The last two games of the regular season went exactly the way the Sudbury Five wanted them to, dropping the Los Angeles Ignite in two straight contests.
Less than 24 hours after beating LA 112-102 on Saturday night, the Five defense was on point on Sunday, holding the Ignite to just 90 points as Sudbury went on to win the game 109-90.
Before the game, the Five held a special ceremony to honour veteran Five centre Evan Harris, who has announced his retirement from basketball at the end of the season. The ceremony not only honoured Harris’ three years with the Five, but his 14-year pro career as well.
After honouring Harris, it was time to play some basketball.
The first quarter was a low-scoring affair with Sudbury holding a slim 25-21 lead by the end, with contributions from Duane Notice (14 points in the game) and JD Miller (11 points in the game).
Sudbury was able to give themselves a little bit of breathing room in the second quarter, scoring 23 points to L.A.’s 17. Heading into the halftime break, the Five led the Ignite 48-38 thanks to strong performances from several players, including Ja’Myrin Jackson with 17 points in the game.
Sudbury came out with a renewed sense of urgency after halftime and had their best quarter of the night, scoring 33 points in the third and building a 16-point lead. The Five was up 81-65 heading into the fourth and final quarter.
In another high-scoring few minutes, Sudbury netted 28 points in the fourth, and despite the best efforts by Los Angeles, the Five came away with the victory by a score of 109-90.
After the game, Five GM and Head Coach Logan Stutz said, despite a strong performance on both sides of the court from his squad, he knew they couldn’t let up on LA given the Ignite’s scoring touch.
“We threw a couple punches and they answered back and cut it within striking distance,” Stutz said. “It made us stay engaged, which is good. Then we kind of just slowly chipped away. Even at 16, 17 points, I was kind of like ‘I just don’t feel comfortable with this,’ because I know how much firepower they have.”
On his retirement, Harris said he was grateful to the team and the fans for bidding him farewell in such a special way.
“Tonight was special,” Harris said. “I’ve never been part of an organization that did anything like this for me, and I’ve never heard of anything like this as a pro, so I really appreciate, really value the community and the team for that, so today stands out.
“My first year, London was on a 16-game winning streak. They were running through the league, and we beat them here, it was their first loss. I remember that.”
With the win, the Sudbury Five now hold a record of 15 wins and 11 losses on the season, good for third place in the Basketball Super League.
The Sudbury Five go on the road for five games to close out the regular season, starting with three games in Newfoundland against the Rogues: April 18 at 5:30 p.m.; April 20 at 5:30 p.m., and; April 21 and 2:30 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].
