The St. John’s Edge finished up their regular-season road schedule Thursday night and in doing so, took care of some business regarding home.
In St. Catharines, Ont., the Edge got some distributed scoring — four players with 20 or more points — as they downed the Niagara River Lions 118-103 to clinch home-court advantage in at least the first round of the National Basketball League of Canada playoffs, which begin next month.
St. John’s also maintained hope of extending that advantage beyond the opening round of the post-season.
The Edge improved to 24-14 on the season, with two games left. That gives them two points more than the defending champion London Lightning (23-13), but since the official league standings are ordered on winning percentage, London — with two games in hand on St. John’s — is listed as holding a slight first-place lead in the Central Division.
The Halifax Hurricanes (24-11), who have played three fewer games than St. John’s, own first place overall.
As it stands, the Edge would face the Windsor Express (19-16) to open the playoffs, but if they manage to get past the Lightning, it would be the River Lions who would be their first-round opponents.
On Thursday, the Edge played without leading scorer Carl English, who was sitting out a one-game suspension, automatically imposed by the league for accumulation of six technical fouls. However, the team found offence from lots of different quarters in his absence.
Xavier Ford contributed 24 points and nine rebounds in just 21 minutes of floor time off the bench as St. John’s trailed for most of the first half, but overtook Niagara with a late second-quarter burst and never looked back.
Wally Ellenson, who had been restored to the active roster before the game, and Charles Hinkle, who also chipped with eight rebounds, each added 21 points for the Edge. Jarryn Skeete, who had made his first start of the season in a win over the KW Titans Wednesday, got another and made the most of it, registering 20 points.
Ryan Reid led St. John’s with 11 rebounds, 10 of them at the defensive end, while Coron Williams and Alex Johnson had seven and six assists, respectively. The two guards did so coming off the bench, but were still among eight different Edge players who saw 20 or more minutes of playing time in the game.
Samuel Muldrow topped Niagara with 21 points, former NBAer Kris Joseph added 15 and Jaylon Tate had a double-double (13 points, 11 assists) for the home side.
St. John’s, which had an 11-9 road record in its inaugural season, finishes its regular-season schedule with two more matchups against the River Lions March 31 and April 2 at Mile One Centre.
Twitter: @telybrendan
