Sports stats

Explosion's Greene, Ford, and Slater All Make the IBL 2009 All-Star List

July 14, 2009 - International Basketball League (IBL)
Snohomish County Explosion News Release


Monroe, Washington - July 14th 2009 -

The Snohomish County Explosion finish the season (11-12) and grab 2nd Place in the North Division. Also has three All Stars picked by the IBL League.

It was a transition year for the Explosion as they bid farewell to several perennial All-Stars, a legendary Seattle area coach (Randy Redwine) and made an organizational decision to get younger. Even their coach Chris Weakly was playing, as recently as last season, before putting on a suit and moving to the front of the bench (although Weakly would eventually dust off his uniform and finish the year as a player/coach).

The gang at Monroe knew there would be growing pains. And there were. Still, the Explosion found some great pieces as they re-built the organization. Principal among the new, young pieces is Devon Greene (22G, 37.1pts, 9.9rbd, 4ast) who led the league in scoring by a long shot and currently sits in the top-10 in IBL rebounding. Snohomish also received an All-Star performance from Richard Ford (13G, 25.6pts, 13.8rbd) before he accepted an overseas deal and left the team in early June (returned for the IBL playoffs though and was considered one of the top 5 players in the IBL that weekend by scouts in attendance).

Thankfully, during Ford's absence, the Explosion were able to turn to Ike Ohanson (21G, 18.8pts, 11.3rbd) who was a double-double machine. But as we know, a team needs a guard and in veteran Anthony Slater (21G, 8pts, 5.3rbd, 13.8ast) they found the league's top assist man who is also a versatile, if under-sized, floor general who was able to help the club move forward and grow together, each week. The Explosion again hosted the IBL playoffs and were hoping to peak at the right time; then, some great news-Richard Ford freed up some time from previous obligation to return to the Snohomish County Explosion, in time for the IBL Playoffs. "This brings a good team to a playoff championship caliber team" said General Manager Sean Keck in adding Richard Ford back to the active roster. "This makes us very powerful down low (because) with Ford and Ohanson you got 50 points 30 rebounds per game." Keck was right and after winning their playoff opener against Vancouver BC, they shocked everyone as they finished off Canada with a 143-131 win over, the #1 seeded Edmonton Energy.

Jason Hicks was dominant in both games and dominant in all phases of the game-defensively, scoring, passing, etc. and all as Hicks came off of the bench as part of an Explosion second surge that cut off any breathing room the Titans or the next night Energy teams might have had in any comeback attempt; Hicks scored 26 points and 27 points- off of the bench- in both wins. The game was viewed by many in attendance as one of the best team performances in the five year history of the IBL. The run ended there however, as the Explosion could not sustain their play in a third game in three days and lost the National Bracket Final to the Oregon Wave (the Wave was in their second game in two days).



International Basketball League Stories from July 14, 2009


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.

Other Recent Snohomish County Explosion Stories



Sports Statistics from the Stats Crew
OurSports Central