London Lightning Fall to Riptide
Thursday, November 30, 2017(London, ON) – The London Lightning fell behind early in their annual shine the light game. They picked up the intensity in the third quarter but it wasn't enough and the Saint John Riptide came away with the win 105-100.
Head coach, Keith Vassell, was disappointed with the loss "We were right there, we could have made plays to finish off the game. We needed to keep [Anthony] Stover off the boards, his eight offensive rebounds all came at opportune times. Gabe [Freeman] was out for a while, that was our chance to make the run. They missed a lot of shots and he [Stover] gave them that second chance. We shouldn't have lost. We needed to complete plays late in the game."
Martin Dixon-Green was the spark in the third for the bolts where they tied the game at 74. "Martin has been practicing well, he's been really going after it and I am glad it has shown on the court. If he can string a few more games like that together that would be huge for us. Especially with Ryan being out, we missed his shooting… It was great to see that Martin took advantage of his opportunity."
Dixon-Green knows his roll on the team, "At that moment you don't really realize the score. You do what you can for the team. We just need to work out the kinks… You can't give up 18 offensive rebounds and expect to win the game."
Dixon-Green scored 12 points along with four rebounds and two blocks in only 19 minutes. Royce White had a strong night as well putting up 29 points, six assists and six rebounds.
The London Lightning head to Newfoundland on Monday for a road trip to face the St. John's Edge, the newest team in the NBL. They will play the Edge back to back on Tuesday and Wednesday then return to Ontario and hit the road to Niagara on Friday December 8th.
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