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Drive Suffer First Loss, Fall 88-87 at Sauk Valley

March 10, 2012 - Premier Basketball League (PBL)
Central Illinois Drive News Release


Sauk Valley, IL, 3/10/12 - The Central Division Champion Central Illinois Drive, presented by Sonic, suffered their first loss of the season Saturday night and are now 15-1. They were one win from tying the PBL all time winning streak at 16 but fell 88-87 at the Sauk Valley Predators. The 2008-09 Rochester RazorSharks still hold that record. The Drive did tie Lawton-Fort Sill for the second longest PBL winning streak at 15 games. Lawton-Fort Sill did that last season.

The theme of the game was that no lead was safe. No one took a commanding lead and held it. The Predators final lead only came in the last two minutes. Perry Petty led the Drive with 22 points and had 8 rebounds. Anthony Slack had a double-double with 16 points and 12 rebounds. Nathan Fuqua also had a good game with 15 points and 8 rebounds. The team shot 41.98% overall and they went 8 for 31 from three-point range. The Drive made 11 of 19 free throws.

The opening quarter was no repeat of last week as both teams fought for a lead. Sauk Valley took a 4-0 lead to start but the Drive came back with an 8-0 run. Both teams eventually tied at 11 and Central Illinois was able to make it 15-11 before Sauk Valley tied it again. As the 1st quarter ended the Predators led 24-22.

The back and forth theme continued in the 2nd quarter. Each time a team would go up the other would respond and tie it or go ahead. With under two minutes left in the half the Predators finally took a lead that would hold up at least through halftime. Sauk Valley led 47-43.

Perry Petty was on his way to a nice game with 13 points in the half with 6 rebounds. Anthony Slack also had 10 points with 7 rebounds.

The Drive came out with and immediately tied the game at 47 and went on to a 14-2 run to start the 3rd quarter. They led 57-49 but that did not hold long as Suak Valley kept up the theme and tied the game once again. Central Illinois ended the quarter with an 8-0 run and led 68-62 entering the 4th quarter.

The Drive turned the 8-0 run into a 14-2 run to start the 4th and led 76-64. But the Sauk Valley Predators would not go away. The Drive had an 11 point lead with just over nine minutes to go but the Predators eventually caught Central Illinois and took back the lead late in the quarter.

The Drive are back home next Saturday as they take on the Indiana Diesels at 1:05 pm. It is the fourth of five meetings this season. For more on the Central Illinois Drive, visit www.drivehoops.com and visit the Premier Basketball League at www.thepbl.com. All games can be heard on WJBC Online.

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