There’s plenty for the Windsor Express to be concerned about.

Article content

There’s plenty for the Windsor Express to be concerned about.

Article content

Article content

For the first time this season, the Express are riding a three-game losing streak after Wednesday’s 114-100 loss to the Sudbury Five before a crowd of 3,066 at the WFCU Centre.

“Some guys are just in a slump,” Express guard Latin Davis said. “Once we get back rolling as a team, we’ll be fine.”

But that’s not the only worry for the club, which has slid from top spot in the Basketball Super League standings to third place and now sit two-games back of the first-place Five.

Article content

“You can’t hold your head down because we’ve lost three games in a row,” Express forward Cameron Gaines said. “You’ve just got to focus on the next game. It’s basketball, so you can go up, down. You have to keep going.”

However, the Express will likely have to keep going for a bit without forward Tray Maddox Jr., who left the game after crashing to the floor after a hard foul in the second quarter.

The team’s leading scorer, Maddox Jr., who is averaging over 21 points per game, limped back to the bench in street clothes in the fourth quarter, but had to use a wheelchair to get to the dressing room after the game.

“I’ll be back,” Maddox Jr. said as he limped out of the arena after the game.

Maddox Jr. injured his right knee and right ankle on the foul and Express head coach Bill Jones said he will need further evaluation before the club knows how long he could be sidelined.

“We don’t want to say anything until we have our people look at it,” Jones said.

Meanwhile, seven-foot centre Will Brown, who had 22 points and 17 rebounds in Wednesday’s loss, is now expected to be away from the team for at least 10 days.

Article content

Article content

“It doesn’t get easier, it gets tougher,” Jones said.

For now, the Express simply need to focus on getting back to playing winning basketball.

“We’ve flatlined,” said Jones, whose team had won 10-of-11 games before the current losing skid. “We have to find a way to correct it and find guys to do what we did in our winning streak. We need more from our players.”

The loss of Maddox Jr. forced the Express to try and find different ways to create offence.

“Tray got hurt and it was kind of hard on us,” Gaines said. “We have to find another person to go to in certain times.”

Gaines picked up some of the slack with 21 points along with 15 rebounds and Davis finished with a team-high 24 points while Jeremy Harris added 10 points.

However, much of Windsor’s success came from outside with the club taking 45 shots from three-point range and just 43 from inside the arc. The Five were never forced to collapse defensively and potentially foul with Windsor shooting just 12 free throws in the game.

“That’s just how some things played out,” Davis said. “We shot a lot of threes. We have to put more pressure on the refs going forward. We can’t shoot that many threes and expect to beat teams.”

Article content

The Express did erase a 10-point deficit in the third quarter and closed with 15-4 run to take a one-point lead in the final quarter. 

However, turnovers and missed shots allowed Sudbury to start the final quarter on an 11-2 run and Windsor was never in contention again.

“Minus Tray, in the second half, we’re (up a point) going into the fourth quarter and in the fourth quarter we kind of imploded,” Jones said. We didn’t defend, we took rushed shots, we turned the ball over and we ended up losing that quarter by 15 (points).

“They’re not tough points .They’re easy, easy, easy. Not getting back on defence and a (Sudbury) team that played (Tuesday) night outrunning us. Individuals have to take pride in a guy not beating them.”

Boumann makes debut

With two minutes left in the game, six-foot-nine, 285-pound Vincent Boumann made his debut with the Express.

The 28-year-old Boumann was signed on Wednesday just a day after the Express released D’Andre Johnson.

“He’s going to be an interior presence for us,” Jones said.

[email protected]

twitter.com/winstarparker

Article content