It would most certainly be unfair to suggest that the Sudbury Five have been unable to close out any of their tight, winnable games this season.
A quick gander at the entirety of their schedule reveals some huge victories where the margin of the triumph could be counted on just one hand.
That said, had the Five added just a few more “W’s” along the way from games where they appeared to be in pretty good shape at various points of the fourth quarter, they would not have put themselves in a position to require a win-out weekend just to make the playoffs.
Give credit where credit is due, however.
With their season on the line Sunday afternoon in Windsor, the Sudbury Five emerged from a back and forth opening twelve minutes of play with a 36-31 lead, with each team taking turns topping the scoreboard.
From the beginning of the second quarter, the visitors would constantly feel the push of the Windsor Express, the teams separated by single digits for the bulk of the remainder of the afternoon.
Yet only once did the Five relinquish the lead – 56-55 for Windsor late in quarter two.
A three-pointer from Ja’Myrin Jackson 45 seconds later turned the tables and Sudbury would look back no more, registering a critical 135-130 victory over the Express that ensures the SWSE crew some post-season basketball.
“We bent many times but we never broke,” noted a surely-relieved coach Logan Stutz as his team embarked on the eight hour bus ride home. “We bent, but we bounced right back. Those were two character wins.”
Saturday night on the road, the locals had kept their hopes alive with an impressive 127-100 win over the KW Titans. And while a second straight 27-point victory might have been nice for the nerves, the manner in which Sudbury remained on the positive side of the scoreboard today may have prepared them far better for the next few weeks ahead.
“We’ve had opportunities where I don’t want to say that we have folded in the past, but we’ve kind of put our head down and the other team kept going; we got negative for a minute and the other team kept going.”
One of those athletes who is as intense as they come, A.J. Mosby Jr will also wear his emotions on his sleeve, at times – fine when things are going well; not quite so fine perhaps when things suddenly turn sour. This weekend, Mosby would carry the team when they needed him most, leading his squad with a 30-point performance on Sunday and sealing the win with a huge steal in the dying seconds.
J.D. Miller (25), Landon Kirkwood (22), Ja’Myrin Jackson (21), Duane Notice (14) and Paul Harrison (12) all chipped in at key moments as the Five were pressed to answer a 50-point outing from Shadell Millinghaus.
“We were finishing plays, finishing at the rim,” said Stutz. “We’ve done well all season but we have missed a lot of little opportunities that we took advantage of these two games.”
Above all else, Stutz was supremely pleased to see his troops enjoy an advantage both on the boards (outrebounding Windsor 44-35) and from the free-throw line (92.3% vs 87.5%). “The guys all came ready, they all played hard,” said Stutz.
“We outrebounded both teams this weekend which is extremely hard to do on the road. And our free throw percentage was almost perfect both games. It just shows that the guys came in focused and ready to play.”
But as the question had been on at least a few occasions this season, would their finish be as good as their start?
“I really challenged the guys this trip that no matter what happens, play through it, play hard and stay positive,” said Stutz. “I am just so proud of the guys for playing so hard.”
As coaches are prone to do, there would be the need, with so much riding on these games, to squeeze every last ounce of effort from a Sudbury Five team that certainly looks a little bit different than it did back on December 28th when they opened the season with a 124-115 road win over London.
(only A.J. Mosby Jr and Duane Notice were in the starting lineup for both that game and the win on Sunday in Windsor)
“I’ll be honest,” Stutz summarized. “I don’t know if I could have gotten much more out of them.”
With a couple of regular season games remaining for the KW Titans, it’s expected that the playoffs will begin next weekend, with the Sudbury Five (19-13) most likely to start their semi-final affair on the road against the London Lightning (20-12).
“There is absolutely a day off for recovery tomorrow and then we’re back at it on Tuesday,” said Stutz.
Enjoy it, gentlemen – you have most definitely earned it.