To be successful in the playoffs, teams know that they need to hit another level.
The NBL Canada defending champions did that on Friday night at Budweiser Gardens as the London Lightning defeated the Niagara River Lions 151-115 to open their best-of-5 first round series.
The point total was a season high for the Lightning, who finished first in the Central Division.
Eight players hit double digits on the scoresheet, including Doug Herring Jr., who recorded a double-double with 22 points and 12 rebounds.
“It was a good win,” admitted Herring Jr. “Game one of the playoffs; you know we wanted to come out and make a strong statement. We kept up the pace we wanted to have and we were focused.”
Garrett Williamson also scored 22 and Ryan Anderson had 20.
London head coach Keith Vassell pointed to the efforts of a couple of other players as being real keys to the win.
The Lightning extended their winning streak over Niagara to eight games. The River Lions got by London on opening night, but the Lightning reeled off seven straight victories against them throughout the course of the regular season schedule.
The Lightning know it is now about maintaining the pace that they set on Friday as the teams meet for Game 2 on Saturday.
“It’s one game at a time – every game matters,” said Vassell. “You do the best you can in that game and now you look at the next one. I’m happy with the result and now we keep ourselves going.”
Tipoff will be 7:00 p.m. at Budweiser Gardens.
In the only other game on Friday, the St. John’s Edge lived up to their name, beating the Windsor Express 123-120 in double overtime in Game 1 of their best-of-5 series.
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