The St. John’s Edge finally get to face the Sudbury Five tonight
The Edge and Five play in Sudbury, Ont., in the only game on the National Basketball League of Canada Wednesday schedule. It’s the first meeting of the season for the two teams, although they had been originally scheduled to play each other twice at Mile One Centre last month.
However, those games were postponed when the winter storm-created State of Emergency in eastern Newfoundland meant the Five couldn’t travel to St. John’s.
Those games will now be played in mid April.
Tonight’s matchup will be between two of the NBLC’s hotter teams. The Five (10-6) have won three in a row and are 7-3 in their last 10 outings. Meanwhile, the Edge (8-6) are 8-2 in their last 10, including a couple of wins to start their current Ontario road trip.
Sudbury is coming off a 116-114 road win over the Windsor Express Monday, managing to come away with the victory despite missing starting guards Braylon Rayson and Jaylen Brand, the league’s second-leading scorer and most prolific three-point shooter. Both were sidelined with injuries,
On Tuesday, the Five’s roster took another hit, with the league’s website revealing Sudbury was placing forward Marlon Johnson on the inactive list because he had signed a contract to play overseas. Johnson, who had spent time in Spain’s second division the last two seasons, was having an MVP-type season; he is fourth in scoring and leads the NBLC in rebounding (11.3 per game), just ahead of the Montay Brandon (10.9) of the Edge.
In fact, Brand, Johnson, Rayson and J.R. Holder of the Five all sit in the top 10 in league scoring, but for the St. John’s fans, the most recognizable name on the Five’s roster will be reserve guard Jarryn Skeete, a member of the Edge during the team’s first two years in the league and one of its more popular players.
Skeete, who is from Brampton, Ont., signed with Sudbury as a free agent earlier this season and has appeared in seven games since.
While the Edge had plenty of time between their last game — a 109-98 win over the Lightning in London on Saturday — and tonight’s contest, it won’t be that way as they clew up the road trip. After tonight’s contest, they board the bus for a five-hour trek to Kitchener, where they take on the KW Titans Thursday night.
Twitter: @telysports
