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Elliott Etherington hopes the same competitive fire that fuelled a home-court win for the Sudbury Five on Tuesday will also help carry the team to a victory over the KW Titans on Friday night and a 2-1 lead in their best-of-five Northern Basketball League of Canada semifinal.
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Sudbury’s head coach and GM has also cautioned his players to stay disciplined as they seek the edge in a series that has already become heated at times.
“We talk about it, about situations where we have to show more restraint and more control,” said Etherington, reached on his way to Kitchener on Thursday afternoon. “There’s also situations where we want to maybe not start something, but we’re going to defend our teammate or we’ll finish something. It is a fine line, especially this time of the year, but we talked to the guys about situations to stay away from and you can’t control what other people do. You can only control what you do yourself.”
Sudbury posted a 112-84 victory over KW on Tuesday, with tempers flaring once more near the end of the contest, but officials shooing all involved parties off the floor before the situation could escalate.
Etherington knows his players can be passionate, and felt they harnessed that passion to good effect to bounce back in such a convincing fashion after a disappointing loss two days earlier.
“I love the guys, the way they compete and the way they’re energetic,” Etherington said. “Honestly, they are who they are and I don’t want to turn down the intensity level, I don’t want them to turn down the passion and stop being themselves. We just have to make sure we stay composed at the most important parts of the game, but at the end of the day, I want the guys to be themselves.”
Their character has certainly been tested in the last few weeks, during which the Five have lost big man Zena Edosomwan to another league and fellow centre Evan Harris to injury. Etherington would not have asked for those challenges, but he has been impressed by the response from his remaining players, just as he was when the team was hampered by COVID protocols early in the season.
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“From the beginning of the season, when the whole COVID thing happened, I just said to the guys there’s always going to be something,” Etherington recalled. “There’s always going to be some type of obstacle. It’s about overcoming what’s in front of you and for the most part this season, I think the guys have done a really good job with that. There have been some circumstances that have just been what they are and we just have to do our best to overcome it and keep the momentum going and win regardless.”
Friday’s obstacle will be a Titans team, with all the same size and skill, but now backed by hometown fans in a bid to avenge Tuesday’s defeat.
“We have to come out with the level of intensity we had the other night, to be locked in to what we want to do defensively,” Etherington said. “They’re a team that gets out to quick starts, so you can’t show up and not be ready to go, especially when they’re at home. They have good first quarters, they start the game off well and we have gone down there and won some games in the regular season, but we’re coming back because we’re down in the first quarter. We have to be locked in from the beginning and regardless of what happens, we have to be locked in for 48 minutes.”
Etherington was glad to hear that an injury to guard Braylon Rayson near the end of Tuesday’s game was not as serious as originally feared, meaning the former NBLC MVP should be able to play on Friday.
Evan Harris, meanwhile, was to have surgery Thursday to repair facial fractures he suffered in a game against London last week. But while Sudbury’s big man will miss the rest of the current series, Etherington said he may be able to return if the Five make the final against the London-Windsor semifinal winner — one more piece of motivation for his teammates.
“We got to do it for the guys beside us, everybody in the locker room is doing it for each other, and if we have that mentality for a couple more nights, I think we’ll be in a good spot.”
Game 4 of the series, also at the Aud in Kitchener, goes Saturday at 7 p.m. Game 5, if necessary, will be back in Sudbury next Tuesday, also at 7 p.m.
Twitter: @ben_leeson
Five look to harness passion to take series lead - The Sudbury Star
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