Edge Battle Through Three Quarters, Cannot Hang on In Fourth, Drop Game 3 to Magic
St. John’s, NL – The St. John’s Edge were back at home and looking to get back into the series against the Moncton Magic on Monday night at Mile One Centre. The Edge fought hard all game and held the lead going into the fourth quarter, but Moncton would go on a 14-0 run to start the quarter and complete the comeback, taking Game 3 by a score of 103-93.
It has been a tough couple of games leading into this one for the Edge. They were victims of a Moncton comeback in Game 1 and then had the same result in Game 2. Back in their house, they looked to take it one game at a time and see how the rest of the series played out.
The first quarter of this one saw Moncton come out firing on all cylinders. The Magic would put together a quick 8-0 run on the Edge and take a 10-point lead into the middle of the quarter.
St. John’s would battle right back near the conclusion of the first. Jared Nickens would start the offensive surge with a deep triple to bring them within 6, then Carl English would hit one of his four threes to close the gap. Finally, Russell Byrd would pull them within just a single point with two triples of his own. After one-quarter of play, the Edge trailed the Magic by a score of 27-24.
Into the second, the action would go back and forth early on. The Magic would get a quick layup by Wayne McCullough, but the Edge answered with a Jared Nickens three-pointer. After the teams exchanged another basket, the Edge pulled ahead on the strength of a Dez Lee layup off a beautiful dish by Murphy Burnatowski.
With under two minutes left in the half, Moncton would pull ahead by two on some timely free-throw shooting. The answer by the Edge would be from Murphy Burnatowski who shook his defender and dropped a triple from the corner to put the Edge in front by a single point. As the quarter finished, the Edge were unable to stop the fast-paced Moncton offence as Corey Allmond made a great hustle play to put them up 49-45 going into the break.
Coming out of the half time break, the Magic looked poised to put this one to bed as they increased their lead to as many as 7-points. This would set the stage for Jarryn Skeete to catch fire. Skeete would start it with a three in transition, then follow that up with a confident triple off a pass from Carl English, and he capped it all off with a tough layup through heavy traffic. Skeete would go on an 11-2 run by himself to put the Edge back in the driver’s seat by a single point.
The final few minutes of the quarter, both teams’ player some solid defence and would exchange buckets again, just as they did in the second quarter. St. John’s would get the slight advantage after Junior Cadougan buried two free-throws after getting hit hard on his way to the basket and Isaiah Tate II would grab a last-second offensive board and sink the layup to give the Edge the 73-70 lead going into the final frame.
All series long Moncton has shown why they are considered a fourth-quarter team. This was no exception as they would come out on fire, going on a 13-0 run to start the quarter. This would put the Edge back on their heels and force them to start taking shots in desperation.
The Edge would only get back to within 7-points as Moncton ran away with this one in the fourth, taking Game 3 by a score of 103-93.
On this night the difference was in the low post, with Glen Davis out of the lineup and Olu Ashaolu out for the series, Moncton took advantage as they outrebounded the Edge by 15 and outscored them in the paint 42-18.
Offensively, the Edge were led by Carl English who dropped 22 points on 5-8 shooting from three-point range.
For Moncton, they were led by Trey Kell for a third straight game as the Rookie dropped 20 points in the win.
It is all or nothing now for the Edge as they look to stave off elimination in Game 4 here at Mile One Centre. Hopefully, the Edge will get some good news regarding Glen Davis and his status but expect that they will give it all they have got as they have been doing all series. Get your tickets now by visiting the Mile One Centre Box Office, by calling 576-7657, or online at www.mileonecentre.com.
Stay current with the latest team news by visiting www.sjedge.ca. Follow the Edge all year long on Facebook (/stjohnsedge), Twitter (@stjohnsedge), and Instagram (@stjohnsedge).
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