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Charlie Marquardt, left, of the Sudbury Five, drives to the basket against Lansana Nwosu, of the Montreal Toundra, during basketball action at the Sudbury Community Arena in Sudbury, Ont. on Thursday March 26, 2026. Photo by John Lappa /The Sudbury Star
The Sudbury Five knew the Montreal Toundra would make every effort on Saturday night to prove they were much better than a 116-90 loss to the locals two nights earlier.
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And prove it they did, battling tooth and nail with the defending Basketball Super League champions in front of a loud and rowdy crowd at Sudbury Community Arena, but it wasn’t quite enough to prevent the Five from securing the result once again.
Charlie Marquardt, with 32 points, and Duane Notice, with 27, paced the Five offensively, while Alex Kotov, with 20 points and 11 rebounds, and Emmanuel Akot, with 19 points and 12 boards, each recorded double-doubles to help the hosts squeeze out a 126-121 victory in overtime.
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AJ Davis had nine points and Allen Billinger and DeVante Jamison seven each as the Five improved to 17-8 and moved just behind the KW Titans, at 18-7, for first place in the BSL with just one game left on the regular-season schedule. That just happens to be a home-court contest against KW on Sunday at 4:05 p.m.
After struggling mightily from three-point range in their loss on Thursday, the Toundra had few such issues in the rematch on Saturday. Kyle Steward, who seemingly could not miss from beyond the arc during the first half of the contest, piled up a team-high 31 points overall, with Jeremy Hayes adding 24 and Tafari Beckford 23 to the Montreal cause.
After missing on a potential game-clinching free throw at the end of the fourth quarter, the Toundra were ultimately unable to counter Akot, who racked up eight points in OT and struck twice from three-point range, and Marquardt, who added four from the free-throw line to seal the win.
Look for a roundup of all the weekend’s action after Sunday’s game, with comments from Five players and staff, along with a photo gallery and post-game video.
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