The Sunday afternoon encounter bore little resemblance to the season opener Saturday night, but for coach Logan Stutz and his team, the “W’s” all look the same.
Less than 24 hours after dominating for the final three quarters or more in posting a 122-96 victory over the Oakland County Pharaohs, the Sudbury Five followed up with a 125-119 win in a contest in which they trailed after both the first and second quarters (33-30 and 57-55).
“It’s hard to beat a team back to back in 24 hours – but give them credit, they played well,” noted Sudbury veteran Jaylen Bland, who led the Five attack with 32 points in game two after enjoying an outing in which everyone seemed to get into the mix, offensively-speaking. “They played well tonight; they shot the ball really well.”
Coach Stutz wasn’t about to dispute that assessment of the opposition, even though he realizes that it’s early in the season and there is still plenty of room for improvement with his National Basketball League of Canada (NBLC) crew that brings together a healthy dose of both returnees and newcomers to northern Ontario.
“You have to give a lot of credit to Lansing – they came out better than us; they played the majority of that game better than us,” said the native of Kansas City late Sunday afternoon. “But when we found it – and it was tough to find it - the guys were right back involved. Once we came with that punch, that was where we needed to be.”
The most notable “punch”, if you will, would come courtesy of Duane Notice, who saw only 15 minutes or so of court time but drained a trio of three point baskets in a span of less than a minute, early in the fourth quarter, giving the Five a 94-84 lead that they were able to more or less ride to the final buzzer.
“We were facing adversity and we needed a punch from the bench,” explained Stutz. “Last night, we got it from Dexter (Williams Jr) and DeRohn (Scott), big time. Today, Duane came through.”
Four of the Sudbury starting five would hit double digits as Jeremy Harris (25), J.D. Miller (23), A.J. Mosby (15) and Bland carried the bulk of the load offensively, with Williams Jr adding ten points and plenty of energy as a primary sixth man.
Carlton Brundidge (31), Kyle Gupton (25) and Davon Haynes (20) helped to keep the Pharaohs close as the visitors nailed a dozen shots from beyond the arc, with Sudbury hitting 18 treys of their own.
“I had to run a smaller group tonight because that’s what was working,” said Stutz. “I had some good minutes from my bigs, but at the end of the day, the small group got it down. Every night, it could be something different. That’s the exciting part.”
For folks that took in both of the Sudbury Five two-game season opening sweep over Oakland County, therein might lie the most positive takeaway, a fact that is not lost in the least on Bland, who along with Williams Jr and perhaps Jeremy Harris have become the faces of the franchise in recent years (assuming Raylon Brayson does not return from the Latvian-Estonian League).
“I think we’re pretty versatile,” said Bland, a 29 year-old native of California. “We have some pretty good athletes, we have some scorers and shot-makers and we have guys that share the ball well. I like our team a lot.”
With the NBLC down to just four teams this year (Sudbury is joined by the London Lightning, K-W Titans and Windsor Express), the Five will see a mix of games that also includes interlocking affairs with members of The Basketball League.
In the coming weeks, the locals will focus internally, welcoming Windsor to town next Saturday (January 14th), travelling to London on the 19th and to Windsor on the 27th before hosting the Lightning in the nickel city on February 4th.
That timeline is just fine for coach Stutz, assistant coach Denis Gauthier and all those involved with the team. “Right now, we’ve got a lot of ingredients and we have to get it mixed the right way and the results will be great,” said Stutz. “It will go to the right place because when the guys get going, it’s a lot of fun.”
“When it’s not going, they are kind of looking around – but that’s alright,” added Stutz. “It’s only our second game and we had just a week long training camp. This is what you expect after one week. I’m just glad we could hold on and get two wins” – even if the way that those wins developed was clearly a little different.
