Powerful Victory For Express

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Lights out, Oshawa. Windsor flipped the switch Saturday night at the WFCU Centre when the Oshawa Power came to town. Darren Duncan, Chris Commons and the rest of the players gave the Express the momentum they craved heading into the last few games of the season. Windsor won their third straight game by defeating Oshawa 88-85.

Earlier Saturday, the Oshawa Power had picked up former Express Lester Prosper. Windsor held him and his team off though.

The scoring leaders for the Express were Darren Duncan (20 points, 12 assists), Chris Commons (21 points), Mike Helms (11 points) and Greg Surmacz (10 points).

The first quarter was relatively low-scoring for both teams. Back and forth, the teams exchanged baskets. That was until the last minute, when Windsor had a basket, a free throw, and a buzzer-beater to take a 23-16 lead after one.

Newcomer DeAndre Thomas had a strong first half for Windsor, playing in his first game as an Express player. Commons had a big dunk to close out the first half. The Windsor Express doubled their first quarter score, and then added some more. They had a 48-32 advantage going into the third quarter.

Shortly into the third, Darren Duncan injured his hand on a play. The high-intensity playmaker was back later to keep his team on track. Windsor’s two-pointers were, at times, too easy as the players drove to the basket. With time winding down, Oshawa ran up the court. However, a leaping block by Duncan kept the Express up by 16 (71-55) after three quarters of play.

Unluckily for Windsor, Duncan aggravated his previously hurt left hand. He kept it going for the Express though, calling the shots down the court. Even more unfortunate was the fact that the Power had caught up. Going into the final minute, the score was too close for comfort for Windsor. In the end, it was none other than Darren Duncan who landed an all-important, immense three-pointer to break an 85-85 tie, with 0.2 seconds left. Oshawa inbounded the ball, but no basket meant another Windsor Express win.

DJ Thor expressed it best when he played “Fight the power”. Windsor did indeed fight off the Oshawa Power 88-85.

“It’s a team game, it’s not an individual game,” said assistant coach Gary Mazza after the game, referring to newly acquired DeAndre Thomas. Thomas had 7 points, 5 rebounds and 4 assists against the Power.

Windsor is off until Wednesday when they travel to Oshawa to fight the Power once more. The team is back home Friday, March 8^th when the Express host the London Lightning at the WFCU Centre.