Sudbury Five sweep Rogues with 122-102 win on Indigenous Night

The Sudbury Five completed a three-game sweep of the Newfoundland Rogues with a commanding 122-102 victory Thursday night at the Sudbury Community Arena, using a balanced scoring attack and deep bench to pull away in front of more than 1,850 fans on Indigenous Night.

The Five, who won the first two meetings on the road in Newfoundland last week, jumped out to a 33-22 lead after the first quarter and extended their advantage to 62-47 by halftime. Sudbury led by as many as 24 points in the fourth quarter en route to their 11th win of the season.

Five’s deep bench came to play

Eleven different players scored for Sudbury, with six reaching double figures. Devante Jamison led the way with 18 points off the bench on 7-of-16 shooting, including three three-pointers. Alex Kotov added 17 points on 8-of-12 from the field, while Emmett Duvall contributed 15 points and nine rebounds in a season-best performance.

“I think it was very well-rounded,” Duvall said.

“We had a goal to remain disciplined. It’s hard to beat a team three times in a row, so to stay locked in and focus was our goal for both weeks and I think we did our job today.”

The Rogues were led by Leonard Turner’s game-high 23 points on 8-of-18 shooting, adding six rebounds. Kinglee D’Silva provided a spark off the bench with 18 points on 7-of-14 from the field, while Shakwon Barrett and Dedric Boyd each scored 15 in the losing effort.

Sudbury set the tone early, racing to a 13-2 lead just four minutes into the game. Kotov scored eight points in the opening quarter, including two emphatic dunks, as the Five shot 68.4 per cent from the field in the first 12 minutes.

The Rogues battled back in the second quarter, but the Five maintained control behind balanced scoring. Duvall made his presence felt in the second half, scoring 10 of his 15 points after intermission.

Indigenous Night celebration

Thursday’s game was designated as Indigenous Night, sponsored by CTV Northern Ontario. The evening featured specially designed jerseys created by Anishinaabe muralist Raven Debassige, a Sudbury-based artist who has been creating visual art in the city for a decade.

The jerseys incorporate traditional cultural elements, including five feathers on the front representing the team’s name and players.

“When I think of the Five and the logo, it’s that fiery warmth, that passion for the game,” Debassige said ahead of Thursday’s match-up.

“There’s the feathers, and so there’s five feathers intentionally on the front, again to represent the five and sort of the players in the five.”

Debassige, who has worked with Sudbury Sports and the Wolves previously, said the design came to her quickly when approached through Shkagamik-Kwe.

“Seeing this design go on to the jersey, seeing this design become tangible, I think was really important to me,” Debassige said. “I felt proud to be able to represent this culture. You know, not this culture, my culture, our culture here in Sudbury and in Ontario and Canada, it’s important to have that representation of Indigenous peoples.”

On the back of each jersey, Debassige placed cedar leaves, one of the four traditional medicines.

“I intentionally put (them) there to carry out the intention of clean energy,” Debassige said.

“When I think of cedar, I think of putting it above a door when you go in. It’s a good space. With every single player wearing that on their back during the game, they’re carrying that good space and that good energy into the game.”

The game-worn jerseys are now up for auction via DASH, with the proceeds going to the Shkagamik-Kwe Health Centre. The auctions close on Feb. 26 at noon; you can bid online here.

The game also saw a pregame Ojibwe Anthem sung by Akwego, a pair of drum circle performances by Young Thunderbirds and a live dance performance at halftime.

Winners of CTV News Northern Ontario’s Five at the 5 contest also enjoyed VIP court suite game experiences with CTV’s Ian Campbell and Amanda Hicks.

Physical battle

The teams met three times in as many games, with Sudbury winning both matchups in Newfoundland last week by scores of 106-96 and 105-100. Thursday’s contest carried over the physical style from those previous meetings.

“Definitely,” Duvall said when asked if he expected more physical play.

“I think that’s just a part of the game of basketball in general. But I think teams lately have been trying to be more physical with us. That was another one of our goals, something that we wanted to check off on the whiteboard today, just to reciprocate that physicality and match it if not exceed it.”

Sudbury outscored Newfoundland 58-38 in the paint and held a 52-37 rebounding advantage, including 11 offensive rebounds that led to 14 second-chance points. The Five also got 67 points from their bench compared to 34 for the Rogues.

Guan Ziyu added 11 points for Sudbury, including two three-pointers, while Michael Okafor chipped in 10 points on 4-of-5 shooting. Charlie Marquardt finished with 10 points and five rebounds, and Duane Notice contributed eight points and six assists despite shooting 2-of-10 from the field.

For Newfoundland, Anthony Lefeau recorded 13 points and 11 rebounds, while Ryan Harnett added 13 points off the bench on 5-of-10 shooting, including three three-pointers.

A full team win

Head coach Joey Puddister credited his team’s depth and unselfishness for the victory.

“Super proud of our team depth,” Puddister said.

“We’re able to go 11 deep. Emmett had an awesome game, 15-and-9. So yeah, just a full team win.”

Puddister noted that starters were willing to stay on the bench to let reserves continue playing.

“I think I counted five times where I went to a starter on the bench and said, ‘Hey, you good to go back in?’ And they said, ‘No, let him go,’” Puddister said.

“That’s awesome to see from the starters and just good, unselfish.”

Duvall, who joined the Five this season, said the organization’s winning culture attracted him to Sudbury.

“Right, coach Joey, some guys here, like you said, that I knew,” Duvall said.

“Plus, this is just a winning organization from what I know. They got my former team out of here last season, and I knew what the expectations were coming into this season. So, really just wanted to be a part of a winning organization and just having some family, I was going to call them my friends, but some family here that also helped make that decision.”

The Five remain atop the Basketball Super League standings, improving to 11-3 this season. Sudbury will next face The Basketball League’s Tri-State Admirals on Sunday at 2 p.m.