“Sometimes you just kind of realize that every time you throw the ball to someone, they’re scoring.”
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After putting up 876 career points, numbers 877 though 888 blended together for Mark Matthews Saturday night.
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He had no idea, after a 15-10 Saskatchewan Rush victory over the visiting Las Vegas Desert Dogs, that he’d put up 12 points on the night — not until teammate Holden Garlent disclosed the number in the dressing room.
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“It’s just one of those nights when you throw the ball to someone and they score, and a few (shots) on my part that go in, that usually don’t go in,” Matthews said after recording four goals and eight assists. “Sometimes you just kind of realize that every time you throw the ball to someone, they’re scoring.”
The victory ran Saskatchewan’s National Lacrosse League record to 3-2. The expansion Desert Dogs are 1-5.
“We’re lucky to have Mark,” Rush head coach Jimmy Quinlan said of Matthews, who was NLL MVP in 2018. “The way he sees the floor … I liked, tonight, that he was aggressive shooting the ball. Sometimes he likes to distribute it a little more than shoot it, but he’s got a tremendous shot.”
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Las Vegas led 4-2 early in the second quarter, but Saskatchewan struck for eight unanswered goals in just over 11 minutes during that frame.
They maintained a lead the rest of the game.
Robert Church collected five goals and three assists for the Rush, and Ryan Keenan picked up a goal and five assists.
Rob Hellyer notched one goal and four assists for the Desert Dogs.
Saturday’s game marked the beginning of a fresh dynamic for the Rush, who played just five times in the first two months of the season because of repeated byes. They do not get a bye the rest of the 18-game season.
“I hated the fact that we’d only played five games in that span of time,” Matthews said. “We have a group that wants to be together, and when you have breaks like that, it deflates it a little bit. And now to play 14 straight weeks … it’ll be great if we get a roll here.”
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The Rush play their next three games on the road — Feb. 4 in Vancouver, Feb. 10 in Calgary and Feb. 17 in San Diego — before returning home for a Feb. 25 contest with Vancouver.
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