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It wasn’t a Mardi Gras worth celebrating for the Halifax Hurricanes at The Vault.

They dropped their third straight NBL Canada game to the Moncton Magic, a 112-100 loss Tuesday night at Scotiabank Centre.

If there was any consolation, Halifax kept pace with the league-leading Magic and carried a one-point lead into the fourth. But Moncton found another gear, went on a 21-7 run to start the quarter and pulled away from the struggling Hurricanes.

“We get a good lead and then we make one mistake and it snowballs from there and then we make a whole ton of mistakes,” Halifax’s Jordan Washington said. “It’s tough, man.

“But we’ll be OK. We’ll turn the season around. We just have to keep playing together.”

The Hurricanes (5-14), who have lost five of six matchups against Moncton this season, slip further from a playoff spot in the Atlantic Division. They are seven games back of the second-place St. John’s Edge in the loss column.

On the flip side, the defending league champion Magic (16-4) – winners of five straight – keep rolling through the opposition.

But even in victory, the Magic weren’t in a celebratory mood.

Former Hurricanes star Billy White – who torched his former team with a 52-point performance in a 136-104 triumph Sunday afternoon in Moncton – took a nasty spill after he was fouled by CJ Washington driving to the basket three minutes into the second quarter.

White drained both free throws but motioned to the Moncton bench for a substitute. He walked off the floor favouring his left hand and then headed to the Magic locker room with medical staff. White, at the time, was leading the team in scoring with 13 points.

He returned to the bench in the second half in his street clothes and his hand bandaged.

“It’s tough losing your best player like that,” said Wayne McCullough, who paced the Magic with 19 points and 10 rebounds. “But Billy’s always encouraging us and we rallied behind him.

“We have guys who can step up and play different positions and play big minutes. Any different night someone can go off. Our depth is our strength and we all can play defence.”

The Hurricanes tightened their defensive game in the first half, something they couldn’t lock down on Sunday when they trailed the Magic 66-49 at the intermission.

The teams were deadlocked at 23-all after one quarter and Moncton led by just three at halftime.

“After giving up (136) points in the last game, we were in the locker room, speaking about playing defence and helping each other out,” Jordan Washington said. “If someone blows past one of our players, someone has to drop back and help that player out. It’s all about being a band of brothers.”

Washington finished with 14 points in 23 minutes off the bench in his first home game since re-signing with the Hurricanes late last week. The six-foot-eight power forward, who made his season debut on Sunday, averaged 13.7 points per game and shot 51 per cent from the field with Halifax last season.

He showed off his athleticism with a spin move to elude his defender underneath the basket to score two. And then hit a long-range jumper – with his tongue stuck out a la Michael Jordan – on the Hurricanes’ next possession as Halifax went on a 12-3 spurt late in the third quarter to take an 81-80 lead into the final frame.

“I felt good out there,” the 26-year-old Washington said. “I’m starting to feel more comfortable and trying to get my wind back. I need to get a hang of these plays so I can play more and more. I’m going to be all right.”

Antoine Mason led Halifax with 21 points. Early into the third quarter, after sinking a second free throw, it was announced that Mason had surpassed White to become the Hurricanes’ all-time leading scorer.

Mamadou Gueye had 20 points and eight rebounds off the Halifax bench, CJ Washington added 18 points and Joel Kindred collected 17 and shared a funny moment with Moncton’s Marcus Lewis in the fourth quarter.

After Kindred was blocked by Lewis on a three-point attempt, the ball deflected back to Kindred who, this time, sunk the three.

The two opponents joked about the fortunate bounce as they ran up the floor.

But it was Moncton who had the last laugh. After the Magic pulled ahead by 12 by the midway point of the fourth, the Hurricanes called a timeout and what had been an energetic Scotiabank Centre crowd was silenced.

“It’s quiet in here. Quiet,” a player bellowed from the Magic bench

The Hurricanes won’t have long to let this loss linger. They host the Kitchener Waterloo Titans on Wednesday night.