The Sudbury Five may not be logging to miles on the road to the same extent that we might expect from Jolly Old St Nick and his team of reindeer, but the local basketball crew will be happy to settle in at home for a bit after Christmas.
That said, the local Basketball Super League crew will return home pretty content with their efforts far away from the northern Ontario, having racked up victories in three of their four road outings to date to improve to 4-2 on the year.
A third quarter outburst proved to be the difference back on December 5th as the Five bounced the Pontiac Pharaohs 115-108, with Sudbury boasting no less than three different players who reached the 20-point plateau.
Ja'Myrin Jackson (26), Duane Notice (21) and Tevin Glass (20) all turned the trick, with Charlie Marquardt (14) and Jelani Simmons (13) also contributing nicely in off-setting a game high 29 point effort from James Towns of the Pharaohs.
The depth of the Five roster came to the forefront as bench scoring would see Sudbury nearly double Pontiac with their scoring from non-starters (42-22).
Coach Logan Stutz and company really cranked it up the next night, derailing the Windsor Express 118-84 as Sudbury led 39-23 after one quarter of play and never looked back.
Marquardt was on fire from long range, going 9/15 from three point land as part of his 31 point total with Tevin Glass maintaining his roll, adding another 21 points to his stat-line.
The only road loss for the Five to date would come last Friday as the Newfoundland Rogues overcame a third quarter deficit, outscoring the visitors 32-19 in the fourth to register a victory by a score of 114-110.
Improving to 6-1 on the season, the Rogues also boast a very well-balanced attack as borne out by a look at the top of their scoring parade: Dedrick Boyd (21); Rashad Smith (18); Zaahir Woody (18); Amanze Ngumezi (16); Tarkus Ferguson (14); Kevin Bridgewaters (10).
The bulk of the usual suspects were front and center for the Five as Ja'Myrin Jackson and Charlie Marquardt led the team with 25 and 22 points respectively, with the double digit circle also home to Duane Notice (15), Allen Billinger (14), Jelani Simmons (13) and Tevin Glass (12).
The Five shook off that setback, pulling away over the final ten minutes some 24 hours later and evening the score with the Rogues with a 114-103 win of their won on Saturday.
Ja'Myrin Jackson continues to be the straw that stirs the drink for the Five on most nights, coming through with a season-high 32 point showing with Jelani Simmons also posting his best numbers to date with 21.
Jumping aboard the secondary scoring bandwagon in a more prominent way were Diego Bernard and J.D. Miller, both with ten points, while Charlie Marquardt (15) and Tevin Glass (10) round out the top six.
Compared to one night earlier, the Newfoundland scoring was far more top heavy in the rematch as Zaahir Woody (26), Dedrick Boyd (25), Rashad Smith (24) and Tarkus Ferguson (17) accounted for almost 90% of the Rogues scoring.
The Sudbury Five are off now until December 28th when they play their last road game of the month, tipping off with the London Lightning, completing the home and home series two nights later on Monday December 30th in Sudbury.
