NBL Canada Weekly Report
Published on March 25, 2012 under National Basketball League of Canada (NBL Canada) News Release
NBL TEAM REPORTS
NBL CANADA PLAYOFFS
London Lightning
358 Horton Street E.
London, Ontario N6B 1L7
Phone: (519) 433-0634
Fax: (519) 433-9849
Head Coach: Micheal Ray Richadson
Home arena: John Labatt Centre
lightningbasketball.ca
Halifax Rainmen
1888 Brunswick Street, Suite 611
Halifax, Nova Scotia B3J 3J8
Phone: (902) 444-RAIN, (902) 444-7246
Fax: 1-866-424-4267
Head Coach: Josep Claros
Home arena: Halifax MetroCentre
rainmenbasketball.ca
GAME 1 - London 86, Halifax 83, John Labatt Centre, London, Ont.
(LONDON, ON) The inaugural NBL Canada Championship started out with a tightly contested London Lightning win for 86-83 in front of 2200 fans at the John Labatt Centre. London now leads the series 1-0.
"We played well in the last 5 minutes of the game," said Coach Micheal Ray Richardson on his teams first Championship series performance. "This is the first game all year that we shot the ball 38% and won. I can guarantee you tomorrow we won't shoot that low. We were really rusty after 9 days off. This is cham-pionship basketball though so it's not about how many points you win by it's the fact that you win."
The victory was sealed when Shamari Spears hit a bucket with 10.5 seconds left and was fouled. Five players were in double figures for London: Gabe Free-man, Eddie Smith, Tim Ellis, Rodney Buford and Shamari Spears with 17, 16, 15, 10 and 10 respectively.
The Lightning take on the Rainmen for Game 2 of this Championship Series tomorrow (Monday) at 7pm.
GAME 2 - London 113, Halifax 83, John Labatt Centre, London, Ont.
A commanding lead was grabbed by the London Lightning in their best-of-five NBL Canada Championship. They defeated the Halifax Rainmen 113-96 in front of 2,543 fans. The series now stands at 2-0 in favour of the Lightning.
London came out very sharp and blew this game wide open by half. The Lightning were led by All-Star Captain Eddie Smith, League MVP Gabe Freeman and Second Team All NBL Tim Ellis, with 25, 21 and 21 respectively.
"We came in with a defensive objective," explained Lightning's Gabe Freeman. "Our team made the proper adjustments tonight and played together. It was great to feed off the energy of the fans tonight. This whole season they have been behind us and supported us and the energy they had tonight was unbelievable."
GAME 3 - Halifax 95, London 93, Halifax MetroCentre, Halifax, N.S.
The Halifax Rainmen kept their National Basketball League of Canada championship dreams alive on Wednesday evening when they defeated the London Lightning by a score of 95-93 in front of 3,933 boisterous fans. The win sets the Rainmen at a 1-2 record in the best-of-five NBL Canada final series.
The leading scorer for the Rainmen was Chris Hagan, who netted 16 points for the home team, including the game winner. NBL Canada All-Star co-captain Joey Haywood poured in 14 points for the win, while Tyrone Levett and Lawrence Wright added 14 points each.
Leading the Lightning was Tim Ellis with a game-high 22 points and 11 rebounds, followed by Gabe Freeman with 21 points and 12 rebounds. Eddie Smith contributed 19 points for the Lightning.
GAME 4 - Halifax 93, London 85, Halifax MetroCentre, Halifax, N.S.
The Halifax Rainmen won their second-straight game over the London Lightning on Thursday evening, 93-85, in front of 3,842 energetic fans. The victory ties the best-of-five championship series at 2-2. The deciding game five will be played in London, Ontario this Sunday at 2 p.m. AST. The game will be live broadcast on EastLink TV.
Taliek Brown led the Rainmen with 20 points, followed by Lawrence Wright with 18. Chris Hagan added 16 points for the Rainmen, while Darnell Hugee added 12 before being fouled out of the game midway through the fourth quarter. Eric Crookshank pulled down 13 boards for his team.
Leading the Lightning was Gabe Freeman with a game-high 21 points and 21 rebounds, followed by Eddie Smith with 18 points. Shamari Spears added 15 points for the Lightning, while DeAnthony Bowden had 11 and Tim Ellis had 10.
GAME 5 - London 116, Halifax 92, John Labatt Centre, London, Ont.
(TORONTO, ON) In front of 5,106 fans at home the London Lightning beat out the Halifax Rainmen 116-92 in Game 5 of an exciting finals showdown to become the first NBL Canada Champions.
""What a great finish to an outstanding Championship series, outstanding playoffs and an exciting regular season," said John Kennedy, NBL Canada Commissioner. "I know I speak for the entire League, when I say we're very pleased with the success we've had this year and look forward to even bigger accomplishments in the future!"
Mr. Kennedy was unfortunately out of town due to personal reasons, but he sends his regrets and congratulations to the entire Lightning organization. Chief Operating Officer Ian McCarthy stepped in to present the Lightning with the NBL Canada Championship Trophy.
"It was an amazing showcase for the League, it was exciting to go to a game and we're looking forward to building on this for next season," said Mr. McCarthy.
McCarthy also announced Gabe Freemen of the London Lightning as the playoff MVP and Head Coach Micheal Ray Richardson as Coach of the Year.
The Lightning held the number one spot all regular season, finishing with an impeccable 28-8 record.
"It was a great game with an incredible crowd, what we did was protect our home court and its an unbelievable feeling." said Richardson.
Leading the Lightning to their championship win was DeAnthony Bowden with 28 points, followed by Gabe Freeman with 22 and Eddie Smith with 20. Shamari Spears and Rodney Buford had 18 points each while Tim Ellis had 14 rebounds for the Lightning.
The Rainmen were led by Chris Hagen with 21 points, followed by Tyrone Levett with 14 and Justin Johnson with 13.
"It was an unbelievable game, with two teams that fought their hearts out all season to come together in the championship and to game 5," said Andre Levingston, President & CEO of the Halifax Rainmen. "London did an unbelievable job and deserved to win, but from a league standpoint this was incredible for the fans."
Game reports compiled via team press releases, and from articles appearing in newspapers from the teams' home locations.
NBL PLAYER OF THE WEEK
November 6, 2011 - Gabe Freeman, London Lightning.
November 13, 2011 - Joey Haywood, Halifax Rainmen.
November 20, 2011 - Anthony Anderson, Saint John Mill Rats.
November 28, 2011 - Chris Cayole, Summerside Storm.
December 4, 2011 - Ralphy Holmes, Quebec Kebs.
December 11, 2011 - Justin Johnson, Halifax Rainmen.
December 18, 2011 - Darrell Wonge, Moncton Miracles.
December 25, 2011 - Ralphy Holmes, Quebec Kebs.
January 1, 2012 - Gabe Freeman, London Lightning.
January 8, 2012 - Stephen McDowell, Summerside Storm.
January 15, 2012 - Morgan Lewis, Oshawa Power.
January 22, 2012 - Darren Duncan, Saint John Mill Rats.
January 29, 2012 - Brandon Robinson, Oshawa Power.
February 5, 2012 - Shamari Spears, London Lightning.
February 12, 2012 - Morgan Lewis, Oshawa Power.
February 19, 2012 - Brandon Robinson, Oshawa Power.
February 26, 2012 - Tyrone Levett, Halifax Rainmen.
February 4, 2012 - Gabe Freeman, London Lightning.
NBL COACH OF THE MONTH
November, 2011 - Micheal Ray Richardson, London Lightning.
December, 2011 - Josep Claros, Halifax Rainmen.
January, 2012 - Micheal Ray Richardson, London Lightning.
February, 2012 - Robert Brickey, Oshawa Power.
National Basketball League of Canada Stories from March 25, 2012
- NBL Canada Weekly Report - NBL Canada
- London Lightning Named First NBL Canada Champions - NBL Canada
- Rainmen Fall to Lightning in Championship Final - Halifax Rainmen
The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.
