The Sudbury Five were back on the court on Friday in Windsor in a must win situation if they wanted to force a Game 5 in Sudbury.
Fans of both teams were in for a thriller May 12 as both sides gave it all they had, with Sudbury coming out on top 124-121 in overtime.
The two teams were on fire on the offensive end of the floor to start this game, with Windsor holding a slim 15-12 lead with just over five and a half minutes remaining in the first quarter until Braylon Rayson drained a three point shot to knot the game at 15-15. Over the next four minutes Windsor started to take control of this contest to take a 32-21 lead until Montell McRae connected on a dunk to make the score 32-23 for the Express, which is how the first quarter would end, with Windsor leading by nine points.
At the start of the second quarter and the score still 32-23, Montell McRae came away with a steal from the Windsor offense and converted on a layup. The ensuing free throw to complete the three-point play and pull Sudbury within 6, 32-26, less than a minute into the quarter. Just over one minute in, Duane Notice dished off a no-look pass to JD Miller who converted a slam dunk to pull Sudbury even closer, the score now 36-28 for Windsor. Both teams went back and forth for the entire quarter, and with under one minute remaining and the score 57-54 for the Windsor Express, JD Miller once again dunked the ball with authority to pull the Five within 1, 57-56. Windsor converted on one more basket before the end of the second and were leading the Five 59-56 at halftime.
The first several minutes in the third quarter was almost all Windsor as they pulled away from Sudbury to grab a commanding 72-56 lead until Miller connected on another dunk to make the score 72-58 for Windsor just under five minutes into the third quarter. About 2 minutes later with Windsor still firmly in control of this one, Montell McRae pulled Sudbury a little closer, with Windsor leading 77-64. Sudbury would close the gap slightly to end the third quarter, down 84-73 at the end of the quarter.
However, Sudbury wasn’t going to go down without a fight.
Almost two minutes into the fourth quarter and the score 86-77 for the Express, AJ Mosby Jr. nailed a tough layup shot and hit the following free throw after getting fouled to pull Sudbury within six, 86-80. With under eight minutes remaining in the fourth and Sudbury now only trailing by one, Rayson drained another three pointer to give Sudbury a 90-88 lead. With five minutes left and Sudbury once again trailing by one, Duane Notice hit a three point shot from the corner to give Sudbury a 96-94 lead. With just over three minutes remaining in regulation and Sudbury leading 101-99, Montell McRae hit a slam dunk to increase the Five’s lead to 103-99. With less than half a minute to go and Sudbury down by 5 with their season on the line, Mosby Jr., who was awarded Player of the Game Honours and recently won the 2023 National Basketball League of Canada’s Newcomer of the Year Award, hit a timely three point shot to make the score 110-108 for the Windsor Express. With less than 10 seconds to go in regulation and Sudbury down 111-110, Rayson hit a free throw to tie the game 111-111, which is how regulation time would end.
With just over four minutes left in the overtime quarter and Windsor leading 113-111, Mosby Jr. beat the shot clock with a difficult shot to tie the game once again, 113-113. Just over one minute later and the score 115-115, Rayson connected on a difficult long two point shot to give Sudbury a 3 point lead, 117-115 with 3:12 remaining in overtime. With 2 and a half minutes remaining and both teams deadlocked at 117 points apiece, JD Miller converts on a tough layup shot to once again put Sudbury on top, 119-117. With under a minute to go and the score all tied up at 119-119, Mosby Jr. connected on a tough fadeaway jumper, making the score 121-119 for Sudbury. Windsor would tie the game once again at 121-121, but Sudbury would hit one final three pointer to pull ahead 124-121, and that would prove to be the game winner.
With the win, the National Basketball League of Canada Semi-Finals is tied at two wins apiece, with the fifth and deciding game taking place at the Sudbury Community Arena on Sunday, May 14th at 2:05 PM, with the winner taking on the winner of the other NBLC Semi-Finals series between the Kitchener-Waterloo Titans and the London Lightning. The Lightning, who are the defending National Basketball League of Canada champions, currently lead that series, 2-1.
