Running on fumes

A road-worn Island Storm team finishes the NBL regular season Sunday in Cape Breton

It will be a tired, bruised and battered Island Storm squad on the court Sunday versus the Cape Breton Highlanders in Cape Breton, N.S., after a late-season schedule of six games in eight days over four provinces.

Start time for the National Basketball League of Canada contest is 2 p.m.

After a recent seven-game homestand, the Storm hit the road early last week for games in Saint John, N.B. (followed by a home game the next night), landed in Cape Breton for the third game in three nights, then played a three-game set in Ontario only to finish off the regular season Sunday on the mainland.

Right now the Storm is in the playoffs, but it could be the third or fourth seed depending on if Moncton beat Cape Breton on Friday. If that happens, the Storm is guaranteed the third seed in the Atlantic Division.

If Cape Breton beats Moncton, then Sunday’s game is a fight for playoff position which for Storm head coach Joe Salerno means it’s as much a battle of wills as a battle of teams.

He said if Moncton wins he’ll rest several players. If not, it’s all hands on deck because should Cape Breton win and then beat the Storm on Sunday it would own the season-series tiebreaker against the Storm and gain the third seed in the opening round versus Saint John instead a division-leading Halifax.

“We have some very sore bodies. We’re beat up. It’s not just the games, it’s the travel in-between,” said Salerno, who doubles as vicepresident of player personnel. “(If Cape Breton wins Friday), we’re going in swinging on Sunday.”

The Storm (16-23) had a good roughing around in Ontario, losing all three games although not by much.

Kitchener-Waterloo won by five points (115-110), the leagueleading London Lightning earned a 123-117 victory and Windsor outlasted the Storm 111-101.

But Salerno wasn’t too bummed by the results.

“I thought we played alright. We struggled to play a whole game, something (plaguing us) all season. In Kitchener we lost a high-quality game to a team that’s playing very well right now. In London, we played tough against the best team in the league. In Windsor, it was our sixth game in eight nights and I thought Windsor was a little fresher off the bench. Their bench contributed more than ours,” he said.

Storm forward AJ Stewart is still on the injured reserve list with a bad foot.

Salerno said the team will evaluate him after practice Saturday to see if he can be ready for the playoffs which start next week.

Should Stewart come back, IR designate Sammy Zeglinski, who played for the Storm two seasons ago, would be released.