The Sudbury Five have successfully defended their Basketball Super League title as they handed the KW Titans a heartbreaker at home. There were roughly 1,200 fans in attendance at Wednesday evening’s game at The Aud. “That was a great game. I love the Titans, I’ve been following them for many years and it was a great series,” said longtime fan Chris Gilbey. “Congrats to Sudbury, but I’m still forever for the Titans. They’re the best.” The two teams headed into a winner-takes-all matchup at the Kitchener Memorial Auditorium on Wednesday with the championship best-of-five series knotted up at two games apiece. The Titans led at the end of the first quarter 26 – 19, but by halftime, Sudbury had battled back to lead 50 – 41 and widened that gap to 74 - 66 by the end of the third. Fans were left on the edge on their seats right until the end of the game, but the Titans were ultimately defeated by a single point. The 90 – 89 victory allowed Sudbury to reclaim their crown for the second year in a row. After the game, Titan’s head coach Cliff Clinkscales reflected on where the team could have made up the difference, but also commended all his team did well. “Tonight, our defence was good enough to win. [Sudbury] only had 16 points in the fourth quarter, but we couldn’t but we couldn’t put the ball in the basket and we missed some free throws,” Clinkscales said. “Then we had some breakdowns in rotation where we gave up too many clean looks to the best shooter in the league and that the type of stuff that comes back and bites you.” The Titans were hoping to claim their first-ever BSL championship. Meanwhile, the Sudbury Five cemented their second consecutive title.
