Photo Courtesy: Navaneeth Mohan - 94.9 Radio Western

Sutherland Cup

The London Nationals have taken a 1-0 series lead in the Sutherland Cup semi-finals after a 4-1 win over the Listowel Cyclones on Wednesday.

The Nats came firing out of the gate to open the series, scoring three goals in the first period. Noah Tooke got things started with a point-shot on the powerplay, before James Turner scored his 15^th of the playoffs on another powerplay goal just over a minute later. Christian Polillo would make it 3-0 late in the opening period.

Listowel’s Trent Verbeek would cut the lead down to two goals in the second period, but that was as close as the Cyclones would get. Zach Springer made 21 saves for the win, while four London players had multi-point nights.

The Nationals won Game 1 of the series against the Cyclones last year but went on to lose three straight and eventually dropped the series in six games.

Game 2 of the series will be played on Friday night in Listowel, before returning back to London on Sunday for Game 3.

NBL Basketball – London Lightning

The London Lightning are looking to climb back into their first-round playoff series against the KW Titans this weekend after falling down two games to one.

Game 1 in the Forest City saw a dominant performance from the Titans in a 119-95 final. London shot 39% from the field and under 20% from beyond the arc. The Titans were aided by a 28-point performance from Akeem Ellis, with Flen Whitfield also dropping 24 points on 10-14 shooting.

Game 2, also in London, was a tight 101-97 final in favour of the Titans. Five Lightning players reached double-digit point totals, with Garrett Williamson gathering a team-high 20 points. They were outdueled again though by Ellis and Whitfield on KW, who had a combine 46 points between them.

Searching for answers in Game 3 on the road, London finally got back to their winning ways with a 115-107 final. AJ Gaines Jr. had a strong performance off the bench, dropping a game-high 27 points and collecting 14 rebounds. London shot 44% from three-point range and was just under 50% from the field.

The back-to-back defending champs look to carry the momentum into Game 4 on Saturday in Kitchener in hopes of tying the first-round series.