Hurricanes blow out Highlanders
Cape Breton falls to Halifax, 115- 101
The Cape Breton Highlanders fell to the Halifax Hurricanes on Friday at Centre 200 in a tough National Basketball League of Canada game that saw the Halifax squad control most of the play, coming out on top, 115101.
Halifax (18-9) led throughout the first quarter against Cape Breton (11-17) and had a 32-29 lead after the first break. Tyrone Watson led the Hurricanes to their early lead with 12 points in the opening quarter, while Malik Story helped the Highlanders keep up with their Nova Scotian rivals in the first with 10 points.
The Highlanders were competitive during the game, but the Cape Breton squad were hindered on the defensive end throughout the match.
Story, who finished the game with 16 points, said he felt the team needed to tighten its defence, but thinks they are capable of being true contenders.
“To be honest, the effort was so- so, in my opinion, but we just need to pick it up as a collective group on defence. We allowed them to shoot at our place with too high of a click. It’s like it was their gym and not ours. To me, we have to pick that up and once we correct the defence end, everything else will come,” said Story.
The Hurricanes continued to add on their lead over the remaining three quarters, with Ta’Quan Zimmerman racking up 23 points off the bench to finish with a team-high for the Hurricanes. Bruce Massey Jr had an impressive night with 33 points in the loss for the Highlanders.
Highlanders coach Rob Spon said defence was issue during Friday night’s game, but the entire team is ready to face the Island Storm from P.E.I. on Sunday.
“It’s disappointing when I see that we have rough (defensive) quarters. I pride myself on team defence and we have practice tomorrow and we have to be ready for P.E.I.” said Spon. “We have a big game here Sunday.”
The Cape Breton Highlanders will tip off against the Storm on Sunday at 2 p.m. at Centre 200.