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Time and games are running out for the Halifax Hurricanes, if they want to make a push for the playoffs.

They are making every effort to keep their post-season hopes alive. The Hurricanes put on an offensive display Thursday night and pulled off a 137-118 victory over the Sudbury Five in a wild NBL Canada shootout at Scotiabank Centre. It’s Halifax’s third consecutive win.

“Right now, every game is like a playoff game for us,” said Hurricanes point guard and captain Cliff Clinkscales, who scored 27 points and set a team record with 19 assists. “We can’t afford to drop any more games so we have to come out every day and be ready to work. We did that tonight.”

The Hurricanes, third in the Atlantic Division, up their record to 8-14 but are seven back of the second-place St. John’s Edge in the loss column. The Edge have four games in hand. The top two teams in each division qualify for the playoffs.

An entertaining game – if you didn’t come to see defence – that featured a dozen lead changes, back-and-forth, fast-paced action and even an appearance by Sudbury head coach Logan Stutz at forward. The Hurricanes fired at a 56.5 per cent clip from the field.

“Playing against that team you can get caught up, running up and down the floor, jacking up shots,” Clinkscales said. “They are a very explosive team and they don’t give you easy looks. But we matched them. Tonight, we made some of those shots and as long as you’re making them, you are in good hands.”

The Hurricanes, who were coming off a 120-115 victory over the KW Titans at The Vault the night before, were sluggish out of the gate and found themselves down 12-2 early.

Looking for someone to spark the listless home squad in the first quarter, Halifax head coach Mike Leslie summoned Jordan Washington off the bench and the six-foot-eight forward responded.

After he was fouled underneath the Sudbury basket, Washington let out a primal scream toward a group of Five players, drawing the ire of reigning NBL Canada player of the year Braylon Rayson.

The five-foot-nine Rayson, nearly a foot shorter than Washington, had a few choice words for his opponent.

After he was fouled on the next possession, Washington strolled toward centre court with arms raised in an attempt to get the pro-Halifax crowd fired up. It seemed to work.

Despite trailing 39-28 after the first quarter and a 16-point deficit midway through the second, the 1,620 fans helped propel the Hurricanes to a 20-4 surge.

“I don’t want to make any excuses but we didn’t play hard enough from the jump,” Clinkscales said. “Against these guys, you can get down real quick messing with this team. They hit the three well and punched us in the mouth.

“We started to play harder and started to make our shots. We got tougher out there and tried it make it tough for them with our defence.”

Late in the first half, with his depleted lineup in foul trouble, Stutz – the head coach and general manager – pulled off his warmup jacket and played the final two minutes of the first half.

Stutz, who retired as a full-time player in 2018, was immediately fouled on a fast break and drained both of his free throws.

“I have never seen that in my career,” Clinkscales said of Stutz’s appearance. “But hey, you learn something new every day and you see new things every day.

“There’s no way Coach (Leslie) is doing that.”

The teams let their defensive guards down and combined for 76 points scored in the third quarter.

Rayson tallied 21 of his game-high 41 points in the quarter while the Hurricanes as a team shot 15-for-20.

When Clinkscales hit a trey to put Halifax ahead 100-91, he looked to the crowd and yelled, “This is my city!”

The Hurricanes took a 109-106 advantage into the final frame and then pulled away with a 10-0 run to start the fourth. They outscored Sudbury 28-12 in the period.

Antoine Mason finished with a team-high 28 points and Joel Kindred had 21 with 10 rebounds. Jaylen Bland scored 22 points and had 11 boards for the Five, who remain in second place in the Central Division at 11-9.

The Hurricanes, with 13 games remaining in their regular season schedule, hit the road for the next three. They head to Kitchener to face the Titans on Sunday, play the Windsor Express next Wednesday and then wrap up their Ontario swing in Sudbury on March 14.

“We need to play better on the road,” Clinkscales said. “This road trip is a huge test for us.”

Halifax’s next home game is St. Patrick's Day against the Island Storm.