Storm misfires against Niagara
Two missed three-point attempts sink Island squad
The Island Storm missed two game-tying, three-point attempts in the final 11 seconds and dropped a 104-101 decision to the Niagara River Lions on Thursday in Charlottetown.
Al Richter missed his shot, Mike Allison grabbed the rebound and flipped it to Akeem Ellis, who missed a three with a Niagara player’s hand in his face. Richter corralled the board, but time ran out and Niagara (11-23) escaped with the win.
For Storm guard Al Stewart it was a close-but-no-cigar scenario helped by what he thought were questionable calls by the referees.
“We had good looks . . . just didn’t capitalize on them. I thought the referees missed a few calls, touch fouls.
(One time a Niagara player) slipped and they stopped the ball. Those are momentum killers,” said Stewart, who finished with 10 points.
The Storm (13-19) is 3-3 in its current seven-game homestand. The Storm hosts the Cape Breton Highlanders tonight at 7 p.m. at Eastlink Centre.
Niagara took advantage of the Storm’s sluggish start and got out to 14-4 lead in the first quarter before the Island squad recovered and cut the lead to 25-24 at the quarter’s end.
But in the second frame, cold shooting by the Storm (it shot just 37 per cent from the field in the game) and Niagara’s inside presence pushed it to a 57-44 halftime edge.
The Storm regrouped in the third, rolling off a 7-2 run and got itself back in the game, leading to a 77-73 Niagara edge after three quarters.
A back-and-forth final quarter had the Storm get as close as one point on two occasions, but it couldn’t get the one basket it needed to put it over the edge and Niagara never buckled.
Richter finished with a team-high 22 points, including five three-pointers, while Terry Thomas chipped in 20 points and Jahii Carson added 15.
Kirk Williams led all scorers with 23 points and 19 rebounds for Niagara. Former Storm guard Nick Okorie and Samuel Muldrow each drained 17 points.
Stewart became the franchise’s all-time leading scorer with a basket in the second quarter and now has 1,619 points, six points ahead of Antonio Ballard.
But while Stewart said it’s quite an achievement he won’t lose any sleep over it.
“I don’t think much about it. I don’t care about scoring the ball, I just want to win,” he said. “I’d rather have 30 assists and 30 rebounds and zero points. I try and let the game come to me like I did (Thursday).”