Express ready for playoff challenge after beating Five to end regular season

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A season-closing win on Friday was another booster shot of confidence for the Windsor Express.

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Even with the 108-75 win over the Sudbury Five to close out the regular season at the WFCU Centre, the Express had long been assured of a fourth-place finish in the NBL of Canada standings.

In fact, Windsor is the league’s only team to finish under .500 with an 8-16 record, but a 3-3 mark to close the season has the Express believing there is hope in its first-round playoff series with the top-seeded London Lightning.

“We’re fortunate everyone goes to the playoffs and this is our second season,” Express head coach Bill Jones said. “It’s a quick turnaround with the playoffs starting Sunday.

“Obviously, (London’s) the best team, but we’re healthy and we’re looking at it as a chance to go in, compete and build on the rivalry.”

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In a challenging season where the league had to find a partner for an interlocking schedule because teams opted to sit out due to COVID-19, Jones has watched his club battle to overcome numerous obstacles all season.

“It was Murphy’s Law,” Jones said. “Whatever could go wrong, did go wrong. The second quarter of the first game, we had a guy rupture his Achilles’ and it’s been rough ever since.”

So bad that even getting a decent practice proved challenging.

“For half the season, we weren’t able to have a five-on-five practice,” Jones said. “But we stood fast, got a few more players and started playing better.”

There were still challenges as new players tried to get up to speed after joining the Express and nagging injuries forced Jones to lean a lot on veterans like former league MVP Billy White and Quinnel Brown.

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“Kudos to Billy White, who we had to depend on a lot and play 48 minutes some nights,” Jones said. “(Brown) is 38 and helped stabilize us.

“Just the whole team for sticking fast and not quitting. Not throwing up the white flag and we had our chances.”

There was even a milestone win for Jones as a 110-92 victory over London on April 22nd marked Jones’ 150th victory as head coach of the Express.

“It’s pretty special for me as a milestone to be in one place and achieve that,” said the 56-year-old Jones, who guided the club to back-to-back titles in 2014 and 2015.

The Express won’t be seen by many as a favorite in the best-of-five series against the Lightning, but Jones said this is an opportunity and the roster’s a little healthier now and not forced to overplay veterans.

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“We’ve just been making guys know that we’ve fought through the tough times and the tough times don’t last long, but tough people do,” Jones said. “Now that we’ve gotten through the hard times, it’s time for a full unit to play to our best of ability. We’ve got 10 guys available and it’s something we look forward to.”

In Friday’s win, Tanner Stuckman, who was the only Express player to appear in all 24 regular-season games, finished with a game-high 25 points. Kobie Williams finished with 19 points, Jachai Taylor added 15 points while White and Elijah Ifejeh each chipped in with 12 points.

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