14ers Top Erie in Playoff Opener
April 14, 2009 - NBA G League (G League)
Colorado 14ers News Release
DENVER - April 14, 2009 - The top-seeded Colorado 14ers took the opening game of the 2009 NBA Development League playoffs with a 129-108 win over the Erie BayHawks at the Broomfield Event Center on Tuesday night. After Erie's Maurice Rice opened the game with a lay-up, Colorado countered with a Billy Thomas 3-pointer and never trailed again.
Seven 14ers scored in double figures, led by 33 points from Josh Davis on the night. Dominique Coleman added 19 with 13 rebounds, five assists, and five steals and the point guard tandem of Eddie Gill and John Lucas combined for 32 points and eight assists in the win.
With the victory Colorado advances to the second round of the D-League playoffs, and will host the winner of tomorrow night's Idaho Stampede - Austin Toros match-up in Broomfield on Saturday night.
"We're taking it one game at a time, and we're in a one game season right now," said 14ers Head Coach Bob MacKinnon. "We'll just wait and see what happens in Austin tomorrow night and see if we can get lucky again on Saturday."
After a 32 point first quarter against the D-League's best defensive team, Colorado blew the game open by outscoring Erie 30-18 in the second period. The 14ers would extend to a 25 point lead in the third quarter before a BayHawks rally would cut the deficit to 11 points with 10:53 to play. That was as close as Erie would come as Davis scored six of Colorado's next 10 points in a 10-2 run that culminated with the BayHawks First Team All D-League forward Erik Daniels fouling out with 7:41 to play, ending Erie's comeback effort.
Rice led the way for the BayHawks, matching Davis with a game-high 33 points on 13-23 shooting. Daniels added 15 points and 11 assists, while Jackie Manuel and Ivan Harris poured in 18 points apiece in the loss. Erie finishes its inaugural season at 27-24, while Colorado improves to 35-16 and moves on to the second round of the playoffs for the second time in three seasons.
For more information on the 14ers schedule and team, log on to www.14ershoops.com. Tickets for all 14ers home games at the Broomfield Event Center are available at all Ticketmaster outlets, 303-830-TIXS, and at www.ticketmaster.com.
About the NBA Development League: The NBA Development League, founded in 2001, is the NBA's official minor league and features 16 teams with direct affiliations to NBA teams for the 2008-09 season. An expansion team will begin play in Portland, Maine for the 2009-10 season, and the Anaheim Arsenal will relocate to Springfield, Mass., with a new name, logo, and team colors. Sixty former NBA Development League players were on 2008-09 NBA start-of-season rosters, and the league continues to develop current NBA coaches and referees. In fostering the league's connection to the community, its teams, players and staff promote youth basketball, support local needs and interests, and assist in educational development through NBA D-League Cares programs. The NBA D-League also advances the game of basketball as the research and development arm of the NBA. Throughout this season fans can watch all NBA D-League games on NBA Futurecast, the free live Web-streaming initiative found at nba.com/futurecast.
About the Broomfield Event Center: Located on the south side of U.S. Highway 36, between 112th and 120th Streets, the Broomfield Event Center is a state of the art 180,000 square foot multi-purpose event center with 6,000 seats, including 25 suites, 900 club seats, a sit-down restaurant, two themed bars and a separate basketball practice facility. The Broomfield Event Center is set to host concerts, trade shows, rodeos and sporting events. It is the home of the Rocky Mountain Rage Professional Hockey Club (Central Hockey League) and the Colorado 14ers Professional Basketball Club (NBA Development League, Denver Nuggets and New Jersey Nets affiliate team).
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