Charlie Marquardt scored a game-high 31 points and the Sudbury Five defeated the Kitchen-Waterloo Titans 116-113 in a back-and-forth affair Saturday night in front of 2,004 fans at the Sudbury Community Arena. The victory improved Sudbury’s record to 13-4, keeping them atop the Basketball Super League standings. The win also gave the Five the edge in the season series against the Titans, before Saturday the teams have each won one a piece. Marquardt was lethal from beyond the arc, connecting on six of 10 three-point attempts while adding six rebounds. Duane Notice contributed 25 points and three assists for Sudbury, while Devante Jamison provided a spark off the bench with 20 points and six assists. “We had the time of our lives tonight,” the team posted on social media following the victory. The game was tightly contested throughout, with neither team able to establish a comfortable advantage. The Five jumped out to an early 29-23 lead after the first quarter. Sudbury continued to lead 56-52 at halftime behind balanced scoring, then extended the lead to 85-71 after three quarters. The Titans mounted a furious comeback in the final frame, outscoring the Five 42-31, but could never fully erase the deficit. Ty Groce led Kitchener-Waterloo with 23 points and 15 rebounds in a losing effort. Jaylen Bland added 15 points off the bench for the Titans, who fell to 11-6 on the season. Sudbury’s offence clicked in the second half, with the team shooting 36 per cent from three-point range over the final two quarters. The Five also dominated in the paint, outscoring the Titans 52-34 inside. Defensively, Sudbury forced 18 turnovers that led to 31 points, a key factor in holding off Kitchener-Waterloo’s late charge. The Titans made things interesting in the final minute, cutting the lead to 116-113 on a Joel Kindred three-pointer with 12 seconds remaining. But Sudbury managed the clock effectively and secured the rebound on a missed three-point attempt as time expired. Sudbury was coming off a tough one-point loss at home to the Windsor Express on Tuesday and responded with a bounce-back performance against a Titans team that had won three of its previous four games. The Five now hit the road for a critical two-game set against the second-place Montreal Toundra on Friday and Saturday. The Titans travel to Windsor for a Wednesday matchup with the Express.
