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Two Games on Tap this Weekend for Jazz of Tacoma

April 2, 2008 - International Basketball League (IBL)
Jazz of Tacoma News Release


Tacoma, WA - the Jazz of Tacoma are 2-2 through four games on the young 2008 IBL season. Tacoma is coming off a 152-111 dismantling of the USA-All Stars last Sunday, and looks to keep the positive momentum going in two upcoming games this weekend; the Jazz will travel to Vancouver, Washington on Friday, April 4 to take on a red-hot Vancouver Volcanoes (4-1) squad. On Sunday, April 6, the Jazz return home to face the Portland Chinooks at 5:00pm. All Jazz home games will be played at Mount Tahoma High School (4634 South 74th Street, Tacoma).

The Jazz return their top five scorers from last season, led by two-time IBL All-Star Dontay Harris (21.2 points per game in 2007). A new face, 6' 8" Aleksey Adediran, was an IBL All-Star in 2006 for the Seattle Mountaineers, and will provide a solid interior presence for the Jazz this season. Adediran currently leads the team in scoring at 21.0 points per game.

Tacoma Mayor Bill Baarsma tossed the ceremonial jump ball to start the action at Tacoma's first home game last Sunday, and remained in the stands for the duration of the game to watch the Jazz triumph. "It was wonderful to see Mayor Baarsma come out and support the Jazz," said IBL Commissioner Mikal Duilio, who was also in attendance. "Community support is obviously an integral part of succeeding as a team, and the Jazz have a lot to offer for the community-the owners of this team are in their second year of ownership, they are Tacoma residents and community minded and active people... the team is not just fun to watch, they have a lot of local talent on the roster as well." Mayor Bill Baarsma offered support to the Jazz after the game and expressed the same thing IBL Commissioner expressed "the team is in its fourth year and Tacoma has local, solid ownership, it is time for Tacoma to know about and support their team".

Jazz of Tacoma President Ardeana Q. Ellis - "We have made an effort to retain the best parts of last season's team, while adding components to help us compete with the league's best. A lot of these guys are from the area. I would like to encourage basketball fans in Tacoma to come out and support the Jazz as we continue to strive to make the community proud."

Jazz of Tacoma 2008 Roster No. Name Height College 33 Alex Adediran 68" Binghampton University 3 Nickolas Bemis 6'2" Washington State University 44 Ike O'Hanson 6'6" Arkansas Tech 24 Lorenzo Rollins 6'6" Gonzaga University 20 Mike Claxton 6'4" Montana State Northern 8 Mark Lovelady 6'3" Highline CC 11 Antwon Jones 5'10" Concordia University 34 Dontay Harris 6'10" Drake University 7 Justin Holt 6'11" Virginia Tech 55 Jujuan Winesberry 6'10" University of Washington 5 Josh Warren 6' Cal State/Monteray 22 Marlon Baily 6'5" Edmonds CC 30 Josh Barsh 6'5" Montana State University 23 Jameel Shareef 6'1" South Puget Sound CC

The Jazz have a home schedule with international flair in 2008. The Jazz will twice host the Shanxi Kylins, a member of the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA) that has joined the IBL for the '08 season. The CBA is the same league that spawned NBA superstar Yao Ming, as well as Yi Jianlian, a lottery pick in the most recent NBA draft. The Edmonton Chill (Canada) will also be visiting Tacoma this season.

Season and single game tickets are on sale now. For more information, contact the Jazz at (253) 370-3369 or visit Tacoma's team page at www.iblhoopsonline.com. Tickets can be purchased at the door.

Jazz of Tacoma 2008 Remaining Home Schedule Sunday April 6 5:00pm Portland Chinooks @ Jazz of Tacoma Saturday April 19 7:15pm China Shanxi Kylins @ Jazz of Tacoma Friday May 2 7:15pm Snohomish Explosion @ Jazz of Tacoma Friday May 23 7:15pm Las Vegas Stars @ Jazz of Tacoma Sunday May 25 6:00pm Central Oregon Hotshots @ Jazz of Tacoma Sunday June 1 6:00pm China Shanxi Kylins @ Jazz of Tacoma Sunday June 8 6:00pm Bellingham Slam @ Jazz of Tacoma Friday June 13 7:15pm Snohomish County @ Jazz of Tacoma Saturday June 14 7:15pm Portland Chinooks @ Jazz of Tacoma Sunday June 22 6:00pm Bellingham Slam @ Jazz of Tacoma Thursday June 26 7:15pm Edmonton Chill @ Jazz of Tacoma

About the IBL-three unique features IBL rules speed up the game: 1) the immediate inbounds where referees get the ball in quickly, and 2) teams are allowed one timeout per quarter. These two rules eliminate dead time and promote a free-flowing, high-scoring game that lasts just two hours.

A truly international league: The 2008 season is the IBL's fourth season, and it will be the first season in which the league is truly international, as China (Shanxi Kylins) and Canada (Edmonton Chill) will be part of the IBL in this 2008 season. The IBL recently added an Asian Expansion Department which has resulted in commitments from two Chinese teams and a team from Japan joining in 2009. The league is expecting to add teams from South Korea and the Philippines in 2010 and 2011 respectively. A second Canadian team (Vancouver, British Columbia) has also officially joined and is ready for their season in April of 2009.

Efficient business model: Beyond exciting basketball, the IBL offers owners the most efficient business model in the industry. Organizing teams in regional clusters has enabled the IBL to offer owners an unprecedented ‘one flight guarantee'. IBL teams can play a variety of opponents from all over the country, indeed, the world-but yet, they only fly one time. This efficiency applies to international teams as well, who can play a complete away schedule with only one flight to the United States.

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The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

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