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Shark Bytes / One Game to Regroup

April 7, 2011 - Premier Basketball League (PBL)
Rochester RazorSharks News Release


Through three quarters of action Wednesday night it looked like Rochester might escape Canada. The RazorSharks, playing with just eight active players, were leading the Quebec Kebs 76-74. It unraveled quickly from there though.

"We had the game under control," said Rochester coach Rod Baker. "We lost our heads. We were tired. It was hot. It's a tough place to play."

The Kebs came out in the fourth quarter on fire, scoring the first six points on a basket by Royce Parran and two by Quinnell Brown, who had a game high 22. It was suddenly 80-76 Quebec and was about to get worse.

At the 10:12 mark, Rochester's Eric Walton got into an altercation with Cordell Jeanty. Walton drew a double technical and an ejection. The RazorSharks were down to seven players.

Quebec scored ten of the quarter's first eleven points of the quarter to go up seven at 84-77 and never looked back. The Kebs doubled up the Sharks 24-12 in the quarter, got most of the rebounds, almost all of the loose balls and held Rochester to a mere 28 percent shooting in the second half. They won by a final of 98-88.

Rochester had only eight players available after losing both point guard Jerice Crouch and forward Sammy Monroe to passport issues at the Canada border crossing Tuesday. That along with Walton's ejection piled the minutes on the rest of the team and it showed.

Keith Friel played a season high 43 minutes, including the entire second half. Friel scored 15 points but was just 1 for 9 shooting 3-pointers. He was exhausted after the game.

Point guard Melvin Council and center Jared Carter played 39 minutes each, well above their season averages. They combined to score 29. Council had six assists. Carter contributed 10 rebounds. But they wore down too.

Forward Mike Williams was outstanding. He scored a team high 20 points and added 11 rebounds. He and Council took ten free throws each. As a team, the Sharks hit 19 of 20 first half free throws. They made just 13 of 22 in the second.

"We made our same rotations," said Baker. "That didn't change. But we missed Jerice."

Whether Crouch or Monroe become available for Friday's decisive game three is highly doubtful. Asked if he was working on it, Baker could only ask, "What can I do?"

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