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Close wasn’t close enough for the Sudbury Five, who now face a must-win scenario after a 132-126 loss to the KW Titans at the Aud in Kitchener on Friday night.
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“This is a tough one, man, tough,” said Sudbury head coach Elliott Etherington, shortly after the final buzzer. “We had it there and we made some mistakes down to the end of the (game) — just a tough night.”
Jeremy Harris was simply superb, even in defeat, scoring 40 points and adding 13 rebounds for Sudbury, which must win Game 4 of the best-of-five series on Saturday to extend its stay in the National Basketball League of Canada post-season.
Jaylen Bland had 28 points, seven rebounds and five assists, while Dexter Williams Jr. added 20 points, Jason Calliste 19 and Braylon Rayson 11 before he left the game with what was believed to be a torn Achilles tendon.
“We worked hard, but Kitchener made adjustments,” said Etherington, acknowledging the players on his short-handed squad who hardly left the floor.
“We’ve got to find a way to win tomorrow and save our season. We have to dig down and figure out a way to get stops.”
Sudbury led early in the game and briefly pulled ahead again in the second half, but played catchup the rest of the way.
That was in large part due to KW’s Joel Kindred, who scored 43 points, and teammates Jesse Jones, who had 27, and Jabari Craig, who added 16.
Sudbury executed well early, scoring the game’s first five points, but trailed 31-27 after a back-and-forth opening quarter.
Bland shot well from outside, joined by Rayson later in the frame, while Harris mixed in three-point shooting and swift drives to the rim.
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KW shot even better in the quarter, however, with the likes of Chad Frazier and Kindred topping 50 per cent from the field and Craig emerging as a force inside the paint with a trio of thunderous dunks.
Calliste hit a couple of threes early in the second, helping to pull the Five to within a single point, but Kindred helped to keep the Titans in front, if only just, with an 11-point performance in the quarter.
Harris, recently named the NBLC Newcomer of the Year, continued with his strong, versatile offensive output to pile up 21 points ahead of halftime, hitting a final three to cut the home side’s lead to 61-59.
KW held a significant advantage under the glass over the first 24 minutes, out-rebounding Sudbury 34-23, but the Five narrowed an early deficit in field-goal percentage to 44, compared to 48.1 for their hosts, and was more accurate from outside the arc at 41.4 per cent efficiency, compared to 37.7 for the Titans.
That balance tipped back in KW’s favour to start the second half, thanks in large part to Kindred, who added 13 in the third to top the 30-point plateau, while Craig remained an ever-present threat when the Titans went inside the paint, but Sudbury’s Harris was tireless in pouring in 11 more, while collecting his 10th rebound to secure the double-double.
Rayson and Bland added layups to trim the home team’s lead to a single point heading into the fourth, continuing a trend of leading the Titans in every quarter of the series after halftime — though the streak was broken in the final frame.
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Jones was a force for the Titans in the final few minutes, combining acrobatic layups with outside shots to score 12 in the last quarter, while Kindred, the newly minted NBLC Most Improved Player, continued his tear with 10 points of his own.
Harris added eight and Williams, a late-game force so often this season, scored 11 of his game total, going seven for seven from the foul line, but it wasn’t quite enough.
Rayson, who also left Tuesday’s game with an injury, was hurt again late in Friday’s contest, this time coming up limping after a collision in KW’s half of the court and heading straight for the locker room. He finished with 11 points, six rebounds and three assists.
“You hate to see that happen,” Etherington said. “He was competing, trying to play through a previous injury and didn’t want to hurt that. Like I said, it’s just tough.”
Kirk Williams Jr. also had an early trip to the showers after being ejected in the game’s second half, only seconds after hitting a clutch three-pointer.
Game 4, also in Kitchener, goes Saturday at 7 p.m.
Game 5, if necessary, is back in Sudbury next Tuesday, also at 7 p.m.
Twitter: @ben_leeson
Five lose high-scoring affair, face must-win situation Saturday - The Sudbury Star
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