The St. John’s Edge enter their final full week of the 2017-18 National Basketball League of Canada regular season looking at just one more possible achievement with regards to the standings.
Any hopes of the Edge finishing first overall in the 10-team league ended Sunday when the Halifax Hurricanes defeated the Cape Breton Hurricanes 118-111.
That was the league-leading Hurricanes’ 26th win of the season, and although St. John’s (24-14), which has two regular-season games left, could still get to 26 wins, Halifax would prevail in any tiebreaker, having won the season series 2-1.
However, the Edge still have a shot at finishing first in the Central Division.
The defending champion London Lightning (24-13), who lead the division, also won Sunday, downing the Windsor Express 119-106. But if London lost two of its remain three games and the Edge swept the Niagara River Lions in two season-closing games at Mile One Centre over the Easter weekend, then St. John’s would top the Central. The same could happen if the Edge split with the River Lions and the unlikely happened — London lost all of its remaining games.
Once again, St. John’s would not come out on top of a tiebreaker with London as the Lightning won four of seven head-to-head meetings this season.
The Edge will have a good idea where they stand before they even play they’re next game, as the Lightning hit the court against the last-place KW Titans on Tuesday and the Express on Wednesday.
This much is certain: St. John’s will finish no worse than second in its division and third overall in the league, a significant achievement for an expansion team rather hastily put together last fall.
That means the Edge will have home-court advantage in the first round of the playoffs, set to start in early April. As of today, their opponent in that opening series would be the Express.
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