EXPRESS DELIVER
Playoff win in overtime
At times, the Windsor Express has simply been dominant against the Kitchener-Waterloo Titans.
Then, there are times where the club looks in complete disarray against the expansion Titans.
Once again on Sunday, the Express flashed both sides as Windsor let a 24-point lead slip away before escaping with a 132-128 overtime win over the Titans before a crowd of 798 at the Atlas Tube Centre.
“The payoffs are not always going to go the way you want to go, but you do want to win,” Express guard Darren Duncan said. “Figuring out how to win games is what helped us in the past and is what’s helping us right now. ”
Windsor now has a 2-0 lead in the best-of-five Central Division semifinal and, unlike the club’s slow start in Friday’s series opener, the Express opened up a 40-25 lead after the first quarter.
“We wanted to get off to a good start because these guys (the Titans) make some vicious runs and we wanted to give ourselves a cushion,” Duncan said.
With 82 seconds left in the opening half, the Express were up by 24, but things started to fall apart in the third quarter.
“I think we got complacent coming out of half time,” Express forward Juan Pattillo said. “I think we thought the game was over and they were going to lie down and give the game to us.”
A three-point shot from midcourt as the buzzer sounded had the Titans within six points heading into the fourth quarter.
“That’s something that’s been a characteristic of this team,” Express head coach Bill Jones said of closing out games. “I guess you can say we’re still a work in progress in terms of doing that.”
The Titans pulled even in the final minute and had a chance to win the game with 8.2 seconds left on the clock in regulation.
The Express answered the challenge with Duncan forcing the Titans’ Jason Calliste to put up an air ball from behind the three-point line as time expired to force overtime.
“Our team’s based on defence,” Duncan said. “We didn’t play good defence today. Tie game, their ball with a chance to win it and we have to battle through for that stop and I’m proud of our guys for continuing to fight.”
Duncan took control in the overtime. He fed Logan Stutz, who tripled to put the Express up. After Stutz took a charge, Duncan drove the lane and the Express were able to close things out from the free-throw line.
“Hats off to the other team,” Pattillo said. “They played hard. They played all the way through, even when they were down.
“We’re not happy because we’re not finishing ball games the right way. We want to be in position to finish games. We don’t want to have to scrap and work too hard like we did (Sunday).”
Duncan had 29 points to lead the Express while Maurice Jones came off the bench to add 24 points. Pattillo had 18 points and 13 rebounds, Stutz finished with 17 points and Shaquille Keith and Tony Bennett chipped in with 11 points each.
The Express can now wrap up the series on Wednesday when Game 3 shifts to Kitchener.
“I’m ecstatic with where we’re at,” Duncan said.
“I thought we showed great signs at time, but we have to maintain our consistency level.
“If it ain’t rough, it ain’t right and I’d rather be in our position than the other position (facing elimination).”