The Crusaders opened their 2018-2019 southern conference league schedule with a tough 94-79 defeat to the visiting Harbour View Vikings.

The two teams started out tied at 20 after the first 10 minutes but the Vikings cranked up the offense in the 2nd quarter winning the frame 29-18. The Vikings primary weapon was Jack Fury-Miller who used a wide variety of ball screens and off-ball screens to attack the Crusaders interior defense. On the occasions he wasn’t able to attack the paint, he still found a way to hit a tough contested jumper.

The home team responded to the challenge in the 2nd half, cutting the led to nine points with two and half minutes remaining. But Jack Fury-Miller had other plans. First he converted an And-1 lay-up after breaking the Crusaders full court press, then following a Crusaders turn-over, convert a pull up jumper from the right wing push the lead back to 15.

With just over a two minutes to go Ryan Scott hit a long-range 3-pointer cutting the lead to 12 and forcing a Harbour View timeout. Following the timeout and with the shot clock winding down, Fury-Miller nails a step-back, fadeaway jumper over the outstretched hand of his defender to push the lead back to fifteen again and essentially sealing the victory for his team.

Leading the way for the Vikings was Jack Fury-Miller with 39 points and Alex Johnson with 15 points. The Crusaders were lead by Ryan Scott 22 points, 12 rebounds and 6 assists. Dallen MacDougall also had 22 points while Colin Loughery added 18 points and 11 rebounds.

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