The Windsor Express’ Owner and CEO is taking attention away from his championship-bound team after ejecting a visiting reporter from the WFCU Centre leading up to Tuesday’s game.

Dartis Willis doesn’t have much to say about his decision to bounce London Free Press reporter Morris Dalla Costa. “I’ve run four corporations, and running four corporations, you do some tough things. Sometimes tough decisions have to be made, and if that was one of them, we had to make it.”

Meanwhile, NBL Canada Comissioner Paul Riley says this is the first time he’s had to deal with a freedom of the press issue. “The owner of the Windsor team wanted that reporter out because he felt that the coverage that that reporter has given over the course of the season has been bias, has been unprofessional, and that he’d taken some personal shots at the (Express) owners.”

Riley adds that he’s not in control of the buildings, and it’s up to team owners, who they allow in and out of the arenas.

The Windsor Express beat the London Lightning 110-95 in Game 7 of their playoff series, and will head to their first-ever NBL Canada finals.