Kansas dominates Dodge in home finale
June 22, 2007 - United States Basketball League (USBL)
Kansas Cagerz News Release
The Kansas Cagerz closed out the home portion of the 2007 season with a dominating win over the USBL leading Dodge City Legend 117-100 on Friday night at the Bicentennial Center.
The Cagerz dominated the Legend in every statistical category, including a 66-43 advantage on the glass. Kansas had 34 offensive rebounds, including eight from Marcus Campbell.
Kansas never surrendered the lead in the game jumping out to an early 6-0 lead in front of nearly 1600 people.
Dodge would use four straight points to get as close as two, 6-4, but could never tie things up or grab a lead.
Johnny Jackson would push the Cagerz' lead back out to six with 7:19 left in the first, but Dodge City would rally, and get as close as one, 18-17, with 4:54 left on a bucket by Walt Waters.
The Cagerz would quickly pull back out to a 24-17 lead with six straight capped by a rebound and put back by Lee Benson. Dodge would answer with a 6-0 run of their own to get back within one, at 24-23 with 1:07 left on a three-point play by Bryan Lubeck.
Kansas would use an 8-1 run to take an eight-point lead 32-24 with 10:09 left in the second on a three-point play by Anthony Johnson.
Dodge would again get within two with 4:52 left in the second, but Kansas would use a 21-9 run to end the quarter to take a 60-46 lead into the halftime break.
Five straight points by the Cagerz, capped by a Cleotis Brown three would push the lead to 19, and they would eventually take the lead to 23, 83-60, with 4:25 left in the third.
The Legend would rally, cutting the Cager lead to nine, 92-83, the last time at the 9:43 mark of the fourth on free throws by Chet Mason. Dodge would get as close as eight at 100-92 with 6:46 left on more free throws by Mason, but Kansas would answer with a 17-6 run to again take a 19-point lead with 18.1 seconds left before Shaun Fountain would score just before the final buzzer to make the final score 117-100.
As previously mentioned, Kansas dominated the statistics, led by Nate Johnson with a game-high 30 points, while Anthony Richardson had 20 and Anthony Johnson had 19 as part of six Cagerz who hit double figures.
Kansas was 40-of-97 from the field for 41.2 percent, and 4-of-18 from behind the three point arc for 22.2 percent. Kansas excelled at the free throw line, going 33-of-38 for 86.8 percent, including going 17-of-19 in the fourth quarter. Lee Benson and Campbell each had 11 rebounds as the Cagerz smashed the Legend on the glass 66-43. Kansas had 20 assists led by Nate Johnson and Brown with four each, and the Cagerz blocked 16 shots led by Jackson with six, while Richardson added four. Kansas had 11 steals led by Nate Johnson and Brown with three each. Kansas even had less turnovers than the Legend - only 16 compared to 19 for Dodge City.
Dodge shot only slightly better going 35-80 from the floor for 43.8 percent, and were led by Fountain with 18, while Mason had 15 and three other Legend players had 13 each. Steve Castleberry led Dodge with eight rebounds, while Fountain and Chris Sockwell had six each. Dodge was 0-for-1 from behind the arc, and were 30-of-33 at the line for 90.9 percent. The Legend only had eight assists, led by Elvin Mims with three.
Kansas (14-13) is back in action tomorrow night as they head to Enid, Okla., to take on the Storm, with a scheduled 7 p.m. tip-off at the Mark Price Arena, home of next week's USBL Post-Season Festival. The Cagerz then wrap up the regular season on Sunday at Dodge City.
United States Basketball League Stories from June 22, 2007
- Kansas dominates Dodge in home finale - Kansas Cagerz
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