The St. John's Edge once again found themselves in a double-overtime situation in Game One; however this time coming out on the losing side in a 140-133 loss to the London Lightning. St. John's were fortunate to win Game One of their first-round series against the Windsor Express, but they come just short of upsetting the Lightning on Tuesday evening.
As if double-overtime wasn't wild enough, the Edge and Lightning put on quite the show in a close matchup which saw teams exchange leads 12 times throughout the game. St. John's led by 10 at the half, up 58-48 on the Lighting before London stormed back, outscoring the Edge 27-16 in the third quarter to take a one point lead. With just under five minutes remaining the Lightning appeared to have this one all but locked up with a nine point (99-90) lead. The Edge and their never-say-die attitude went on a 12-and-0 run to lead the Lightning 102-99 minutes mintes to play.
The teams exchanged baskets in the final minute before Julian Boyd went to the free-throw line with eight seconds left and his team trailing by one, with a chance to win it for London. Fortunately for St. John's, Boyd missed his first shot before making the second one to send the game to overtime.
The first overtime saw both teams play a conservative style to start, neither side wanting to miss a shot or give advantage to their opponent. The back-and-forth play ensured neither team lead by more than three points as both clubs tied at 120, sending the game to a double overtime.
St. John's briefly built themselves a five point lead in double-overtime before the Lightning stormed back to tie it up. Both sides then lost their stars to foul trouble as Royce White of the Lightning and Carl English of the Edge fouled out of the game. London jumped out to a five point lead and built on it in the dying seconds to hand St. John's the loss.
St. John's Edge:
Ryan Reid was stellar for St. John's in the overtime frame on both ends of the court, picking up key blocks on defence and finishing several baskets off rebounds on offence, finishing with 27 points. Charles Hinkle finished with a double-double for the Edge, putting up 21 points and 14 rebounds. Carl English, put up 22 points with 7 rebounds and a block.
London Lightning:
Royce White led the London Lightning with a game-high 35 points, adding 10 rebounds and 7 assists. Garrett Williamson added 29 points for London accompanied by 11 rebounds.
Inside the Numbers
St. John's went 21-for-29 (72 percent) from the free-throw line, the club also scored 45 points off the bench. The Lightning went 12-for41 (29 percent) from the three-point line and scored 70 points inside the paint.
Up Next
The London Lightning will host Game Two of their Best-of-Seven series Thursday night at 8:30pm NST before the series shifts to St. John's for game three, four and five (if necessary) beginning on Saturday. All games will be streamed live on www.sjedge.ca.
Edge Playoff Tickets are now available and can be purchased in person at the Mile One Centre box office, by phone at 709-576-7657 or online at www.mileonecentre.com. Group rates are available and can be obtained by contacting Kenny O'Leary at Kenny@sjedge.ca.
