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Big Third Quarter lifts Rochester over Manchester

April 2, 2009 - Premier Basketball League (PBL)
Rochester RazorSharks News Release


Manchester, NH - In the battle of the PBL's number one offense versus the number one defense it was the RazorSharks offense that would prevail taking Game 1 of the best-of-three semifinal series, 125-110 over the Manchester Millrats.

Rochester's offense scored the most points allowed by Manchester all season. The RazorSharks finished with six players in double figures led by Sammy Monroe's 26 points and Keith Friel who finished with four 3-pointers on his way to 23 points. Tommy Mitchell led the Millrats with 31 points shooting 12 of 17 from the field including four 3-pointers.

Playing in front of a "home" crowd, Durham, NH native Keith Friel started the scoring off with no other than a 3-pointer for the RazorSharks. Rochester started the game with a 7-0 run and extended their lead to as many as seven, leading 9-2 in the early going. With the RazorSharks hanging on to a five point lead for most of the quarter, it was Manchester's Tommy Mitchell's 19 points that kept it close, shooting 8 of 10 from the field including three 3-pointers.

Desmond Ferguson finished the 1st for the Millrats with 10 points and tied the game at 33 closing out the quarter with his third 3-pointer. Jerice Crouch led the RazorSharks with 11 points. Keith Friel finished with two 3-pointers and 10 points, but ran into foul trouble with 3 fouls in the opening quarter.

Manchester's Alex Owumi gave the Millrats their first lead of the game, 35-33 on a jumper, 37 seconds into the 2nd quarter. The rest of the quarter saw scoring lapses of a minute at a time, before the RazorSharks finally recaptured the lead with a Lincoln Smith basket, 49-47, with 4:32 remaining in the half. Despite a back and forth 2nd quarter, the RazorSharks were able to close out the half with a 61-57 lead with four players scoring in double figures led by Crouch's 12 points.

Rochester finally regained their scoring touch in the 3rd quarter and blew the game wide open thanks to six 3-pointers, two each by Keith Friel, Sammy Monroe and Jerice Crouch. With 2:32 remaining in the 3rd and Rochester already leading by 17, the RazorSharks closed out the quarter on a 13-3 run and the league's number one offense took a 27 point lead, 105-78.

The RazorSharks extended the lead to 30, 108-78, in the first two minutes of the 4th, but Manchester put together a 9-0 run forcing RazorSharks Head Coach, Rod Baker, to take a 30 second timeout with 8:48 remaining in the game. Rochester's timeout did nothing to stop Manchester's comeback as the Millrats continued to run pulling within 17 with just over half of the quarter left to play. Over the final six minutes, the RazorSharks were able to stop the bleeding and hold on to the 15-point victory.

Game 2 of the semifinals now resumes in Rochester this Sunday, April 5th at 1:05pm at the Blue Cross Arena. The RazorSharks will try to close out the series to advance to their second straight PBL finals. Game 3 will be in Rochester, if necessary.

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