Those who keep preaching the playoffs bring a whole new level of competition got some backing for their sermons Friday night at Mile One Centre.
That’s where the St. John’s Edge downed the Windsor Express 123-120 in double overtime the opening game of their best-of-five National Basketball League of Canada first-round playoff series.
Game 2 in the Central Division semifinal is Sunday afternoon (2 p.m.) at Mile One.
In Friday’s opener, there were no last-second buzzer-beater to deliver a win for St. John’s, or even to force the need for either of the extra frames. But it was particularly hard-fought game just the same, with the Edge having to work their way back in the second half after trailing by as many as 12 points late in the third quarter.
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In fact, the Edge took the lead late in regulation, but saw Windsor’s Maurice Jones tie the game at 97-97 with a layup with about half a minute left.
That led to the first five-minute overtime where it was St. John’s tying the game in the last minute, this time on a three-pointer by Jarryn Skeete. The Express had a chance to win it shortly after Skeete’s trey, but Windsor’s Damontre Harris couldn’t get his layup to fall.
That meant a second extra period, where Skeete continued to play the hero, sinking two more three-pointers, including one with 48 seconds left that gave the home side a lead it would not relinquish.
Carl English, who was named the NBL Canada MVP on Friday, was also clutch for the Edge in late going, hitting four free throws in the last 72 seconds of the contest.
Making St. John’s first-ever playoff win even more impressive was that the Edge played the overtime without forward Charle Hinkle, who had fouled out late in regulation after scoring a team-high 30 points.
But there were plenty of others Edge players to fill breaches, including Skeete, who had been almost exclusively a bench player during regular season, but kept delivering after being given a starting role in the latter part of the schedule. He did so again Friday with 16 points as one of a half-dozen St. John’s players who score in doubled figures.
The others were English, who scored his number (23); Wally Ellenson and Coron Williams, who respectively registered 16 and 15 points off the bench and Desmond Lee, who played a whopping 52 minutes of the 58-minute contest, scoring 15 points and grabbing just as many rebounds, more than anyone else in the contest.
English (11) and Ellenson (10) also hit double figures in rebounds.
Jones had 30 points and nine points for the Express, who led 47-39 at the half. Windsor also got 27 points from Shaquille Keith and 24 from Chad Frazier. Logan Stutz added 17 points and a dozen rebounds.
Notes
The Edge shuffled their roster prior to Friday’s, reactivating Hinkle, who had sat out the final regular-season game for rest purposes and fellow forward Xavier Ford, who had been sidelined by illness. To make room, guard Colton Ray and forward Russell Byrd were deactivated … There was one other playoff opener Friday night. That was in London, Ont., where the defending champion London Lightning demolished the Niagara River Lions 151-115 in Game 1 of their Central Division series …
Twitter: @telybrendan
