The London Lightning are one win away from a return to the NBL Championship for the third year in a row.
Ryan Anderson went 6-for-6 from the foul line over the final 1:13 and helped his team to hold on for a 130-127 victory over the St. John’s Edge in Newfoundland on Thursday night.
Anderson ended the game with 24 points and seven rebounds. Royce White once again led the Lightning in scoring with 37 points and nine assists. Mo Bolden matched Anderson’s 24.
London now leads the best-of-7 series three games to two.
The Lightning shot a very impressive 59.5 per cent from the field. The Edge weren’t far behind at 53.6 per cent. Carl English led St. John’s with 34 points. London jumped out to an 11-point lead at the end of the first quarter. The Edge fought back to cut the Lightning advantage to a basket at 53-51 at halftime.
The lead-up to the game was filled with some controversy. Both the Lightning and forward Royce White released statements on Wednesday stemming from an incident involving a fan in the stands in Game 3. There were accusations of homophobic slurs.
White addressed it directly writing, “I unequivocally deny any allegations of homophobic slurs made in our last game.” The Lightning also released a statement outlining lengths that they went to in order to speak with witnesses of the incident.
The league took no action.
Game 6 will take place at Budweiser Gardens on Sunday afternoon at 2 p.m. The Halifax Hurricanes knocked off the Moncton Magic 94-87 on Thursday to take a 3-1 series lead. London and Halifax have met in the finals in each of the past two seasons. Halifax won in 2016. The Lightning won in 2017.