NBLC Highlight Games: London vs KW, January 30th
The two teams who made up the only NBL Canada match-up on January 30th came into the game under very different circumstances. The London Lightning led the Central Division having only lost three games so far on the season while the KW Titans had the opposite situation, sitting at the bottom of their division with a similar record.
It would seem the outcome at the Aud in Kitchener would be easy to predict, but this game went on to be nothing like anyone could have expected.
The game saw an uncharacteristically slack start from London, only three players scoring in the opening quarter, where they scored just nine points. Meanwhile, Akeem Ellis led the KW Titans in a merciless start for the hosts. They ended the first period with sixteen unanswered points and afterwards took the game's biggest lead of twenty-one points after play resumed. Terry Thomas then provided the spark for London off the bench, along with Xavier Moon and a pick up in three-point shooting to close the gap down to ten at half time. Damon Lynn caught fire for the Titans in Q3, while the Lightning outscored their opponents from the field.
The gap stood at seven points to begin the final period, where Xavier Moon had eight in a row to make it a one-point game. He later gave London their first lead of the game midway through the fourth.
From then on there was no more than four points between the two until the last minute, where Akeem Scott had five successive points to get the Titans to within two of the Lightning in the final seconds, and a layup from Ellis tied the scores at the final buzzer. More time was needed in order to separate these teams.
In overtime, London went in front by four, then six, after which Jared Nickens made it a one-point game with a minute left on the clock. Terry Thomas made London's lead three, only for Akeem Scott tying proceedings from three-point territory.
It all came down to Akeem Ellis putting up a three-point shot at the buzzer which hit nothing but net. Scoring a victory against the London Lightning is always welcomed by any NBLC team, but the struggling Titans now had reason to celebrate. They had proved themselves against the Lightning and emerged with a dramatic 113-110 victory.
Moon had 37 points for London who also saw 19 off the bench from Terry Thomas in the loss. As well as the win the Titans could also celebrate a game-high 27 points from Scott, who was closely followed by Damon Lynn with 26 and Ellis finished with a double-double, 24 points and 12 rebounds.
