The London Lightning lost a close 105-100 game to the Saint John Riptide on Thursday.
Wearing special purple jerseys to mark the end of the London Abused Women's Centre's Shine The Light campaign, the Lightning fell behind early, and trailed the Riptide 56-51 at halftime.
A rally in the third quarter led to a 74-74 tie, and in the fourth, the Lightning took a 95-94 lead with just 2:30 left to play. But Saint John finished stronger and pulled ahead to earn the win.
“We were right there, we could have made plays to finish off the game," said Lightning head coach Keith Vassell. "We needed to keep [Anthony] Stover off the boards, his eight offensive rebounds all came at opportune times. Gabe [Freeman] was out for a while, that was our chance to make the run. They missed a lot of shots and he [Stover] gave them that second chance. We shouldn’t have lost. We needed to complete plays late in the game."
Royce White led the Lightning with 29 points and six rebounds, while Kirk Williams Jr. put up another 13 points and Martin Dixon-Green added 12.
The Lightning head to Newfoundland to take on the St. John's Edge on Tuesday at 5:30pm.