Sudbury Five return home in basketball playoff series

The Sudbury Five returns home Friday for Game 4 in the Basketball Super League playoffs after a win over the London Lightning on Wednesday.

Sudbury came through with a 128-118 victory Wednesday in a must-win game after losing the first two.

The Lightning won Games 1 and 2 at home and on the road, but did not cash in on the opportunity to put the Five out of their misery, after experiencing the "best of times, and the worst of times" on the floor against their arch-rivals.

Coach Logan Stutz and star player AJ Moseby, were not afraid of resorting to an all too familiar sports cliché in describing the win in Game 3.

The term "backs to the wall" has been used in similar scenarios, but it aptly broke down what the Five had to do in order to survive the five-game series.

Moseby had 39 points followed by Ja’Myrin Jackson with 23, which comes as no surprise since both have proven their scoring prowess on numerous occasions.

But, it was the play of forward Landon Kirkwood with 15 points in the third quarter that ignited the Five to eventual victory.

"We’ll go with about 90 per cent of Wednesday’s game plan with a few small tweaks," Stutz said at the team's practice on Thursday.

"We really need to get the crowd behind us against London."

A euphoric Moseby echoed his coach’s sentiments about Game 4.

"It’s one game at a time and the fans in Sudbury give us a boost," he said.

Sudbury Five player AJ Moseby. May 10, 2024 (Rick Wyman/CTV Northern Ontario)

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When asked about his ability to singe-handily lead the Five on Friday night like he’s done the entire season, Moseby said, "It’s never hard to lead this team and be the main guy since I just do what I can."

While London might be having second thoughts about steamrolling Sudbury into submission, the Five appear to be ready to slay the proverbial dragon in front of what’s expected to be a passionate crowd.

If the Five wins, they will go on to play Game 5 in London on Sunday.