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IBL week in review

by Jeff Duncan
March 30, 2008 - International Basketball League (IBL)


It was a week of firsts in the IBL. Snohomish County lost back to back games for the first time in team history. The first Japanese team is set to join the IBL in 2009. The Nippon Tornados will be based out of the USBA in Blue River, Oregon, just outside of Eugene. Nippon will play the majority of their games with the NW Cluster of teams. Currently, the China Shanxi Kylins are based in the USBA. The first head coach in LA Lightning history was announced. Ron Quarterman will be pacing the sidelines for LA this season. Quarterman has experience coaching in the ABA and Pierce College.

SnoCo lost to Bellingham 115-108 March 22nd in the latest grudge match between these two rivals who are only about 60 miles apart. There is definitely no love between these teams. Hey, what's wrong with a little healthy hate! General Manager Brad Sturlaugson of the Snohomish County Basketball team announced today that the IBL League Commissioner will be reviewing the game film of the March 22nd game with the Bellingham Slam. "I will be sending Commissioner Mikal Duilio the game film and he will be reviewing it for discrepancies involving one referee in particular with calls made during the game", stated Sturlaugson. Ryan Diggs paced the Slam with 20 points, and Paul Hafford added 19. Donald Watts was the game's top scorer, finishing with 26 points for the Explosion. Jamal Miller, starting point guard for the Explosion was tossed in the first half after an altercation. Loss number two came at the hands of the much improved Vancouver Volcanoes March 28th. Vancouver came out on top 128-120 in a foul plagued game at Clark College in Vancouver, WA. Donald Watts was not in uniform for the Explosion who didn't seem in tune defensively the whole game. Porter Troupe topped the Volcanoes with 30 points and also grabbed 9 boards. Kevin ‘Pip' Bloodsaw also had a great outing with 29 points and seven boards. Newcomer Jermaine Blackburn showed he will be a player to watch this season, finishing with a game-high 35 points in his first action for the Explosion.

The Holland Blast is off to a 3-0 start this season with impressive wins over Windy City, Gary and Grand Rapids. March 28th at the Holland Civic Center the Holland Blast topped the 140 mark for the second consecutive game in defeating the Gary Steelheads 147-136 IBL All-star Jared Bledsoe had a monster night for the Blast, recording an impressive double-double with 35 points and 22 rebounds-both game-highs. Dennis Springs and David Williams also finished with double-doubles for the Blast. Springs had 28 points and 11 boards, while Williams scored 11 points and snagged 10 rebounds. Aaron Spears led the Steelheads with 22 points. March 29th Holland defeated Grand Rapids 13-126. Dennis Springs led the Blast with 34 points in the victory, and Jared Bledsoe contributed 34 points. Former Blast player Terrance Shaw was the game's top scorer, pouring in 39 points in the loss. Holland may be a challenger to Elkhart, Battle Creek and Gary in the East.

On March 28th a much improved Windy City team put a damper on the Grand Rapids Flight's home opener by defeating the Flight 119-108 in front of 1,500 fans at the DeltaPlex Arena. Barry Bradford led five Soldier players in double figures with a game-high 31 points. DeMarcus Bolden pitched in 21 points in the win. Kenny Langhorne's 27 points led the way for Grand Rapids. Windy City is 3-3 so far this season, far cry from their 0-18 campaign a year ago.

The two time defending IBL champs Elkhart Express are off to a 2-0 start this season with victories over Gary, 125-117, and Windy City, 120-115. The corp. of last season's team has been leading the way for Elkhart. Tim Pledger, Ced Moodie and Coleco Buie are putting up big numbers so far. Newcomers Michael Brownlee and Chris Charles are adapting nicely to the Express and giving the team a big lift. Brownlee averaged about 26 points a game last year for Marysville.

Grand Rapids has struggled out of the gate. After a couple easy wins over the USA All-stars, the Flight has dropped two in a row. Grand Rapids dropped a 119-108 decision to Windy City then lost to the high flying Holland Blast 139-126. The flight has talent so look for them to turn things around. Micah Lancaster, Kenny Langhorn and Terrance Shaw are all having nice seasons so far. Sun Ming Ming has not joined the Flight yet.

The Vancouver Volcanoes are proving they are for real. Back to back victories over two of the strongest teams in the west, Bellingham and SnoCo, show Vancouver is ready to challenge for the west title. The Volcanoes avenged a March 15 loss versus the Explosion with Friday's 128-120 win at Clark College. Porter Troupe topped the Volcanoes with 30 points and grabbed 9 boards. Kevin ‘Pip' Bloodsaw also had a great outing with 29 points and seven rebounds. In the victory over Bellingham on March 29th, seven Volcanoes were in double figures lead by Kevin Bloodsaw's 22 points. Kevin Tyner and Jake Carlisle chipped in 21 apiece. Vancouver is off to a 4-1 start and leads the west division.

Bellingham is off to a bit of an uneven start to the 2008 season. They split with SnoCo, beat Tacoma, and lost to Vancouver. The Slam has a lot of talent so look for them to be in the mix in the playoff race out west.

Tacoma has only played two league games so far, losses to Bellingham and SnoCo, so it's hard to get a gauge on them so far. Tacoma beat the USA All-stars earlier in the year. So far Dontay Harris and Alex Adediran are leading the way for Tacoma.

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International Basketball League Stories from March 30, 2008


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