The KW Titans were handed their 11th loss of the season at The Aud on Thursday at the hands of the Sudbury Five in the second game of a four-game homestand.
The Titans got off to a good start with the big man Derick Hall (17 points, 14 rebounds) knocking down a deep triple to put the first points on the board.
The two teams traded baskets for the entire first quarter and neither side seemed poised to get too far ahead of the other in what looked to be the beginning of a tight game in front of the rowdy KW crowd.
Denzel James (eight points, seven rebounds) delivered some great energy off the bench and enthralled the fans with some exciting play on both sides of the court.
Despite the two clubs being equally matched throughout the opening period, the Titans still managed to edge themselves a lead over Sudbury and closed out the first quarter with a score of 20-18 over the Five.
The opposing team picked it up a notch in the second quarter, giving the Titans all they could handle on the offensive end and quickly tallied a double-digit lead over the home team. Sudbury standouts Jaylen Bland (27 points, five rebounds, five assists) and Braylon Rayson (28 points, seven rebounds, seven assists) particularly dealt out punishment to KW and began what would be an insurmountable run over the Titans that would be too much to overcome.
The Titans rallied their way back in the fourth quarter and came as close as they would, as they closed the gap to as few as five points at times, but the Five refused to slow down and went on numerous runs of their own and eventually extended their lead to double digits yet again.
With just under four minutes left in the game and a deficit of more than 15 points, the Titans had their backs against the wall — and the possibility of coming out of this one with a win seemed less and less likely.
Despite strong play by some key Titans players, such as Flenard Whitfield (21 points, nine rebounds) and Akeem Ellis (13 points, five rebounds), the home team just didn’t have what it took in this one and fell to the Sudbury Five for the second time in five meetings as their record dropped under .500 to 9-11 for the season.
Members of the Titans team weren’t available for comment after the game.
“The Titans just couldn’t get anything to fall in this one,” said Bryan Jiminez, 30, of Kitchener, a Titans fan. “The ball, like, refused to go in the basket for most of the game and Sudbury just seemed like everything was going their way.”
“This was one of the more poor showings from the Titans,” said Kevin Andrew, 36, of Cambridge. “I’ve been to a lot of Titans games this season but this one — you could just tell in the first half it wasn’t going to end well.”
The Titans next chance to get a win will come on Saturday as KW hosts the Five, yet again, at The Aud as part of a back-to-back set. Tip-off is at 7 pm.
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