Edge Fight Until Final Buzzer, but Drop Game 4 as Moncton Magic Claim NBLC Championship
St. John’s, NL — The St. John’s Edge played until the final buzzer on Thursday night, giving the 4,000 plus fans at Mile One Centre every bit of what they had left. Unfortunately, it was not to be as the Moncton Magic claimed the title of Champions for the 2018-19 NBL Canada season, winning by a score of 130-120.
The Edge had a big hill to climb in this series as they were down 3 games to none coming into this one. They would have reinforcements for this game as the team activated Shaquille Keith just a day earlier and they would also have the services of Glen ‘Big Baby’ Davis. However, they received some tough news just an hour prior to tip-off as Carl English was ruled out with a torn quad suffered in Game 3. It would take everything in the tank to force another game in this series and the Edge showed that toughness throughout this one.
In the first, Moncton came out firing as Billy White set the tone with two triples right from the get-go. This was also the catalyst of an 11-2 run to start the game for the Magic. On the Edge side, they struggled early on, not really finding any rhythm offensively.
Jarryn Skeete would invigorate the offence with a three-pointer and a layup, then a nice layup through contact by Dez Lee would get them to as close as 7-points. Moncton would continue to add on early in this one as they would finish up the first leading the Edge by a score of 40-20.
Moving into the second quarter, the Edge once again were trying to find their rhythm while Moncton continued to bury their shots and layups through some very lacklustre defence by the Edge. Following a barrage of threes by the Magic, the Edge put together a small run capped off by a Russell Byrd layup down low off a nice feed from Glen Davis.
For every St. John’s basket, there was a Moncton answer. They would get up by as many as 23 in this one and finish out the quarter holding a 72-50 advantage over the Edge.
Coming out of the halftime break, the Edge seemed to play with a chip. At the 7:13 mark of the third quarter, they would get to within 9-points after Dez Lee hit the three while being fouled for the four-point play, then on the following possession, Isaiah Tate II took advantage of some lazy interior defence to grab an offensive rebound and make the layup.
St. John’s would get to within 7 before Moncton once again made a late quarter run to keep them in the driver's seat. Going into the final frame the Magic were up 101-89.
In the final quarter, it was going to take everything the Edge had to pull this one out. After Jared Nickens knocked down a triple from the corner, Glen Davis followed with a three from the top of the key to pull them within just 8-points with a lot of time left on the clock.
A Jarryn Skeete layup would pull the Edge to within 6-points, but then Moncton turned it into high gear once again as Billy White and Jason Calliste hit triples to put the Magic back up by double digits. As the clock ticked down, the Edge just could not overcome the deficit that was amassed early in the first half and with that, the Moncton Magic took Game 4 and the series by a score of 130-120.
On this night the Edge shot the ball better than they had all series shooting 51.7% from the field and 46.7% from three-point range. They had just 3 players in double figures, with Dez Lee leading the way with a blistering 43 points and 13 rebounds on 7-of-10 shooting from beyond the arc. Glen Davis was close behind with 28 points of his own and Murphy Burnatowski cashed in for 11 points.
In the win, the Magic shot 52.4% from the field and 42.9% from three-point range, but the biggest stat was their rebounding as they outrebounded the Edge 46-33. The leader for the Magic in this one, as it had been all series, was Trey Kell who dropped 41 points on his way to being named Finals MVP.
It was not how they wanted it to end, but the St. John’s Edge literally fought until the final buzzer. With so many hurdles and obstacles in their way, they left all they had on that court at Mile One Centre and as the fans rose to their feet for the final few seconds, the players gave the salute as the sixth man was in the stands throughout the season to help push them to be in the position to have a shot at the championship.
The entire Edge organization would like to congratulate the Moncton Magic on a great season and their title of 2018-19 champions.
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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