Sudbury Five head coach Logan Stutz loves the energy that Landon Kirkwood can bring to a game, coming off the bench.

In some games, Sudbury guard A.J. Mosby Jr seldom sees the bench.

In large part it was this dynamic duo that managed to keep the Five alive in the post-season of 2024.

Mosby Jr netted 39 points while playing all 48 minutes of game three in London on Wednesday and Kirkwood sparked a 31-15 Sudbury run early in the third quarter, draining four of his five three-pointers in the game during that stretch as the visitors bested the London Lightning 128-118.

While Sudbury still trails the best of five affair two games to one, the victory ensures at least one more home date for coach Stutz and company, the teams back in action on Friday night with a 7:05 p.m. tip-off in the nickel city.

Not fully untracked in the opening half, the Five kept things close, trailing 34-29 after twelve minutes of play and playing dead-even with the Lightning in quarter two, 28-28.

Antoine Mason may have hit for the first bucket of the second half but from that point on, Sudbury was clearly the better team.

The ensuing push by the Five, one which would see the team sitting just short of a double-digit lead (88-79) with a little over four minutes to play in the third, would require the northern crew to switch mindsets and play well with the lead.

Given that the gap seldom narrowed below ten points in the final nine minutes of play, the Five boarded the bus home knowing that this was a job well done.

Ja'Myrin Jackson (23 pts), J.D. Miller (20), Paul Harrison (13) and Duane Notice (11) all chipped in nicely for the Five, with Jachai Taylor (30), Jeremiah Mordi (22), Billy White (16), Nick Garth (13), Devon Baulkman (12) and Antoine Mason (11) all countering in a losing cuase.

Combustible Lightning guard Chris Jones torched the Five for 30 points in game one but was assessed a technical foul heading to the locker room at end of the opening half on Monday in Sudbury.

He started the second half but was pulled five minutes in, proceeding to lambaste head coach Doug Plumb on the bench and did not re-enter the game and then sat out a one game league-imposed suspension in London.

After struggling from the line early in this series, Sudbury proceeded to hit the 80% efficiency rate in game three and also kept pace with London when it came to rebounds, with each team hauling down 38.