Sometimes getting a few days off isn’t all that helpful.
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Sometimes getting a few days off isn’t all that helpful.
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A second-place finish in the regular season enabled the Windsor Express to bypass a play-in playoff game and gave the team a four-day break after a trip to Newfoundland to close the season.
Meanwhile, the Kitchener-Waterloo Titans needed to win a play-in game on Wednesday just to advance to the Basketball Super League semifinal series against Windsor.
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That didn’t seem to bother the third-seeded Titans, who build a 14-point lead at the half and then held off a wild late charge by the second-seeded Express for a 94-92 win on Thursday before a crowd of 1,508 at the WFCU Centre.
“I said that to the coaches,” Express guard Mike Bruce said. “I feel (Wednesday’s play-in game) kind of helped (the Titans) get their rhythm, get their legs under them, understand how they wanted to approach the game, how they wanted to play.”
The Titans lead the best-of-five series 1-0 with Game 2 set for Sunday at the WFCU Centre at 2 p.m.
“It’s frustrating not getting the first game, but just knowing that we’ve still got the series left (and) another game on Sunday,” Express guard Latin Davis said. “Just try to wash this one off and focus on Sunday.”
The Express shot a miserable 28.6 per cent in the first half, turned the ball over nine times and fell behind 51-37.
“A tale of two halves,” Express head coach Bill Jones said. “Kitchener came out and, talk about a boxing match, they punched us, punched us, punched us, stood over us and we were intimidated.
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“We came out in the second half, we won the third quarter (by a point), and in the fourth quarter, with seven minutes to go, that’s when we went on our run, but it was a little too late.”
Down by 13 points entering the final quarter, the Express made it a four-point game with five minutes to play and cut it to a single point with just over two minutes to play.
“We have to come out like that at the start,” Davis said of the comeback. “Confidence, defence, we were talking, more energized and we have to start that in the first quarter and maybe it’ll carry over to the fourth quarter. We just have to match their energy going forward.”
But the Express could never grab the lead. Davis drove the lane in the final minute, but his shot banked off the rim. The Express fouled and watched the Titans twice miss free throws only to grab offensive rebounds. With just over a second left on the clock, the Express had one final chance, but could not convert an inbound pass that was picked off.
“Like we always say, sometimes the basketball gods don’t want you to win and we had a chances,” Jones said. “We don’t have anyone to blame, but ourselves.”
Markus Golden paced the Express with 24 points and Vincent Boumann finished with 21 points and 13 rebounds. Davis finished with 18 points while Jaire Grayer added 17 points and 14 rebounds.
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