London 115-105 Halifax
London Leads 1-0
The London Lighting used effective shooting around the rim to snatch Game 1 of the 2016 NBLC Finals on Thursday, taking down the hometown Halifax Hurricanes 115-105 at Scotiabank Centre.
London managed to take a solid four-point lead into halftime after a back-and-forth first quarter. Coming out of the team talk with Hugo Lopez, the Hurricanes brought the score to 51-51 with 8:30 left in the third, forcing Kyle Julius to take an early timeout.
However, London pushed on, as the Hurricanes struggled to keep up for much of the third quarter, eventually letting the Bolts take an 11-point lead with a minute left in the quarter.
The Bolts continued to cruise for much of the fourth, eventually taking home court advantage away from the top-ranked Hurricanes.
London enjoyed great ball movement all night, eventually racking up 22 assists on their way to a blistering 41-76 (53%) performance from the floor. They also enjoyed a very effective 50 points in the paint.
Akeem Wright, who had 17 points at half, led the game with 25 points. Stephen Maxwell pitched in 16 points and nine rebounds. Halifax’s Shane Gibson led his team with 18 points on 5-15 shooting. Mike Glover (6-10) and Clifford Clinkscales (6-11) put up impressive 16-point performances for the hometown Hurricanes.
Halifax was a league-best 20-4 at home heading into Thursday’s game. The loss is their first of the playoffs (7-1).
Game 2 will take place on Friday in Halifax before shifting to London for the next three games.
Stats can be found here.
London managed to take a solid four-point lead into halftime after a back-and-forth first quarter. Coming out of the team talk with Hugo Lopez, the Hurricanes brought the score to 51-51 with 8:30 left in the third, forcing Kyle Julius to take an early timeout.
However, London pushed on, as the Hurricanes struggled to keep up for much of the third quarter, eventually letting the Bolts take an 11-point lead with a minute left in the quarter.
The Bolts continued to cruise for much of the fourth, eventually taking home court advantage away from the top-ranked Hurricanes.
London enjoyed great ball movement all night, eventually racking up 22 assists on their way to a blistering 41-76 (53%) performance from the floor. They also enjoyed a very effective 50 points in the paint.
Akeem Wright, who had 17 points at half, led the game with 25 points. Stephen Maxwell pitched in 16 points and nine rebounds. Halifax’s Shane Gibson led his team with 18 points on 5-15 shooting. Mike Glover (6-10) and Clifford Clinkscales (6-11) put up impressive 16-point performances for the hometown Hurricanes.
Halifax was a league-best 20-4 at home heading into Thursday’s game. The loss is their first of the playoffs (7-1).
Game 2 will take place on Friday in Halifax before shifting to London for the next three games.
Stats can be found here.