It was a Sudbury Saturday night and 1,726 basketball fans were in attendance to cheer on their Sudbury Five to victory against the Windsor Express.
It was a showdown of some of the best players in the National Basketball League of Canada, and it didn’t fail to bring the excitement.
Windsor got off to an early 4-0 lead until NBLC leading scorer Jeremy Harris converted the slam dunk for Sudbury’s first bucket to make the score 4-2 with 9:49 remaining in the first quarter. Harris struck again with 7:14 remaining in the first quarter to tie the game at eight apiece.
With just under seven minutes remaining in the quarter, JD Miller, who went on to claim player-of-the-game honours for the night, stole the ball from Windsor and converted the layup to give Sudbury a 10-8 lead. Sudbury held a 24-20 lead after 12 minutes of play.
With just over 10 minutes remaining in the first half, the Five’s Montell McRae converted on a pass from Braylon Rayson to give Sudbury a seven-point lead, with a score of 31-24. With under 5:50 remaining in the first half, Dexter Williams Jr. nailed a three-point shot to give Sudbury a three-point lead, 47-44.
With 4:20 remaining in the half, Miller converted a layup to give Sudbury a 49-44 lead. With 2:16 remaining in the first half, Miller struck again, this time from beyond the three-point line to give Sudbury a 57-48 lead. By halftime, NBLC coach of the month Logan Stutz’s squad were leading the Express 61-56 at halftime.
Rayson hit a three-point jump shot from the corner to give Sudbury a 76-69 lead with 6:17 remaining in the third quarter. After some back and forth action the third quarter ended with a close score of 89-88 for the Express.
With seven minutes remaining in the fourth quarter, Miller nailed a three-point shot to make the score 100-99 for Windsor. Shortly after, Williams Jr. blocked a layup attempt to keep the Five within one point of Windsor. With just over a minute remaining in the game, Miller hit a jump shot for the two points to cut the score to 119-116 for Windsor.
With 39 seconds remaining Harris converted a layup to bring Sudbury within a single point, making the score 119-118. With 20 seconds remaining, and thanks to a steal by Williams Jr., Miller once again hit a three-pointer to give Sudbury a 121-119 lead.
That is how this one ended, with Sudbury squeaking out a narrow two-point win over Windsor.
With the win, the Sudbury Five have a record of 18 wins and five losses, and remain in first place in the NBLC.
The Sudbury Five next hit the road for a game in Windsor on April 13, with a start time of 7 p.m. before coming back home for a pair of games against the L’Academie D’Alma of The Basketball League on April 15 for a 7 p.m. tip-off and then on April 16 for a 2 p.m. tilt.
Super fan Robert McCarthy covers home games of the Sudbury Wolves and Sudbury Five for Sudbury.com. Got a question for Robert? Email it to [email protected].