For the better part of three quarters, this was the tight, tactical contest the identical records promised. Montreal shaded the first quarter 21–20, pushed four ahead at the half (46–42), and still led by only four — 72–68 — when the fourth period clock began. Sudbury had earned the right to believe. They were competitive in transition, disciplined at the free throw line, and Notice was finding his rhythm from mid-range. What followed in the final twelve minutes rendered all of that irrelevant.
The opening acts, however, were absorbing. Sudbury actually imposed themselves early — a Demosthene layup and a Jamison assist gave the Five a brief 14–11 cushion mid-first-quarter — before Montreal's bench unit reasserted control. Kyle Steward hit threes, John Buggs supplied energy from the second unit, and by the time the buzzer sounded at 21–20, the first quarter had delivered exactly the competitive intrigue that a top-of-the-table clash deserved. Sudbury's perimeter shooting was already misfiring, but the sample size was small enough to ignore.
The second quarter introduced the technical foul subplot that would shadow the entire night. A confrontation at the 3:47 mark produced a sequence almost comical in its density: Kotov's individual technical, a Beckford technical in response, then — seventeen seconds later — another from Kalamba, a second for Beckford, and a turnover to round out the chaos. Three free throws for Sudbury, Montreal's possession gone. It was ugly basketball, but Sudbury failed to capitalise. When Marquardt converted two free throws to make it 42–45 with a minute left in the half, the game still belonged to either team. Montreal closed the second quarter 46–42.
The third quarter was the cruelest tease. Sudbury refused to fold — Antonio Davis Jr. drilled a three, Notice converted at the line, Kotov responded with back-to-back treys in the final ten seconds to cut the margin to four (68–72). The Five had clawed level on multiple occasions and trailed by only four going into the break of breaks. In the Sudbury locker room, optimism must have been palpable.
It lasted roughly forty seconds into the fourth quarter. Steward opened with a three off a Vaughn dime (75), Ifejeh scored off a Buggs feed (77), Buggs himself detonated from distance to put Montreal up eight (80), and then Alex Lieba entered the building. The reserve forward exploded with two ferocious put-back dunks in under a minute — at 82 and at 84 — that physically and psychologically broke Sudbury's resistance. Lieba finished the game with 10 points, 3 rebounds and 3 blocks in just 13 minutes; the damage he did in a four-minute stretch of the fourth quarter is what the final score reflects.
Marquardt's second technical at the 2:51 mark, with Sudbury already down 82–94 and the game effectively over, was the punctuation the night did not need — a moment of frustration that added a free throw to a scoreline that was already a wound. Wiznitzer responded with a dunk off a Beckford dish that pushed Montreal to 97, and from there the closing minutes were a parade to the free throw line capped by Beloti's finishing dunk at 105. Sudbury, to their credit, never stopped competing — Notice and Kotov continued to find each other — but it was futile against a team that had found another gear entirely.
For Montreal, this was a performance that sent a message. Two equal teams on paper became unequal in the fourth quarter because the Toundra had depth — Lieba, Buggs, and Ifejeh combined for 31 points off the bench — and the capacity to elevate when the game demanded it. Sudbury, by contrast, were betrayed by their own shot selection: 30 three-point attempts at 20% conversion is not a strategy, it is a liability. On a night when Notice was in form, they needed more from the supporting cast, and the stat sheet confirms they did not get it.
STATS - Final Score: Sudbury Five 86 — Montreal Toundra 105
- Score by Quarter: Sudbury 20–22–26–18 — Montreal 21–25–26–33
- Field Goals: Sudbury 26-75 (.347) — Montreal 38-91 (.418)
- 3-Point FG: Sudbury 6-30 (.200) — Montreal 10-26 (.385)
- Free Throws: Sudbury 28-39 (.718) — Montreal 19-32 (.594)
- Total Rebounds: Sudbury 48 — Montreal 59
- Offensive Rebounds: Sudbury 13 — Montreal 22
- Assists: Sudbury 17 — Montreal 20
- Turnovers: Sudbury 18 — Montreal 12
- Steals: Sudbury 5 — Montreal 15
- Blocks: Sudbury 3 — Montreal 7
- Technical Fouls: Sudbury 2 (Kotov, Marquardt) — Montreal 3 (Steward, Kalamba, Beckford)
- Top Scorer – Sudbury: Duane Notice 24 pts (7-17 FG, 2-6 3PT, 8-10 FT), 7 reb, 4 ast
- Top Scorer – Montreal: Kyle Steward 17 pts (5-13 FG, 3-6 3PT, 4-5 FT), 7 reb
HIGHLIGHTS - Sudbury attempted 30 three-pointers and made only 6 — a .200 conversion rate that produced just 18 points from 30 possessions dedicated to the arc, a devastating inefficiency in a 19-point defeat.
- Alex Lieba scored 10 points in 13 minutes off the bench (5-8 FG, 3 blocks), including two dunks and then a third from Wiznitzer in a 90-second stretch of the fourth quarter that turned a competitive game into a rout.
- John Buggs shot 4-of-7 from three for 13 points in 29 reserve minutes — the kind of bench production that separates deep rosters from shallow ones at this stage of the season.
- Gabriel Wiznitzer posted just 4 points on 2-9 shooting, yet his 11 rebounds, 3 assists and 3 blocks made him arguably Montreal's most complete two-way performer of the night.
- Montreal's 15 steals to Sudbury's 5 was the most glaring winning margin on any single stat — an aggressive, disruptive defensive identity that drove Sudbury's 18 turnovers and fuelled Montreal's transition game throughout.
COLOR COMMENTARY The numbers that matter most in this game are 4 and 19. Four was the margin at the start of the fourth quarter, when everything was still to play for. Nineteen is the final difference. The 15-point swing in a single quarter is not a story of one team suddenly getting better — it is a story of depth, composure, and shot quality diverging under pressure. Montreal's bench outscored Sudbury's reserves 31 to 17 in total contributions; when the game required a secondary wave, the Toundra had one and Sudbury did not.
Sudbury's 30 three-point attempts in 75 total field goal tries means 40% of their offensive possessions went to the arc. At 20% conversion, that is catastrophic volume-to-yield ratio — they would have been better served by almost any other shot selection. Notice's 24 points required only 17 attempts; he was by far their most efficient path to the basket, and they did not trust that path enough. The technical fouls from Kotov and Marquardt speak to a team that allowed frustration to compound a structural problem into an emotional one.
