PBL weekly report

Published on January 15, 2008 under Premier Basketball League (PBL) News Release

The Arkansas Impact traveled to the UNF Arena on Friday night for a game against the Jacksonville Jam, and after four tough quarters of play, the Impact took the victory 89-84. Jeremy Bell, a guard who played virtually all 48 minutes of the game, finished with 25 points to lead all Impacters in scoring; Bell also had two steals and four assists. Bell was steady in the fourth quarter, sinking all seven of his free-throw attempts. Kenny Langhorne was the top rebounder for the Impact, pulling down six boards; Tarik Wallace's six assists led the Impact in that category; Wallace also garnered 17 points, including five three-pointers. Brian Bunche had five steals and twelve points.

Next up was a matchup of undefeated teams on Saturday night - the Impact traveled to Wilmington to face the Sea Dawgs. Despite leading for most of the game, the Impact fell to the Sea Dawgs 94-87. The Impact led by as many as 17 points in the game, including a 12-point lead with five minutes to play. Tarik Wallace was the top scorer for the Impact, with 20 points, including four three-pointers; Kenny Langhorne added 18 and Ryan Holmes finished with 13 points. "We just didn't respond," said Arkansas head coach Todd Day to the Wilmington Star-News. "They were at home. They made a couple of baskets and the crowd got into it."

The Chicago Throwbacks' only game this weekend came on Sunday afternoon, when the Throwbacks lost an in-state matchup against the Quad Cities Riverhawks 128-120. Stanley Thomas was the top scorer for the Throwbacks, with 37 points; Jerome Harper and Steve Strong each had 21. Chicago was able to garner many second-attempt shots, which kept them in the game throughout. "We have to defend better as a team, we had every opportunity to win the game. We needed to win this one. Our next two games are at home, hopefully we can pull together and turn this thing around." said Head Coach Donnie Boyce.

The Dallas Defenders took a trip to Rockford to play the Fury, and although the Defenders fell behind 28-11, Dallas came back, thanks to 21 points apiece from Ronald Blackshear and Andre Heard. Eventually the two teams battled to a 99-99 tie, then into overtime. After Rockford's Zach Ramey hit a 3-pointer with 4.6 seconds left on the clock, Ronald Blackshear tried a 3-pointer of his own, but Blackshear's shot was short, and Dallas suffered their second loss, a 109-108 overtime defeat. Blackshear and Heard each finished with 21 points.

On Friday night, the Jacksonville Jam welcomed the Arkansas Impact to UNF Arena, but despite outrebounding the Impact 42-27, the Jam lost to Arkansas 89-84. Jacksonville was ice-cold in the third quarter, not scoring for nearly the first five minutes of the game, allowing the Impact to take a 13-2 run in the quarter and grow a 14-point lead in the first half. Jerry Williams was the top scorer for the Jam with 22 points; while Brian Greene's 17 points were augmented with 20 rebounds, almost half the Jam's total rebounding output for the game; Greene also blocked two shots and dished out 7 assists. Chad Johnson notched 16 points, while Golden Ingle stole the ball five times in the Jacksonville loss.

The Jam next traveled to New York, to play the Rochester Razorsharks on Sunday afternoon. The weary Jam fell behind 25-18 in the first quarter, 54-34 at the half, and despite outscoring the Razorsharks 35-22 in the final quarter, the Jam lost 104-89. The Sharks controlled the tempo from the tip-off, by blocking 18 attempted Jacksonville scores. Brian Greene's 17 points led all Jammers in scoring, while Jerry Williams added 15 points and Chad Johnson put 14 on the board. Napolean Rhodes was the top rebounder for the Jam, with 8 of the team's 46 boards. Golden Ingle dished out 7 assists and garnered 3 steals in the Jacksonville loss.

In other news, the Jam signed Delta State signed Florida A&M guard Tony Tate, and released guard Travis Degroot.

In their only contest of the weekend, the Maryland Nighthawks hosted the Reading Railers in Bethesda, Md. Despite 18 points from Hugh Jones, who led all Nighthawks in scoring on the day, the Nighthawks lost to Reading, 98-94. Maryland had a chance to win, as Reading was leading in the final seconds 95-91, when Hugh Jones stepped to the line to attempt two technical free throws; unfortunately, the normally reliable Jones missed both shots. Reading eventually scored on a dunk "and one," and despite a 3-pointer from Yohan Matos, the Nighthawks lost their third straight match. The Nighthawks were playing without Tamir Goodman, who dislocated his finger in last Sunday's game against Reading. Ratdech "J.O." Kruatiwa played in the first quarter, but two minutes into his playing time, he sprained his ankle and did not return. Nighthawks forward David Bailey suffered a concussion in the fourth quarter and was taken to a hospital for a CT scan. Bailey is expected to miss 1-3 weeks.

The Quad Cities Riverhawks remained undefeated on the young season with a 133-105 domination of the Rockford Fury. Quad Cities, who led by as many as 32 points in the match, had four scorers with 20 points or more, including 25 by Bobby Anderson.

Next up for the Riverhawks was a 128-120 victory over the Chicago Throwbacks. Ty Johnson was the top scorer for the Riverhawks with 31 points, while Ryan Edwards added 22, Keith Gaydon and Bobby Anderson each had 19 points. "We needed this," said Ty Johnson to the Quad City Times. "We had two blowout wins, and we needed a competitive game like this to learn something. We just pulled together and said we had to dig deep and search for character, search for toughness, and we pulled it out." Johnson became the first PBL player to record a triple-double, as the 6'4" guard from Mountain Stage added 10 rebounds and 11 assists to his 31 total points.

In other Riverhawks news, the team named Eric Hutchins as general manager of the franchise. Hutchins previously worked with the Quad City Mallards of the Colonial/United Hockey League, and the Quad City Steamwheelers of af2 indoor football. "Is there potential here?" said the newly-hired Hutchins to the Quad City Times. "Absolutely, we're 3-0. People want to come out and see winning basketball."

The Railers made the trip to Rochester to help the Razorsharks open their 2008 PBL home season on Saturday afternoon. Reading started out strong in the match, taking a 51-49 lead into the half, and then gunning a 12-2 run in the third period. But in the third quarter, Jared Mills took an elbow to the face as he was attempting to take a charge, and suffered a hairline fracture of the orbital bone. "That knocked the stuffing out of us," said Mentesana to the Reading Eagle. "It shouldn't have, and that's no excuse, but we looked flat after that for about three or four minutes and they caught right back up. That changed the tempo of the game." Despite 28 points from Tayron Thomas, including three 3-pointers, the Railers lost the match 115-108. Thomas, who also had six assists, a block and three steals, was one of three Railers with 20 points or more in the game, joining Jerald Brown (22 pts) and Ira Miller (20 pts) in completing that statistic. Aaron Williams pulled down 16 rebounds in the Reading loss.

On Sunday, the Railers visited Bethesda, Md. for a battle with the Maryland Nighthawks. After Reading watched a nine-point lead whittle away to 95-91 in the final moments, Reading coach Sal Mentesana was whistled for a two-shot technical foul. The Maryland shooter, the normally reliable Hugh Jones, missed both attempts, and Reading's Aaron Williams got loose to attempt a game-winning dunk - he was fouled as the ball went in - and converted the extra point to give Reading a 98-91 lead, and eventually a 98-94 victory. Tayron Thomas scored a game-high 25 points, hitting 10-of-24 shots from the field. He also had a team-high eight assists. Ira Miller scored 23 points, including five 3-pointers, while Aaron Williams had a double-double of 12 rebounds and 10 points.

Rochester hosted the Reading Railers at Blue Cross Arena Saturday afternoon, for the Razorsharks' first home game in nearly a year. The fans came out strong, as 3,081 cheered and hollered for their returning Razorsharks. The Railers actually got the early jump on Rochester, ending the first half with a 51-49 lead and at one point holding a 63-50 lead in the third quarter. Head Coach Rod Baker decided on a "line change" - pulling all five players off the court and inserting his bench players. The strategy paid off, as bench players Vidal Massiah dropped 28 points in Rochester's 115-108 victory over the Railers. In the second half, Keith Friel's 19 points included four three-pointers; while Marlin Johnson notched 11 rebounds in the game. James "Mook" Reaves left in the first quarter; his foot was wrapped in an ice pack and he did not return to the game.

Rochester concluded their weekend with a 104-89 victory Sunday afternoon against the Jacksonville Jam, on what was designated "Fan Appreciation Night." Rochester led the game from the start with a 20-4 run halfway through the 1st quarter and never looked back. Sammy Monroe led all Razorsharks in scoring with 20 points. James "Mook" Reaves returned to the lineup after his foot injury Saturday, and led the Sharks with 11 rebounds, completing a double-double with 17 points. Among the prizes at "Fan Appreciation Night" were the awarding of five Razorsharks autographed jerseys to raffle winners, and the designation of one fan that can now "Act Like An Owner" for the 2008 season; the lucky fan now can attend practices, pre-games and shootarounds, as well as hang around with the players before every Sharks home game.

The Rockford Fury signed three new players for this weekend's matches, in the hopes of jump-starting their offense. Unfortunately for the Fury, the Quad Cities Riverhawks exploited Rockford's miscues, taking a 15-6 run into a 133-105 win for the Riverhawks. The Fury's scoring punch came from John Jackson, a former member of the CBA's Rockford Lightning, with 19 points and Kyle Myrick, another new signee, with 16.

Next up for the Fury was a home matchup on Sunday night with the Dallas Defenders. Rockford had a lead as large as 21 points, but the Defenders whittled it away. The second quarter turned into a 3-point shooting contest, with eight straight treys registered by both teams (Zach Ramey, Ameer Watts, Michael Hadley and Kyle Myrick for Rockford, Lonnie Randolph and Andre Heard for Dallas). The game was tied 99-99 at the end of four quarters; and it was Zach Ramey's three-pointer in overtime, with four seconds remaining, that capped a 109-108 overtime win for the Fury. Ramey finished with 26 points, including a league-record eight 3-pointers; Ramey was 6-for-7 from 3-point range in regulation, and hit two in overtime.

The Sea Dawgs extended their winning streak to three games with a 94-87 victory over the Arkansas Impact, erasing a lead that the Impact held throughout most of the contest. Despite being down in score with six minutes to play, the Sea Dawgs ran off a 20-3 run to pull ahead and eventually win the game. Alexander Harper finished with 23 points, while Alvin Jefferson added 14 and Charles Ward had 13. "Once we made plays (on defense), we were able to come down and make plays on the offensive end," said coach Kevin Whitted to Wilmington Star-News Online.com reporter Rachel George. "When Charles Ward started securing rebounds, and Alvin as well, we were able to really build some momentum. And we made free throws." The contest was a tough battle; as guard Tre Whitted left the game in the first half with a lower ankle sprain; and guard Zach Herrmann left with a swollen left eye after getting hit on a foul. The Saturday night contest was designated as "Kids' Night," and all children aged 12 and under were able to attend for $5 apiece. The first 100 children that entered the arena received special free prizes, courtesy of the Sea Dawgs.

Game reports compiled via team press releases, and from articles appearing in the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle, the Reading Eagle, the Rockford Register-Star, the Quad City Times, the Wilmington Star-News, and other newspapers.

Premier Basketball League Stories from January 15, 2008

• PBL weekly report - PBL
• Sea Dawgs update - Wilmington Sea Dawgs

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.