Warriors hold off Storm, win 117-108

June 10, 2006 - World Basketball Association (WBA)
Cartersville Warriors News Release


Prior to the Cartersville Warriors' game against the Marietta Storm Friday night at the J.H. Morgan Gym on Aubrey Street, Cartersville coach David Archer had an uneasy feeling. As it turned out, he had a right to be nervous.

Cartersville almost blew a 16-point second half lead and had to hold off a fourth-quarter charge by the Storm to post a 117-108 victory in the first game of a stretch of three contests in four days.

"I'm kind of speechless after this one," said Archer. "I was really nervous with Marietta having gone through a difficult week. Their coach was let go and there were rumors of players leaving the team. Regardless of what's been going on with them, they had everybody and they're a good team. They are better than their record looks."

The Warriors got big games from Delvin Thomas (6'8''-F/C-78, agency: Global Sports Plaza, college: Bethune-Cookman), who finished with a game-high 27 points and 11 rebounds, and newcomer Lamar Karim. Karim, a 5-foot-10 guard who was signed by Cartersville Thursday afternoon, hit three of his six field goal attempts, but more importantly went 16-for-17 at the free-throw line to score 22 points and hand out six assists in 24 minutes.

With big men Antoine Broxsie and Latece Williams missing from the Warriors' lineup, Thomas said he knew he'd need to step up his production in the scoring column and on the glass.

"I played around the rim a lot tonight and got a lot of high-percentage shots," said Thomas. "I stepped out and hit a jumper and that's when I knew I was on. On the defensive end, we were missing a couple of strong shot blockers and rebounders, so I felt like I needed to hang around down low a little more and rebound. I needed to stay close to the rim."

Cartersville (11-3) ripped off a 15-2 run early in the third quarter to lead 77-61 with 7:12 remaining, but Marietta chipped away at the Warriors' lead and were back to within 86-78 going into the fourth quarter. The Storm trailed 91-87 after a Rio Logan jumper with 8:34 left in the game and Marietta had a chance to trim the deficit to two, but Cartersville forced one of the Storm's 31 turnovers and made an 8-2 run to stretch its lead to 99-89.

"We had a lot of turnovers," said Thomas of the Warriors, who turned the ball over 32 times. "However, we forced a lot of turnovers, too. We'd get a little frustrated on the offensive end, but instead of keeping our heads down, we did something positive on the defensive end and finished the game strong."

Marietta got no closer than five points over the final 5:30 as the Warriors went 8-for-8 from the line in the final 1:09 to salt away their fifth straight victory.

Mike Dean netted 21 points for the Warriors despite making just six of his 20 shots from the field and Bobby Brown added 13 and five steals in the win. Marietta had six players in double figures, led by Lorenzo Lawrence and Logan, who had 15 points apiece. Also reaching double figures were Jamario Moon and Alexis McMillan (14 each) and Derrick Russell and Sly Morgan (12 each).

After Saturday night's game with Anderson, Cartersville will travel to Marietta on Monday night. The Warriors will then travel to Little Rock, Ark. on June 17th, to take on the Arkansas ArchAngels.



World Basketball Association Stories from June 10, 2006


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