HALIFAX, N.S. – The Island Storm walked onto the court Thursday in Halifax as underdogs and came off it with a victory.
The Storm defeated the National Basketball League of Canada’s top-ranked Hurricanes 108-102 to take Game 1 of their best-of-five quarter-final. Game 2 is Sunday at 2 p.m. at Scotiabank Centre in Halifax.
“It’s huge for our team to be banged up and battered and go in and do that,” Storm head coach Tim Kendrick said.
“We understand we only won the one game . . . but it was a big one,” he added. “We’re happy, but we know, too, it’s a long, long series.”
The Storm fell behind 6-1 90 seconds into the game, but guard Kemy Osse nailed a three and Du’Vaughn Maxwell hit a jumper to tie it 6-6 and Carl Hall made a layup to give the Storm an 8-6 advantage with 8:20 left in the opening quarter.
The Storm finished the quarter on a 17-2 run to hit the break up 25-12. They went to the halftime leading 48-38 and to the fourth up 82-68.
Kendrick said the message in the locker room and during the game was to withstand Halifax’s run.
“We have to weather the storm,” the bench boss said. “I think we did a pretty good job of that at the end.”
Osse led the Storm with 23 points while grabbing nine rebounds to go with three assists and two steals.
“He’s been playing great for us,” Kendrick said. “He’s playing better every day.”
Chris Johnson and Carl Hall each scored 20 points while Du’Vaughn Maxwell had 19 points and 11 rebounds and Franklin Session had 15 points, 12 rebounds and six assists.
Antoine Mason had a game-high 35 points for the Hurricanes while Mike Poole chipped in 20 points and 11 rebounds off the bench.
Renaldo Dixon had 13 points and Rhamel Brown scored 10 and 12 rebounds.
The Hurricanes shot 35 per cent from the field on its 102 shots and 35 per cent from beyond the arc.
Kendrick said his team played tough, physical defence while sticking to its game plan.
The Storm hit 42 per cent of its 89 field-goal attempts and 38 per cent of 32 treys.
The Storm played with eight players, and Chris Anderson re-injured his hand. Tyler Scott did not play, and both of their statuses for Sunday are to be determined.
“We won the first game,” Kendrick said. “That’s what our goal was, and we now have to try to get mentally ready to go back in there again on Sunday and, hopefully, play well again and, hopefully, get another one. We know how good that team is, they’re the best team in the league.”
