The St. John’s Edge made short work of the Windsor Express Wednesday night.
And they did it mostly from long range.
At the Windsor Family Credit Union Centre, the Edge hit 20 three-pointers en route to their first win of the 2018-19 National Basketball League of Canada season, defeating the Express 113-86.
Jared Nickens and Todd Brown each had 21 points for St. John’s (1-1), with Nickens doing all his scoring exclusively on three-point attempts, going seven-for-10. Brown was five-for-nine from beyond the ar..
Overall, St. John’s was 20-for-37 on treys for a 54.1 per cent success rate, just a tick below its 54.2 per cent shooting rate in the game.
Guillaume Boucard added 18 points for the Edge, while former Windsor star guard Maurice Jones had a double-double for the winners, delivering 13 points and a game-high 15 assists.
Boucard and teammate Dez Lee each had nine rebounds, more than any other player in the game.
Reggie Hamilton led Windsor (0-2) with 16 points.
Assistant Steve Marcus guided St. John’s in this one, with head coach Doug Plumb beginning to serve a two-game league suspension.
Plumb had been handed the penance before the start of the season for off-season tampering with a player whose rights were held by another team, but had appealed the suspension. That meant he was at the helm for the Edge’s in their season-opening 107-103 loss to the two-time defending champion Lightning in London, Ont., on Sunday afternoon, but learned after that contest that the suspension had been upheld.
That left Marcus in charge Wednesday as St. John’s won every quarter and were leading by 20 points heading into the final stanza. That allowed Marcus to make extensive use of his bench — every player saw at least a half-dozen minutes of floor time and scored at least a point.
The Edge don’t have much time to savour the win. They fly back to St. John’s today to prepare for their home-opener Friday night, when they take on the Moncton Magic in the first of two games at Mile One Centre — the teams also hook up there Sunday afternoon.
Game time Friday is 7 p.m., but the gates will be open early, at 5:30 p.m. for a pre-game performance by the Navigators.
