Looking to close out their best-of-five series, the Sudbury Five welcomed fierce competitors the St. Johns Edge to the Sudbury Arena Friday night, for Game Four of their first round series.
It took a few minutes to get things rolling on the Sudbury court, with both teams playing heavy defence to avoid any high-scoring opportunities.
The Edge broke out early into the game with a six-point lead, but lost this advantage halfway through the opening frame to some
The Five were down four, with a score of 30-26 heading into second quarter.
The Sudbury offence was led in the second quarter by the Five's Braylon Rayson, recently named NBL Canada's MVP, with eight points and two rebounds.
Despite this effort, Sudbury continued to trail behind in second, with Edge defence blocking any attempt at an offensive outburst. The Edge were up 53-50 moving into third.
The Edge flew onto the court in third, starting the quarter with a 13-3 run. By the time the Five achieved a small run near the end of the quarter, the Edge had grown a 21-point lead against the Nickel City. A two-handed dunk by Mamadou Gueye got the Sudbury crowd back on their feet, but that energy wasn't enough to keep the Five from trailing 88-74 moving into the final frame.
The Five kept the fire going in the final frame, narrowing the Edge's lead with a 8-0 run, after a pair of triples by Rayson and Gueye and a long-distance jump shot.
The Five watched as an offensive outburst from the Edge turned the tables with only minutes left in play.
With a pair of offensive drives for the Edge, led by perfect shooting from Burnatowski and Davis and multiple trips to the foul line, the Edge claimed game four with a 107-104 final.
Both teams return to Newfoundland for Game Five Sunday afternoon at 12:30 p.m., to determine which team will be moving on to the Central Division Finals.
