Sudbury Five punch ticket to BSL finals with Game 4 road win in Montreal

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The Sudbury Five are heading back to the Basketball Super League finals after a 96-90 victory over the Montreal Toundra on Thursday night at Centre Pierre Charbonneau in front of about 800.

The Five entered Game 4 holding a 2-1 series lead after dropping Game 3 in Montreal on Wednesday 100-86. Sudbury won the first two games of the series at home.

Five build early cushion

Sudbury jumped out to a 27-15 lead after the first quarter and stretched the advantage to 61-41 at halftime. Montreal cut into the deficit in the second half, outscoring the visitors 23-14 in the third quarter and 26-21 in the fourth, but the Five held on.

Kotov leads balanced attack

Alex Kotov paced the Five with 22 points and 10 rebounds, shooting 6-for-15 from the field and 9-for-13 from the free-throw line. Veteran Charlie Marquardt added 21 points, connecting on five three-pointers.

Allen Billinger finished with 17 points, five assists and four steals, while captain Duane Notice contributed 13 points and seven assists. Emmanuel Akot chipped in eight points and seven rebounds.

Nervens Demosthene came off the bench for 11 points and seven rebounds in 26 minutes.

Montreal’s comeback bid falls short

Ketarrious Bouchum led the Toundra with 21 points and 12 rebounds before fouling out late. Shakur Daniel added 20 points off the bench, while Jeremy Hayes recorded 17 points and 11 assists.

Montreal shot 45.8 per cent from the field but managed just four three-pointers on 22 attempts, an 18.2 per cent clip. Sudbury shot 34.3 per cent from beyond the arc, hitting 12 treys.

The Toundra outscored Sudbury 42-26 in the paint and 34-15 in bench points, but the Five’s early lead proved insurmountable.

Defending the Throne

The win sends Sudbury back to the BSL finals as the club looks to defend its title.

Sudbury is the defending BSL champion and entered the playoffs as the second-place seed; Montreal was the third.

“Off to the finals,” the team wrote in a social media post following the game, accompanied by its season-long hashtag #DefendTheThrone.

Sudbury took the best-of-five semi-final series 3-1 and will now await the winner of the other semi-final between the KW Titans and Windsor Express. KW currently leads that series 2-1, with Game 4 set for Saturday afternoon.