This time, there was no Game 5 magic for the Windsor Express.
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This time, there was no Game 5 magic for the Windsor Express.
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A tough opening quarter left the Express scrambling all game and eventually resulted in a 103-91 loss on the road to the Sudbury Five on Tuesday.
“Obviously, you want to win a championship game, but they were the better team (Tuesday),” said Express head coach Bill Jones, whose team reached the final with a Game 5 win over Kitchener-Waterloo in the semis. “(The Five) came out and they were aggressive and got it done and we fell short.”
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With Tuesday’s win before a crowd of 2,638 at the Sudbury Arena, the top-seeded Five claimed the Basketball Super League championship over the second-seeded Express by taking the best-of-five series 3-2.
“The ultimate goal is to get a championship,” Express guard Latin Davis said. “We came up short.”
Things got away from the Express in the opening quarter with the Five building a 21-point lead at one stage. Windsor hit just five-of-20 shots and just one-of-eight attempts from three-point range in the first quarter. By contrast, the Five connected on five three-point shots alone while shooting 13-of-22 in the quarter.
“We missed a lot of shots in the beginning and they were making shots and capitalizing off every mistake and that’s tough,” Davis said.
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Throughout the playoffs, Windsor has shown an ability to battle back from a deficit. The Express cut the Sudbury lead to 15 at the half and made it an eight-point game with four minutes to go in the third quarter at 66-58, but could get no closer.
“It was an uphill battle,” Jones said. “We got to within eight in the fourth quarter, but they went back on runs and we weren’t able to sustain it.”
Sudbury closed the third quarter on a 13-5 run to take a 16-point lead into the final quarter.
“We fought pretty hard and kept fighting,” Davis said. “They made their shots and they were the better team, there’s no other way to put it.”
Markus Golder paced the Windsor offence with 22 points and Davis finished with 18 points along with Vincent Boumann. Jaire Grayer added 14 points and Cameron Gaines chipped in with 11 points.
“It was a close series,” Jones said. “One thing I’ve learned as a player and a coach is that you always want a deciding game at home.
“We were one of the two best teams in the league this year, but Sudbury had Game 5 at home. I’m just proud of our guys with where we started and where we finished. It was definitely one of the better groups I’ve coached.”
jpparker@postmedia.com
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