The Sudbury Five, wearing their new alternative identity The Rock Monsters uniforms for the first time this season, took to the court at Sudbury Community Arena on Saturday night looking to crush the Montreal Toundra.
Despite the Toundra giving Sudbury all they could handle, the Five came away with the 121-110 victory.
It was a close game early on, with Sudbury winning the first quarter by a margin of 31-25. Keyshawn Bryant led all scorers in the first quarter scoring 13 points for Sudbury.
Montreal came back and took the second quarter by a slim 21-20 margin, with Khalill Dukes putting up seven points in the quarter for Montreal, but Sudbury still held a 51-46 heading into the halftime break.
Both Montreal and Sudbury came out for the second half firing on all cylinders on the offensive side of the glass, with the Five outscoring the Toundra by a slim 39-98 margin. Bryant once again led all scorers with 10 points in the quarter, and Sudbury held a 90-84 lead with one quarter remaining in the game.
The Five won the fourth and final quarter by a 31-26 margin to hold on for an 11-point victory by a score of 121-110, improving their record to two wins and no losses on the season.
“We kind of already established who we are the first game,” Bryant said in his post-game comments. “We’re gonna play harder than everybody else, so the ball wasn’t going in so we picked it up on defense more.”
The Sudbury Five’s new head coach Joey Puddister was asked about Guan Ziyu, the international Chinese player wearing a Five jersey this season.
“He’s great on court for us,” Puddister said. “He shoots the ball, really unselfish, defends, good size, good strength, everything like that. Off court, he’s just such a great locker room guy.”
The team has a translator on hand as Ziyu is still “getting his English together,” the coach said, but he is adapting and his fellow players are helping him out.
“He’s 20 years old, first extended period of time in North America,” Puddister said. “He’s adjusting to it really well. Not only is he adjusting to it well, our guys are. Our guys are doing an awesome job of taking him under their wing. Not only is there a language barrier but he’s also 20 years old and most of our guys are older than that. It’s been great from him and great from our team.”
The Sudbury Five take to the court again on Jan. 10 at home for a replay, of sorts, of the 2025 Basketball Super League Finals when they welcome the Windsor Express. Tip off is scheduled for 7 p.m.
Super fan Robert McCarthy covers Sudbury Wolves and Sudbury Five games for Sudbury.com. Got a question for Robert? Email it to [email protected].