Edge hand Hurricanes fourth straight loss

With the losses piling up, the Halifax Hurricanes are starting to feel frustrated and anxious.
They're frustrated for the obvious reason  they're on a four-game slide and no one likes losing. But they're anxious because they're now 1-5  in their first six games of the season and need this team to gel in a hurry. Exactly what kind of timeline did they have in mind?
"Now," barked an angry Cliff Clinkscales after Sunday's 109-108 loss to the St. John's Edge at the Scotiabank Centre. "Now is the time.
"We've just got to figure it out. We're in a funk right now, a losing streak, and we've got to pull a full game together. A full 48 minutes and come out and play with intensity, togetherness and we've got to get back on the winning side."
A 96-84 road loss to the Moncton Magic on Saturday got the Hurricanes' weekend off to a sour start but the setback to the Edge was even harder to swallow. They were ahead for about 85 per cent of the game and never trailed by more than three points. It just so happened they picked the absolute worst time to get on the wrong side of the score.
The Hurricanes led from the seventh minute to the 40th minute but then the teams started trading baskets down the stretch. By then, it became a matter of who was going to be ahead when the clock ran out and the Edge pulled ahead for good with mere seconds remaining.
"First of all, there's no excuses but we need some practice," Clinkscales said. "All these games back to back, we've been playing a lot and we've got a new group and we're trying to learn on the fly which is kind of hard. Without practice time we've got to keep watching film and trying to correct why we're playing the way we are.
"Guys are still learning to play with one another and some guys haven't been in those situations before. It's going to take some time but we've got to figure it out now."
Even after the last-minute swing for the Edge, the Hurricanes still almost pulled off the win at the buzzer. Antoine Mason nearly scored on a drive to the basket with five seconds left but he had two Edge players on his back and there was just enough defensive pressure to force him to miss his layup. Although if you were a Hurricanes supporter, it may have felt more like a missed foul.
"It's a tough call and they were making tough calls all game," said Halifax's Joel Kindred. "It could've went both ways so I guess the luck just fell on their side."
Mason finished with 31 points and was a perfect 14-for-14 from the foul line. Marvell Waithe had 21 points and 12 rebounds, while Tremayne Johnson scored 18.
The Edge (2-4) had seven players hit double digits - Karrington Ward (21 points), Montay Brandon (16), Cane Broome (16), Junior Cadougan (12), Ryan Richardson (11) and Elijah Macon (11).
The Hurricanes will have a couple of days to regroup before getting back on the court at home against the Island Storm on Wednesday and the Sudbury Five on Thursday. 
"The practice time this will help," Kindred said. "Every day we're getting closer and closer, meshing together and learning each other. 
"We're just trying to find what works for us and what doesn't work for us. But we've got to come in and play hard every game, the other stuff will probably take care of itself. We've just got to mesh as a team first."