Summer League will be extended after all. Bank of Nebraska and Andy’s Lawn and Landscape won two games on Tuesday night to advance to the finals of the Metro League Tournament. After the hard played games in the quarterfinal and semifinal games, both teams agreed to push the championship game to another day instead of playing a third game Tuesday at the Omaha Sports Academy.
The Championship game for the Metro Basketball League tournament will be played at 3:00 p.m. on Sunday, July 29th at Bellevue University.
Bank of Nebraska rolled in their two games over HCMC 75-61 and the Narmi Group @ Smith Barney 79-59. Meanwhile, Andy’s Lawn & Landscape had to fight hard for their two wins over Shanks Law Firm 77-68 and a pesky UNO Alumni team 76-70. Here are the details from the games tonight:
Semifinals
#2 Andy’s Lawn & Landscape 76, #3 UNO Alumni 70
This game was easily the game of the night and probably the determining factor to move the championship game to Sunday. Andy’s got out to an early 10 point lead with former Huskers Jason Dourisseau and John Turek’s hot shooting. As a whole it seemed their team could not miss cruising into halftime with a 10 point lead.
However the veteran UNO Alumni team came out on fire early in the second half feeding former Creighton star Brody Deren down in the post and hitting three straight three pointers to quickly tie the game. Both teams battled back and forth throughout the second half. With 44 seconds remaining in the game and Andy’s up by three points, Dourisseau turned the ball over on UNO’s side of the court and UNO’s Justin Peterson nailed a three from the wing to tie the game at 70. Andy’s quickly came back down the court and took back the lead and then a quick steal by Dourisseau and score put Andy’s back up by four and they held on for the win.
#1 Bank of Nebraska 79, #4 Narmi Group @ Smith Barney 59
After getting a scare in the quarterfinals, Bank of Nebraska started off hot with a quick 10 point lead and slowly pulled away going into the half with a 15 point lead. Bellevue graduate Klaye Rowe is definitely the unsung hero for B of N. Although the team is full of bigger names, Rowe finds ways to score and has led the team in scoring most of the summer. He finished this game with a game high 16 points. While defenders are trying to stop Justin Carter, Wes Wilkinson, Ben Holling and Deverell Biggs, Rowe steps up. Carter had 12 points in this game while Wilkinson had 11. Jelani Johnson and Isaiah Gandy led Narmi with 13 points each in the loss.
Quarterfinals
#1 Bank of Nebraska 75, #8 HCMC 61:
Bank of Nebraska opened the evening in an early dogfight with HCMC as they headed to halftime tied. In the second half, Bank of Nebraska pulled away behind former Husker Wes Wilkinson’s game high 21 points including five baskets from behind the arc. The highlight of this game came from Justin Carter. The former Creighton Bluejay dribbled into traffic in the lane and rose just in front of the free through line to throw down a one handed dunk over the post players below.
#2 Andy’s Lawn & Landscape 77, #7 Shanks Law Firm 68
Andy’s Lawn & Landscape also got off to a rough start against Shanks similar to Bank of Nebraska only going into the half wih a two point lead. Jason Dourisseau had a nice game to lead the way to the semifinals.
#3 UNO Alumni 92, #6 Higgins Weatherguard 73
Higgins Weatherguard walked into the firestorm of the UNO Alumni team who was ready to play, but might have wanted to save some of their firepower for the semifinals. UNO Alumni jumped out to a huge lead early and went into the half up 23 points. Higgins tried to cut into the lead in the second half and cut the lead to 15 but UNO stormed back and pulled away with the 19 point victory.
#4 Narmi Group @ Smith Barney 77, #12 Judd Knispel Agency 68
The question throughout the day on Tuesday was whether Nick Bahe would have enough players to field a team. Grant Gibbs was slated to join Bahe’s team along with Ross Ferarrini, Austin Chatman and Stephon Bradford. However, due to NCAA rules, Gibbs was not able to play. Instead former Bellevue University star and Midland senior James Parrott joined the team. The lack of depth really hurt the Knispel team as the Narmi Group was able to run out on them behind another former Bruin, Jelani Johnson, and his 18 points. Chatman and Bradford did their best to keep Knispel in the game. Chatman had 17 points including five three pointers and Bradford had 15 points.
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