From the Nicholson Seats, January 11, 2026

Express Win Finals Rematch Over Five

By Hoops T

The Sudbury Five concluded there three-game homestand Saturday night at the Elgin Street barn, as they hosted the Windsor Express in a rematch of the 2025 BSL Finals.

A decent crowd of 1,796 attended the contest.

During the week, the Five lost the services of Keyshawn Bryant, who moved onto the G League with the Windy City Bulls, the farm team of the NBA Chicago Bulls. This left a huge hole in the Five lineup, as they were missing 31.5 points per game.

The question was which Five player or players would step up to pick up the slack in his place?

The Express won their first game of the season this past week, and were a hungry group, coming into this contest 1-3.

The Windsor starting lineup was Khalil Gracey, Cameron Gaines, Latin Davis, Desmond Polk and Will Brown

.

The starters for Sudbury were to Jaquan Lightfoot, Alex Kotov, Duane Notice, Allen Billinger and Charlie Marquardt.

The Five took a 30-24 lead after 12 minutes of play.

Sudbury shot 46% from the field, including 43% from three.

Marquardt led Sudbury scoring with nine points in the quarter.

The Express started out cold, shooting 35% from the field and 42% from three.

Reserve Shadell Millinghaus lead Windsor scorers with eight points.

Windsor won the second quarter 30-29, by heating up from the field, shooting 52%.

The Five shot the ball reasonably well, shooting 45% from the field in the quarter.

Kotov and Notice were the leading Sudbury scorers with eight points each in the quarter.

Gracey was the leading scorer for Windsor with nine points in the quarter.

Sudbury led the game 59-54 at halftime.

The Express gave the Five plenty of time and space to operate as they wanted to in the first half. Coach Bill Jones of the Express likely read his troops the riot act, admonishing them to tighten up defensively and clog up the lane against the Sudbury squad.

Windsor stepped up their game considerably, and they forced the Five out of their run-and-gun, one-on-one style of play.

The result was a third corner where the Express dominated every facet of the game, shooting 58% from the field and 60% from downtown.

Five had an abysmal shooting quarter, connecting in a horrendous 26% clip from the field, including 20% from downtown.

The Express turned a 59-54 halftime deficit into a 91-84 lead after 36 minutes.

Five killer Latin Davis burned the Five for 11 points in the quarter.

Notice and reserve Devantae Jamison or the top Sudbury scorers in the quarter with seven points each.

The momentum that the Express generated in the third quarter continued into the fourth quarter, as Windsor continued to torch the woeful Five defence.

Windsor shot a scorching hot 65% from the field down the stretch, including 50% from deep.

The Five had another terrible shooting quarter, connecting at a 30% rate from the field, and an ugly 16% from deep.

Windsor extended its lead to 18 points before Five Coach Joey Puddister called a timeout. Unfortunately, the time of call was much too little and much too late, as this game that already been decided, for all intents and purposes.

The Five cut the deficit to 10 points late in the contest, but Windsor coasted to a way to easy 120-107 victory.

Millinghaus came off the bench for Windsor to score 10 points in the quarter to lead them in scoring down the stretch.

Marquardt scored nine points to lead Sudbury fourth quarter scoring.

For the game, Windsor shot 52% from the field on 89 attempts, including 43% from three on 35 attempts.

Millinghaus and Latin Davis had 28 points to lead Windsor in scoring. Foor Windsor players scored in double figures.

 Sudbury shot only 37% from the field on 90 attempts, including an ugly 28% from downtown. The only reason that the Five were remotely close in this game is that they converted 33-45 free-throws.

All five Sudbury starters scored in double figures. Marquardt was the leading scorer for Sudbury with 27 points.

Credits and critiques

Five coach Joey Puddister received a rude welcome into professional basketball on Saturday night. He was thoroughly outcoached by Windsor's Bill Jones. This is not surprising. Bill Jones is a Championship coach and a former Coach of the Year. This man knows how to coach professional basketball.

Joey Puddister was completely out of his element on Saturday night. The coaching matchup was a man versus an unproven neophyte.

For the first nine quarters of his tenure, Puddister got away with playing playground style, one-on-one, isolation basketball. The presence of Keyshawn Bryant certainly helped in that regard.

Bill Jones forced the Sudbury Five to play a half-court offence on Saturday night in the second half, and the Five could not respond. The main reason was that the Five do not appear to have a half-court offence. This is a serious problem, because other teams will quickly recognize this, and the Sudbury Five will be in trouble. The Five are going on their first road trip of the season, and they will be required to execute a good half-court offence in hostile environments in order to survive.

Coach Puddister is playing the daylights out of his starters. This is a very alarming trend. The Sudbury bench played only 51 minutes in total on Saturday night, and the contributed only 17 points. By contrast, the Express had 51 points from their bench in 104 minutes of playing time.

Windsor scored 28 points off turnovers while Sudbury had just 17 points off Windsor turnovers.

The Five got destroyed the 66-48 in the second half. That is unacceptable on your home floor.

The Sudbury defence was porous, allowing an opponent to shoot 52% from the field. This needs to improve considerably in the future.

The Five now embark on a three-game road trip, commencing with a rare Wednesday morning game in Erie, Pennsylvania against the Lake Erie Jackals. The Jackals will be out to avenge their loss in the season opener in Sudbury a few weeks ago.