Sudbury, KW Titans Make History On US Road Trip
For the first time the NBL Canada regular seasons took place outside of Canada. As part of the tenth season celebrations, NBLC teams will pay and be paid regular visits from teams of the USA's ever-expanding semi-pro association, The Basketball League. The Sudbury Five and KW Titans would be the teams to make the journey over the border and play the first inter-league games for both leagues.
Sudbury first journeyed to the Hoosier state to take on the Indiana All-Americans, where after a back-and-forth first half, the home team had ten points unanswered and capitalized in both the paint and outside the arc to build a fifteen-point lead in the second quarter.
Jason Calliste and Zena Edosomwan led Sudbury in cutting down the deficit, going in front after opening the third quarter with five three-pointers. Indiana struck back with threes of their own by Sudbury picked up points in the paint and drew fouls to keep themselves in front.
After six points from Evan Maxwell Indiana regained the lead but Sudbury kept it a single-possession game, but after a three from Indiana's Taishaun Johnson and a missed Sudbury attempt in the last minute brought this eventful game to a close. Calliste had a game-high 28 points but Sudbury had to come away with the loss, 103-99.
The next day the Five travelled to Ohio to face new TBL franchise, Toledo Glass City. This time their shooting and drawing fouls early on gave them a double-digit lead at the end of the first quarter. Sudbury's lead grew to eighteen after eleven unanswered points in Q2, when Toledo caught first from beyond the arc and started closing the gap.
Marcel White and Edosomwan led the Canadian team in holding on to their lead, until seven Toledo points in the last minute of the third made it a single-possession game. Sudbury scored eight points in just over a minute to try and boost their score ahead of the final stretch before going cold. Toledo themselves scored eight unanswered, leaving one point between the teams in the final minute.
A foul by Harris on Darrington sent him to the line with seconds left, he made both and made it a two-game losing streak for Sudbury. Edosomwan led the Five with 21 points and 14 total rebounds but Toledo Glass City were the victors in the second nail-biter in a row, the score this time 102-100.
Meanwhile the KW Titans' first foray into the USA began with a narrow win over the Jamestown Jackals. They had a chance to make it two-for-two the next day in Indiana, the home of the Lebanon Leprechauns. Joel Kindred was key in the Titans building a lead during a back-and-forth start at the Rosenstihl Gymnasium. The points coming largely from the field, the visitors from Canada had amassed a double-digit lead at the end of a high-scoring first quarter, which grew after beginning Q2 with seven points unanswered.
Largely from the low post, Lebanon kept trying to close the gap only for the Titans to match them and grow their lead from three-point territory, KW responded with eleven unanswered and their lead then stood at 28. Ronnie Boyce and Jason Thompson were giving their all for Leprechauns but the Lebanese were overwhelmed by relentless offence from the Titans.
Kindred finished with 22 points, Chad Frazier had a game-high 25 and Osa Wilson recorded his first NBLC double-double, 11 points and rebounds, for the only NBLC team to come away from this double-header with a win, also their first in the season.
This double-header is to be the first of many interactions between the NBLC and TBL this season. Be sure to check back here to see who will win in the continuing battle between Canada and the USA.
