Just 24 hours after a tough loss against the Newfoundland Rogues, the Sudbury Five were back on home court to take on the Glass City Wranglers.
Sudbury put forth a better effort on the defensive end of the glass to get the win by a score of 141-106.
The game started out close with the Wranglers battling hard despite having a short bench with only eight players dressed for the game. At the end of the first quarter, the Sudbury Five held a 35-29 lead thanks in part to Five newcomer Daniel Sackey, who went on to score 16 points in the game.
The Five were able to create some distance from the Wranglers in the second quarter, outscoring Glass City 36-22 and pulling ahead by 20.
At halftime, Sudbury was up by a score of 71-51, boasting solid first-half play from AJ Mosby Jr., who would earn 26 points in the game, and Duane Notice, with 18 points in the game.
Coming out of the dressing room after halftime, the Five continued to add to their lead, scoring 37 points in the third quarter and building a 25-point lead — 108-83 — with one quarter remaining. Both Paul Harrison and Landon Kirkwood scored 14 points in the game.
The Five saved their best quarter for last, outscoring the Wranglers 33-23 in the fourth to seal a big 141-106 victory.
With the win, the Sudbury Five now hold a record of 14 wins and 11 losses on the season.
In his post-game comments, Sudbury Five Head Coach and General Manager Logan Stutz said defence was a big part of the win.
“This is the second game in a row we haven’t fouled until the six-minute mark, and that just shows we’re probably not aggressive enough. Fouling is not always a bad thing,” Stutz said. “We were down 21-14 and had zero fouls, and that’s after the first media (timeout) and I switched all five guys out, and we ended up winning that quarter 35-28, and we had five fouls.
“So the other group got up, they were aggressive. The refs had to call some fouls, which is fine. We played very aggressive and won the last six minutes roughly 20-7. So it’s not a bad thing to foul. The urgency has to pick up, the aggressiveness has to pick up. If you’re not fouling, the other teams get way too comfortable out there.”
For his part, Mosby had a simple philosophy for what went well on Sunday.
“Just the energy and the effort,” he said. “Anything else, it just falls in line when you have energy and effort.”
The Sudbury Five have just two games remaining on home court in the regular season, both taking place next weekend, starting with a game on April 13 against the Los Angeles Ignite with tipoff scheduled for 7 p.m. The two teams meet again on Sunday, with tipoff scheduled for 2 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].
