The Sudbury Five were back on home court on Monday night for Game Two of the Basketball Super League semi-finals against the London Lightning, hoping to rebound from a Game One loss. Much like Game 1, Game 2 was a defensive affair.
Both teams came out looking to assert themselves on both ends of the court, but it was the Lightning that found themselves in the lead, ahead 31-30 after the first quarter of play, thanks in part to the play of Jermaine Haley, who scored 18 points in the game.
Both teams played better defensively in the second quarter, holding each other to 19 points apiece and heading into the halftime break the London Lightning held a very slim lead over the Sudbury Five by a score of 50-49.
The defensive efforts remained a top priority for both clubs coming out of the halftime break, with London winning the third quarter 26-22, and holding an overall lead of 76-71 with one quarter remaining in the basketball game.
The Sudbury Five scored 21 points in the fourth and final quarter, including a game from Ja’Myrin Jackson, who scored 28 points in the game. Jackson’s strong performance wasn’t enough as London held on to win Game Two over the Sudbury Five by a score of 100-92.
With the loss, the Sudbury Five now find themselves facing elimination, trailing the Lightning 2-0 in the best-of-five semi-final series.
In post game comments, Five Head Coach and General Manager Logan Stutz spoke of the team’s offensive challenges of late.
“I’ve been really pretty happy with the defense,” he said. “It’s good enough to win basketball games, but offensively we gotta keep going. We gotta keep executing. Maybe look at a little better spacing, but what we’re drawing up isn’t getting us what we want. I need my post players to finish better and be stronger down low. We’re getting good looks, the ball’s just not going through the hoop for us.”
The Sudbury Five find themselves in a must win situation in London on May 8 as they try to avoid elimination. Tipoff for Game 3 is 7 p.m.
Super fan Robert McCarthy covers Sudbury Wolves and Sudbury Five games for Sudbury.com. Got a question for Robert? Email it to [email protected].
