Storming down the stretch

Island Storm close out regular season home schedule with victory over Saint John Riptide

Du’Vaughn Maxwell’s statistics line from the Island’s Storm 24-point win over the Saint John Riptide on Sunday looks like a point guard’s.

The thing is Maxwell wanders between small and power forward most nights. Sunday, Maxwell put up 19 points, a game-high 10 rebounds, four assists, two steals and a block in a 109-85 victory in the National Basketball League of Canada tussle in Charlottetown.

The Storm dressed just nine players with forward Chris Johnson and guard Tyler Scott injured and with the recent release of forward Jarion Henry, but Maxwell said having a short bench is nothing new as the Storm’s battled injures all season.

“We’re fighting through adversity. We’ve been down a lot of players, but we’re not making any excuses. We’re feisty right now, hungry,” said Maxwell. “We’re all playing our roles. Franklin and I as captains when we win we (credit the guys) 100 per cent and when we lose we take blame.”

Storm went to 19-17 and moved two games ahead of Saint John (17-19) for the third playoff spot in the Atlantic Division.

Kemy Osse had a team-high 20 points for the Storm, including 4-for-9 from the three-point line, while Carl Hall and Franklin Session each chipped in 18 points. Session also grabbed nine rebounds and Osse dished out five assists and nabbed seven boards. Malcolm Miller drained a game-high 21 points for Saint John as he went 5-for-6 on three-pointers and 8-for-10 from the field overall. Marvin Binney had 12 points and Horace Wormley and Mareik Isom each added 11 points. Wormley tallied a game-high 11 assists.