In a game filled with offence, the London Lightning and the Niagara River Lions fell 25 shy of a combined 300 points as the Lightning won their eighth straight on Sunday afternoon.
Mo Bolden scored 32 points and Royce White put up 29 more in a 143-132 Lightning victory. Memories of a 2-5 start for the Lightning feel long gone, as they now sit atop the central division and own the best record in the NBL Canada. They are the only team with a double-digit number of victories.
White and Mo Bolden shot an astounding 68 per cent from the field. White believes this was an example of what London can do on the offensive side of the ball.
“When that happens, there is a confidence that just brews among us, we continued to hit shots. Mo hit some big shots. He has been playing amazing after coming off injury.”
Lightning assistant coach, Elliott Etherington admitted after the game that the inside-outisde threat that Bolden and White can create can be nightmarish for London’s opponents.
“Really happy with Mo’s return. He’s playing great,” said Etherington. “Real smart out there on defense and offensively he had 32 points with very effective shooting. He and Royce are a handful together.”
Despite the win and the roll that the Lightning have been on, Etherington would like to see the defence play a bit tighter.
“At end of the day we still gave them too many points. We have to work at containing the ball, make sure we stop the ball early, added Etherington. “All in all, we are happy with how the guys played today.
“They responded any time Niagara made a run, we made a better run on the way back. Now we just have to tweak the defence a bit.”
Bolden echoed that, saying, “It was a great team effort, we moved the basketball well. But once again, we have to get better defensively, we let them score too many points. The team is doing a great job, moving the basketball and making it comfortable for me to play.”
The game marked the third meeting between the Lightning and the River Lions in less than a week, and London made it a clean sweep.
When you come just shy of 150 points, the offence doesn’t usually stop with two players. Doug Herring Jr. scored 22 points and pulled down six rebounds. Garrett Williamson had 21 points and Ryan Anderson added 19.
London will host the K-W Titans on Wednesday at 7 p.m. at Budweiser Gardens.
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