USBL weekly recap
Published on May 9, 2005 under United States Basketball League (USBL) News Release
MILFORD, CT (May 9, 2005) - The competition is heating up in the United States Basketball League (USBL). Teams are gaining confidence and standings are starting to take shape a third of the way through the regular season. Home teams held their ground, winning 12 of 15 games last week. Dodge City and Kansas are still unbeaten at home, while New Jersey has picked up 2 wins after a slow start.
BROOKLYN KINGS: Brooklyn has had a rough week going 0-4 on their road trip before getting a big win at home last night. BJ McFarlan had the USBL's first triple-double of the year with 33 points 14 boards and 10 assists against the Cranes on Sunday night. Anthony Glover and Courtney Fields have given the Kings a solid effort. Fields contributed 3 double-doubles for the Kings and Glover was responsible for three steals a game. After a great scoring night in which he scored 35 points, Tyron Evans' inappropriate behavior led to a suspension of one game by the USBL. Although he has appealed the suspension, the incident certainly added to a rough road trip for Coach Charles.
(NEXT WEEK: 5/10 vs New Jersey, 5/13 at New Jersey, 5/14 vs Westchester)
NEBRASKA CRANES: The Cranes finished last week with a 2-3 record with both wins coming at home. The Cranes haven't picked up a road win yet and are going to need to figure out how to win away from Kearney to be successful. Cedric Banks and Mo Spillers have provided the fireworks for the Cranes. Banks averaged 20.4 points, 4.4 rebounds and 1 steal per game last week. Mo Spillers has played so well, he earned a spot in the starting lineup. After putting up 33 points in his first game as a starter and recording 3 double-doubles last week, Spillers has become a force for the Cranes. Eric Chatfield has carried some of the scoring as well, averaging 20.6 points a game.
(NEXT WEEK: 5/9 at Pennsylvania, 5/10 at Westchester, 5/12 vs Kansas, 5/13 vs Oklahoma, 5/14 at Dodge City)
DODGE CITY LEGEND: The winning streak at the Dodge City Civic Center continued last week, after they notched 3 more victories. Courtney James had a stellar game against Nebraska, recording 22 points, 14 rebounds and 6 assists. The threesome of Cliff Hawkins, Donnell Knight and Shawn Daniels led the Legend against the ValleyDawgs. Lazarus Sims also returned to Dodge City last week, giving coach Osbourne some leadership and experience on the floor.
(NEXT WEEK: 5/10 at Kansas, 5/11 at Oklahoma, 5/14 vs Nebraska)
NEW JERSEY FLYERS: The Flyers' improved play has led to back-to-back wins over the Westchester Wildfire. Brian Sigafoos has come on lately, registering his first double-double against the Storm. New addition, John Allen has been steady since being inserted into the starting lineup, averaging 20 points, 7 rebounds and 4 assists last week. They are now 3-8 and looking to improve on last week's success.
(NEXT WEEK: 5/10 at Brooklyn, 5/11 at Pennsylvania, 5/13 vs Brooklyn, 5/14 vs Pennsylvania)
KANSAS CAGERZ: The Cagerz won all three of their games last week and still owns the USBL's best record at 8-2. Jeremee McGuire has been a monster on the boards averaging over 14 rebounds per contest last week. McGuire is also the USBL's leading shot-blocker with over 5 a game. Nate Johnson and Jason Miller continue to consistently lead Kansas each night. Miller added two more double-doubles and leads the USBL with 6 total this season.
(NEXT WEEK: 5/10 vs Dodge City, 5/12 at Nebraska, 5/14 at Oklahoma)
OKLAHOMA STORM: The Storm are back at home after going 2-1 on their recent trip to the East. Mike Mackell and Joe Adkins stepped up for the Storm. Adkins saw more minutes after Quannas White was lost to injury at Westchester and he made the most of his opportunity. Mackell gave the Storm 2 double-doubles last week, averaging 22 points and 9 rebounds in 4 games. Along with Mackell and Adkins, David Harrison has been a solid scoring option, averaging 18.5 points per game last week. With the team's improved play, Coach Gates has the Storm only 2 games behind the Cagerz.
(NEXT WEEK: 5/11 vs Dodge City, 5/13 at Nebraska, 5/14 vs Kansas)
PENNSYLVANIA VALLEYDAWGS: With three straight losses, The ValleyDawgs can only be thankful the week is over. Willie Chandler continued his scoring assault for Pennsylvania, averaging 25 points and 6 rebounds per game. Ryan Pitts has controlled the boards single-handedly with 15, 11 and 15 rebounds over last week's games. He is the current league leader in rebounds and offensive rebounds per game.
(NEXT WEEK: 5/9 vs Nebraska, 5/11 vs New Jersey, 5/13 at Westchester, 5/14 at New Jersey)
WESTCHESTER WILDFIRE: Westchester finished up the week 1-2 and seeing their lead in the East decrease. However, strong play from Kareem Reid on the outside and Badou Gaye on the inside has kept the team in first place. Reid had a phenomenal game Wednesday night scoring 35 with 5 rebounds and 10 assists. He continues to lead the league in scoring. Gaye is giving the Wildfire a solid post presence offensively and defensively. Adrian Walton had 28 points against the Storm and has been a source of energy for the Wildfire.
(NEXT WEEK: 5/10 vs Nebraska, 5/13 vs Pennsylvania, 5/14 at Brooklyn)
WEEKLY AWARDS
"PLAYER OF THE WEEK" MO SPILLERS, NEBRASKA CRANES Maurice Spillers of the Nebraska Cranes played his way into the starting lineup in route to becoming the first Crane to earn Player of the Week honors. Spillers averaged 22.8 points, 10.0 rebounds, and 4.2 assists over five games last week. Recording double-doubles in three of the five games, Spillers shot just over 50% (32 of 62) from the field. In his first game as a starter, he scored 33 points and grabbed a game-high 17 rebounds.
HONORABLE MENTION:
MIKE MACKELL, OKLAHOMA STORM
NATE JOHNSON, KANSAS CAGERZ
"CO-TEAMS OF THE WEEK" DODGE CITY & KANSAS CAGERZ
Both teams performed well last week, winning 3 games, and it is only fair to include both as "Teams of the Week." Dodge City was 3-0, winning all 3 games at home to extend their home-court winning streak to 38 consecutive games. They are playing well as a team and each night a different player has stepped up to keep the streak alive. The Cagerz have been just as good at home, extending their home record to 8-0 this season, 23 in a row at the Bicentennial Center dating back to last season, after tallying 3 wins of their own. Nate Jonhson's all-around game with Jason Miller's post presence has given the Cagerz a substantial inside-outside game.
United States Basketball League Stories from May 9, 2005
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