What has been an almost month-long homestand comes to end this week for the St. John’s Edge as they host the Moncton Magic in National Basketball League of Canada games tonight and Wednesday at Mile One Centre in St. John’s.
Both games have 7 p.m. starts.
After St. John’s opened the 2019-20 NBLC season with a hectic six-game, 10-day road trip in the Maritimes, the Edge’s first stretch at home, which began with a Jan. 7 game against the KW Titans, has featured a much-different pace.
Originally scheduled to be an eight-game stand, it was reduced to six contests when a couple of matchups with the Sudbury Five were postponed in the wake of the State of Emergency that followed the record mid-January storm that hit eastern Newfoundland.
So after playing six season-opening games, with travel, in a week-and-a-half, the Edge’s next six games will be played over five weeks.
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Home has been pretty good to the Edge (5-5). They’ve gone 3-1 since returning to St. John’s, with the one loss coming in their last game, Jan. 27 against the Halifax Hurricanes.
The defending champion Magic (10-2), who swept the Edge in last year’s league final, arrive with the league’s best record. Two of their wins — including an overtime decision — came over St. John’s during the Edge’s season-starting trek through the Maritimes.
Moncton is led by veteran forward Billy White (19.5 ppg) and Jeremiah Mordi, who is the league’s most accurate three-point shooter, hitting on more than 60 percent of his long-range attemts (23 for 38). But the Magic player who will get the most attention from St. Johns’ fans will be guard Dez Lee, who played for the Edge for the first two seasons. The 29-year-old Lee, who was a dependable all-purpose player and may have been St. John’s unofficial MVP last season (the Edge didn’t announce) end-of-the-season team awards), has averaged just over 11 points in four games since signing with Moncton.
To make room for Lee, the Magic released another former St. John’s player, Maurice Jones.
Thomas back with Edge again
Ahmad Thomas didn’t stay an ex-Edge for very long.
Thomas, who turns 25 on Saturday, has been re-signed by St. John’s as the designated replacement for swingman Ryan Richardson, who has been placed on the inactive list for personal/family reasons.
Thomas had been released in late January, just a week after being signed by St. John’s. That was actually the second time he had been cut; the American forward attended the team’s training camp, but was let go in late December, just before the start of the regular season.
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