump shot for the Express. After Garrett Williamson was then unable to connect on the other end, the final result was decided. Windsor had won a breathless home opener by 85 points to London's 84.
Nix finished as the top scorer in his debut for the Express with 20 points, while Osse contributed 19 and Muldrow finished with a double-double of 13 points and 10 rebounds. A team-high 19 points was small comfort for London's Mo Bolden at the conclusion of this crushing loss for the visitors.
London would go on to win their next seven games and top the Central Division and remain there at the season's early conclusion. The remainder of Windsor's season, meanwhile, would be mixed, and they finished with an 11-11 record which put them mid-table when time on play was called.
