Whether it was a basket, block, rebound, or foul the Summerside Storm did not back down from anything the Moncton Miracles threw at them, their physicality has made them 2-0 in the pre-season by drenching Moncton 101-83.
The moment this game started Summerside had full control, a 6-0 run in the first two minutes of the game prompted Moncton to call an early time-out. By the end of one, the Storm were up twelve, 25-13.
By halftime Al Stewart put in the majority of his work, with 8 points, 7 rebounds and 3 steals. That point guard play was one reason the Storm had doubled the Miracles points, 42-21. Interestingly, Moncton had the exact same amount of first half turnovers as they did points, that’s incredibly rare and quiet honestly proof that the Miracles need much more composure.
Summerside broke the game wide open in the third quarter, taking thirty point leads at several points in the period. However, late in the third Moncton finally showed a little bit of life to push them into the fourth.
Just two minutes into the fourth quarter this game took a 180 degree spin, the first Moncton player was sent to the deck, and that sparked a battle. Over the next five minutes of game time, (twenty minutes real time) bodies were hitting the deck left and right. Storm forward Chad Gillaspy was the innocent victim of the dirty play of the night. After a successful pick-and-roll Gillaspy cut hard to the basket for a layup when his neck was met by the forearm of a Miracle player. After a cut lip and a few minutes on the bench to sake it off, Gillaspy checked back in to finish the game. Assistant coach Mike Leslie said, “we just hope that our guys can keep their composure, stay within themselves and look after each other out there.” His players did just that, swarming in on Gillaspy to ensure that nothing more came from the hard foul. Ultimately, the physically excited Moncton to their best play of the night, scoring near half of their total points in the final quarter.
“We played really well, there were some let ups defensively, but our guys responded well to the atmosphere and it was a great crowd tonight. We’re going to go back on tape and look at some things defensively that happened in the second half and look to improve them for our next game,” says Leslie.
Key stats:
Avery Smith led Summerside with 15 points.
Al Stewart finished with a double-double of 10 points 10 rebounds.
Dokun Akingbade scored 10 and added 7 boards.
Moncton’s only bright spot was newcomer Devin Sweetney who scored 27 in 48 minutes.
Avery Smith goes for a finger roll. Photo by Kevin Molyneaux.
