Nelson Warriors defeat Ottawa for first time in Program-History

When the Nelson Warriors took the court on the Tuesday before Thanksgiving, they had two things in mind: carving turkey and carving into the Ottawa Spirt's vaunted defense that had haunted the Warriors throughout the program's history. And now that they have pulled off an exhilarating victory on the road 79-75 before an equally as hungry crowd, the Warriors can focus Thursday on family, and a well-deserved Thanksgiving meal. "I could not be more impressed with the resilience of this group," said interim head coach Kole Ebert. "They knew our program's history against Ottawa going into the game, and when it got tough down the stretch they refused to fold and instead marked a place in history that they can be proud of."

Trailing by one point at halftime, the Warriors scraped and clawed to keep themselves in striking distance, but down nine points with just over two and a half minutes to go, the team threw the history books out the window and decided to write their own chapter. The Warriors' own defense was key to both the the comeback and the ultimate victory. Led by one steal each from Zaveion Bineyard and Rob Jenkins (who each finished with 3 swipes on the night), the Warriors went on a frenetic 9-0 run over just 48 seconds of game play to tie Ottawa at 74. 45 seconds later, with only 1:10 remanning, Tommy Randolph scored on a putback to give his club a two-point lead, one they would never relinquish.

Nelson smothered the Spirit over the final three and a half minutes, forcing five critical turnovers, and allowing only one field goal attempt, that not coming until after the Warriors had re-taken the lead. The Spirit did not help themselves, however, as they further missed four free throw attempts over that stretch as well.

Bineyard led all scorers with 20 points, doing so on an impressively efficient 7-9 from the field including 2-3 from beyond the arc. As mentioned, his 3 steals tied the game-high mark with Jenkins, who scored 18 points himself but further failed to commit a single turnover, arguably the most important statistic of the game.

For the Ottawa Spirit, Jack Galiardi led his squad with 20 points, 13 rebounds, and 2 blocks. However, his offensive foul with 1:28 remaining led to Randolph's game-winning basket.

Up next for the now 4-2 Warriors following the Thanksgiving holiday is Park University in Gilbert on December 3, at 7pm.