Edge Conquer the Titans to Start Road Trip

By Michael Kennedy

In what is shaping up to be a pivotal road trip the St. John's Edge got things off to a roaring start with a crucial 108-95 victory over the host Kitchen-Waterloo Titans. The Titans went toe to toe with the Edge for the first three quarters but ultimately it was the contribution from the Edge's second unit that was the difference.

1st quarter - Edge a little slow getting out of the gates as the Titans jumped to an 11-3 lead to start. Ryan Richardson, who just returned to the team after the birth of his son, got things going for St. John's with back to back triples. Meanwhile the Titans went ice cold midway through the quarter going almost four minutes without a point. Both teams traded buckets for the rest of the quarter. Titans led 24-20 after the 1st.

2nd quarter - Potential Sixth Man of the Year candidate, Montay Brandon, went to work and delivered eight points and four rebounds to keep the Edge in it. For the Titans it was Ed Horton chipping in six to give him 14 at the half. Edge down by three at the half.

3rd quarter - Hello Karrington Ward! I'm not sure what Coach Steve Marcus said during the half but Ward came out with guns blazing dropping FIVE consecutive shots from beyond the arc. On the other side KW tried to hang around but they couldn't keep up with the precision shooting of St. John's. 78-76 Edge after three.

4th quarter - Cane Broome stepped in and picked up right where Ward left off. Broome showed some marksman skills of his own driving home three triples and 12 points to start the quarter. St. John's grew the lead to 10 half way through courtesy of a resilient effort by their bench. Edge win this one going away 108-95.

I spoke with Edge coach Steve Marcus following the game and he said, "I'm proud of our second unit tonight, those guys really stepped up and played well. Always nice on a long road trip when we can get minutes distributed evenly throughout our 10."


Game Notes
+ St. John's were led by Monday Brandon(20 pts, 17 rebs) and Karrington Ward(22 pts, 8 rebs and 3 assts)
+ Kitchener-Waterloo were led by Ed Horton(21 pts, 8 rebs and 8 assts) and Jonathan Harris(14 pts, 9 rebs and 4 blocks)
+ The Edge out rebounded the Titans 69-52.
+ St. John's got 49 bench points tonight compared to just 33 for KW.


The St. John's Edge(7-6) make the trek into London for a Saturday tilt with the Central division-leading Lightning while the Titans(4-12) will have the weekend off before also travelling to London for a Monday showdown. Don't miss a minute of the action by subscribing to NBLC Live online at www.nblclive.com. The next home games for the Edge are particularly notable as the February 22nd game will be 'Shine the Light Night' in support of Iris Kirby House. Donations will be accepted plus the Edge players will be sporting commemorative jerseys that will be auctioned off. Then on February 23rd the Edge invite you to join us as we celebrate and pay tribute to the career of Newfoundland's own, Carl English. In honour of Carl's retirement, the Edge organization will retire his number 23 and hoist his jersey to the rafters of the Mile One Centre. Tickets can be purchased online at www.mileonecentre.com, by phone at (709)576-7657 or by visiting the Mile One Centre Box Office.