Blue Ducks Blow by Storm
Published on June 6, 2004 under United States Basketball League (USBL)
Brevard Blue Ducks News Release
Melbourne, FLâ A night after a heartbreaking loss to the Adirondack Wildcats â a game the Blue Ducks dropped 119-115 Saturday, many wondered how Brevard would respond the following night against a tough team from Oklahoma. A team fighting for a top seed in the playoffs in the rugged Midwest division.
At the beginning, in a word â ugly.
Oklahoma stormed off to a 15 -2 lead at the beginning of the contest and ended up having the Ducks down by 19 points by the end of the first quarter, 35-16. It got even uglier still, as the Storm built their lead to as much as 26 midway through the 2nd quarter. They used an effective trap defense to confound the Ducks, who looked lost most of the first half. Oklahoma ended the half up by 16, with the score 57-41.
"That might have been the worst half of basketball I've ever seen," commented ESPN radio broadcaster, Keith Lippert, who called the game Sunday. "The Ducks were getting blown off the court by them."
Ducks head coach Robert Reid thought so too. In an emphatic speech at halftime he told his team that they could play with Oklahoma â and win â if they played with as much heart as their visitors.
The Ducks players apparently took their coach's words to heart as they came racing out of the gates after halftime. Solving the Storm's press with crisp passing that led to easy driving baskets and picking up their own defensive intensity, Brevard got within reach of Oklahoma, 73-66 by the end of the third. They kept on nibbling at the lead, finally tying the game at 88-all on a Teddy Dupay 3-pointer at 4:45 in the fourth quarter. Twenty seconds later, a basket by Rob Brown gave the Ducks their first lead of the night.
Oklahoma fought back and the game was tied at 97-all with 1:13 left. Then Teddy Dupay took over â from the free throw line. Dupay, who couldn't get on track with his shot all night â finishing the game only 3 of 16 from the field, drew four consecutive fouls from Oklahoma and finished the Storm off by going 7 of 8 from the line down the stretch to complete the biggest comeback in Blue Ducks franchise history.
"Teddy was huge for us down the stretch," said team owner, Mike Richman.
Indeed, Brevard had a bunch of players come up huge. Rob Brown tallied 21 points to go along with 9 rebounds, newcomer Richard Jetter totaled 22, Tony bland had 19 points to go along with 9 assists, Dupay had 18 points and 7 assists and new power forward Derrick Miller was really huge, totaling 15 points and pulling down 20 rebounds for Brevard.
Nat Burton, who left Brevard a few weeks ago under not so pleasant circumstances along with fellow teammate Tony Harris, led Oklahoma with 25 points. Harris only had 9, before getting ejected after fouling out in the fourth.
DUCK NOTES:
It was Thunderstix night again for the Ducks and the noisy crowd created a distinct home-court advantage for the Ducks, helping them improve their record to 4-0 on nights they hand out the fun noisemakers to fans.
The Ducks have the week off before playing their final home game of the season next Sunday at 5 PM against the St. Louis Skyhawks.
United States Basketball League Stories from June 6, 2004
- Blue Ducks Blow by Storm - Brevard Blue Ducks
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- River Raiders earn win - Cedar Rapids River Raiders
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