Basketball
Storm hosts Hurricanes tonight needing a win to force Game 7
The Island Storm will face a must-win situation in the National Basketball League of Canada playoffs on Tuesday. The Storm dropped a 94-82 decision to the Halifax Hurricanes on Monday afternoon, and now trail best-of-seven Eastern Conference final series 3-2. The teams will play Game 6 at the Eastlink Centre in Charlottetown on Tuesday at 7 p.m.
The Island Storm looks to stave off elimination tonight when it hosts the Halifax Hurricanes.
Game time is 7 p.m. at the Eastlink Centre.
The defending National Basketball League of Canada champion Hurricanes can return to the final with a win tonight. They went up 3-2 in the best-of-seven series with a 94-82 victory in Monday’s matinee in Halifax behind Antoine Mason’s game-high 31 points.
A 24-11 scoring run to end the third quarter may have got the Hurricanes back into the game, but it was a 16-4 blitz in the last period’s opening six minutes that delivered the knockout punch.
The home team feasted in the paint on a myriad of fast-break buckets and dribble penetration drives.
Without big man A.J. Stewart and with fellow Storm starters Jahii Carson and Terry Thomas reportedly dealing with ailing shoulder and neck issues, the Island squad gave up 54 points in the paint, 10 second-chance opportunities and allowed a 52 per cent shooting night from the Hurricanes.
Fatigue could finally be setting in for the Storm coming off an intense five-game series against Saint John.
Just don’t expect much sympathy anytime soon.
“Well, considering Mike Poole played three minutes for us, C.J. (Washington) didn’t play and Ta’Quan Zimmerman is out for the series, we’re probably both in the same positions in that regard. Everybody is banged up this time of the year — it’s just the nature of playoff basketball,” said Hurricanes head coach Mike Leslie.
“I played some of our guys longer than I wanted to but we decided to roll with a certain crew and we got into their bench a little bit.”
On the heels of holding the Storm to its first sub-100-point performance of the series in Game 4, the Hurricanes sunk their teeth in even further on the defensive end, stifling P.E.I. to 38 per cent field goal shooting.
That left Island coach Joe Salerno wondering if his team still has another gear left.
“I think it’s really showed in the past couple of games that we’re running out of gas. When you consider this is our 14th game in the past 24 nights, it’s starting to show late in games,” Salerno said.
“We had a good game plan coming in but it hurt a lot not having A.J. — we really didn’t have any rim protection. I didn’t think we were getting real good shots. There was a lack of focus on the offensive end today. But also credit to Halifax midway through the third they started to hit their threes and once they do that, they’re a tough team to beat.”
Moving forward, injuries must be a topic of concern. Storm big man Mike Allison played with a noticeable shiner still glaring from a Game 1 elbow while Washington remains day-to-day.
Game 7 would be played Thursday in Halifax, if the Storm wins tonight.
The winner plays London in the final after the Lightning swept the Windsor Express.