Through the opening twenty-four minutes of play, the Windsor Express were powering through Sudbury on Sunday, full steam ahead, as they built up an eleven point half-time lead over the Sudbury Five (61-50).
By the time the third quarter ended, the red-hot three point shooting of Jaylen Bland - the native of Saginaw (MI) had hit the 41 point plateau midway through the period - combined with the relentless Sudbury defence had derailed the visitors, the Five up 84-79 with twelve minutes to play.
And while Windsor eventually found a way to slow Bland down, sacrificing some offense by having Shaquille Keith stick to him like glue, the remaining Sudbury players rose to the challenge, with Braylon Rayson, Dexter Williams Jr, Marlon Johnson and newcomer Jarryn Skeete all sinking key four quarter baskets, part of a 111-104 triumph at the old barn on Elgin.
It took a while, out of the gate, for the Sudbury faithful to become truly energized, as the Express shot a whopping 68.4% in the first quarter alone, with big man Derrick Nix creating some major matchup problems, the Five whistled for seven personal fouls, at one point, compared to just one for the Windsor side.
Slowing down only slightly in the next ten minutes or so, hitting "only" on half of their shots, the Express maintained the exact same advantage they held after one quarter of play (34-23) into the break, the teams trading off 27 points apiece in quarter number two.
"It took us the first quarter, when they were up by ten, to figure it out," said Williams Jr, one of five returnees to the team, this year, and the one player whose energy level will never leave fans feeling that they were cheated by his effort. "We just had to make that extra pass. They wanted to play in the gaps."
"We got in the huddle, figured things out at half time, and executed in the second half."
Well, that, and riding the coat-tails of Jaylen Bland, who went off on a tear where he simply could not miss, his 11 three-point baskets comfortably ahead of the total from beyond the arc for the entire Windsor team combined (seven three-point baskets).
"Everyone is so unselfish on this team, if somebody has the hot hand, we're going to give him the ball over and over again," said Williams Jr. "Jaylen had the hot hand, and it happens a lot, with him and Braylon, so we find a way to get them the ball. That's what makes us so good."
And even as the Express committed Shaquille Keith, their leading scorer with 27 points, to the more critical assignment of trying to contain Bland, the overall depth of the 2019-2020 Sudbury Five became more apparent, the players taking turns grabbing the spotlight.
"No disrespect, but this year's team is much better (than last year)," said Williams Jr. "We're more athletic, we play defence, we really have no weaknesses - and if we do find weaknesses, we work on them with the coaches and we figure it out."
Bland would finish the contest with 43 points, with Braylon Rayson (27), Dexter Williams Jr (15) and Marlon Johnson (10) all hitting double digits, and Brady Skeens helping Sudbury to a notable advantage on the board (48-33), grabbing 14 rebounds in total.
Following in the footsteps of Keith in the scoring parade for Windsor were Chris Jones (22), Kemy Osse (20) and Derrick Nix (12), as Windsor saw their record drop to 5-4, the Five snapping a three game winning streak for the southwestern Ontario reps.
Coach Logan Stutz and company improved to 6-4, picking up their second consecutive win over Windsor, and closing out a three game home stand with a 3-0 mark (keeping in mind that a scheduled two-game trek to the east coast to face the St John's Edge was postponed due to the storm that battered Newfoundland last week).
The Five take to the road next weekend, battling the Express and the K-W Titans on February 1st and 2nd, before returning home for match-ups on back to back nights (February 6th and 7th) against Windsor and the Halifax Hurricanes.
