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Shorthanded Riverdragons Beat Dazzle

February 2, 2003 - NBA G League (G League)
Columbus Riverdragons News Release


COLUMBUS, Ga., (Feb. 2) - Missing their head coach and their starting center, the Riverdragons rallied behind double-doubles from Tang Hamilton and Greg Stempin to take down the Roanoke Dazzle 85-73 at the Columbus Civic Center in NBDL action Sunday night.

The victory was the first as a head coach for Riverdragons assistant coach Rob Werdann. Columbus head coach Jeff Malone missed tonight's game due to food poisioning. Riverdragons starting center Tyrone Washington dressed but did not play due to a sprained left ankle he suffered against Fayetteville Thursday night.

"This is my first game in terms of taking over," said Werdann. "It is certainly a different feeling but I believe in the character of these guys and they told me they weren't going to let me down."

Malone is expected to rejoin the team for practice Monday morning and return to the bench Tuesday night when the Riverdragons (14-15) host N. Charleston.

Also making history was Hamilton, the league's leading rebounder. Touted by many as the best player in the NBDL not to get an NBA call-up, Hamilton had 14 points and 10 rebounds to notch his 14th double-double and break the league's single-season mark in that category with 21 games remaining in the regular season. Mobile's Derek Hood set the league standard with 13 double-doubles over a 56-game regular season last year.

"Coming in to the game I realized that I could break the double-double record," said Hamilton. "I wanted to come in tonight and get that out of the way. I had a few games where I didn't get double-doubles, so tonight I made sure I got it done."

Greg Stempin came off the bench to also post a double-double, putting up 14 points and 11 rebounds. Stempin hit 2-of-4 3-pointers and has hit 11 of his last 15 attempts from beyond the arc.

Led by Stempin and 10 points from point guard Saul Smith, the Riverdragons bench out-scored the Dazzle's reserves 32-6.

Columbus pulled away in the third quarter, going up 18 on a lay-up by Nate Johnson with 4:45 to play in the quarter. The Riverdragons would lead by as many as 19 before clinching the victory. The Riverdragons, who have struggled from the free throw line this season, went 21-for-23 from the charity stripe on the way to their fifth win in their last six home games.

Columbus pulled away in the third quarter, going up 18 on a lay-up by Nate Johnson with 4:45 to play in the quarter. The Riverdragons would lead by as many as 19 before clinching the victory. The Dazzle (15-14) were led by Cory Alexander with 27 points and six assists. The Dazzle return to the court Wednesday night in Roanoke against first-place Fayetteville.

Additional quotes:

Rob Werdann, assistant coach

On the game:

The stat that impressed me was the second chance points because that was something that we really stressed this morning. In terms of the bench, I didn't realize that was happening. We got a good job done by Greg and Saul and I'll be honest with you, Kitwana really gave us a big lift tonight.

On Tang's recording-breaking night:

That's great. Good for Tang. He's been working very hard and he deserves it. This has been a solid season for Tang so far.

Tang Hamilton, forward:

I think the biggest thing was that we came out and set the tone defensively. We came out and we guarded some people. That's what's going to take the win. You can't beat teams purely on talent in this league, because everybody's good. So the teams that are going to win are the teams that guard somebody and get some defensive stops and run the floor and get easy baskets. I think we've done that in the past couple of games.

On Rob Werdann filling in as head coach:

I think Rob did an excellent job tonight. He kept us motivated, he called timeouts when we needed timeouts and he made substitutions when we needed substitutions.

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