LightningMan
04-02-2012, 06:49 AM
The Sea Dawgs survived a late rally by the PrimeTime Players to pull off the home and season opener 93-90.
In the interest of full disclosure, let me say that I am now an unpaid intern for the TRBL and the Wilmington Sea Dawgs. This happened at the end of a conversation I had with Sea Dawgs owner Pete Gratale, which I will expound on in depth in its own thread.
However, much like when I was doing unpaid intern work for the CBL, whatever I say here will be what I think and not what I was told to say. That was also part of that conversation and I really regret not writing it all before the first game.
Onto the game. The PrimeTime Players have a tall, strong lineup and the Dawgs, while fortified in bigs compared to last year, are still a little slight, at least in comparison. The Players used that to their advantage and took an early lead. It would have been worse, but the Players had a really rough time at the foul line all night. The Dawgs adjusted and roared back with some good outside shooting to take a lead that stayed about six points from the middle of the first quarter into the third.
It's hard to say if the Dawgs started resting on their laurels or if PrimeTime was just that determined, but in the fourth the lead evaporated entirely until the Players took a small lead. The Dawgs then fought back and it was close for the rest of the way. The Dawgs eventually won it on defense and a good time was had by all.
New Dawgs Damien Brown and Shelton Carter looked good, as did returning Dawgs, including Joe King, J.J. Cook, James Rhodes, and Zack Hermann. The crowd was good but it took a while for them to really get into it. My concerns going forward are 1) while the Dawgs have gotten better since last year, have they gotten closer to the Cary Invasion, who apparently crushed in their season opener? and 2) are they still too small?
The unfortunate fact remains that had the PrimeTime Players been better on their free throws, they might have tied or won this game. I also met Players's Coach Thomas before the game. He was less than thrilled with at least one of the officials during the game, but judging by the crowd reaction, so was the audience.
So a good start but a ways still to go.
In the interest of full disclosure, let me say that I am now an unpaid intern for the TRBL and the Wilmington Sea Dawgs. This happened at the end of a conversation I had with Sea Dawgs owner Pete Gratale, which I will expound on in depth in its own thread.
However, much like when I was doing unpaid intern work for the CBL, whatever I say here will be what I think and not what I was told to say. That was also part of that conversation and I really regret not writing it all before the first game.
Onto the game. The PrimeTime Players have a tall, strong lineup and the Dawgs, while fortified in bigs compared to last year, are still a little slight, at least in comparison. The Players used that to their advantage and took an early lead. It would have been worse, but the Players had a really rough time at the foul line all night. The Dawgs adjusted and roared back with some good outside shooting to take a lead that stayed about six points from the middle of the first quarter into the third.
It's hard to say if the Dawgs started resting on their laurels or if PrimeTime was just that determined, but in the fourth the lead evaporated entirely until the Players took a small lead. The Dawgs then fought back and it was close for the rest of the way. The Dawgs eventually won it on defense and a good time was had by all.
New Dawgs Damien Brown and Shelton Carter looked good, as did returning Dawgs, including Joe King, J.J. Cook, James Rhodes, and Zack Hermann. The crowd was good but it took a while for them to really get into it. My concerns going forward are 1) while the Dawgs have gotten better since last year, have they gotten closer to the Cary Invasion, who apparently crushed in their season opener? and 2) are they still too small?
The unfortunate fact remains that had the PrimeTime Players been better on their free throws, they might have tied or won this game. I also met Players's Coach Thomas before the game. He was less than thrilled with at least one of the officials during the game, but judging by the crowd reaction, so was the audience.
So a good start but a ways still to go.