Gibbs had a couple of great games on the eve before his 26th birthday (Adam Streur / WBR)
MBL Finals: Rooferees 70, Winning Mentality 61
Former Creighton Bluejay Grant Gibbs scored 14 points, Andre Smith had 14 points, and Derek Fletcher had 13 points including a couple dagger 3-pointers down the stretch as the Rooferees took home the Metro Basketball League summer league title, 71-60, over Winning Mentality at the Omaha Sports Academy on Thursday night.
The game started off in a flash as both teams went back and forth early. After sinking free-throws to get things going, Winning Mentality’s Deverell Biggs scored the first 8 points for his squad and eventually 11 of their first 16 points, but were down to the Rooferees with 20-16 with 12:30 left in the first half. The Rooferees, however, kept pace and extended their lead behind Smith, the graduate of North Dakota State and current pro, to a 28-18 lead with 9 minutes to go in the first half. The lead exended to a 32-21 lead at the five minute mark.
Biggs, however, kept his scoring tear alive hitting five three-pointers in the half while cutting down the lead 34-28 behind his 21 first half points. He couldn’t seem to miss. The Rooferees finished on a 4-0 run to close out the half and a 38-28 advantage. Smith had 11 points while Gibbs had 8 points.
In the second half, the defense turned on for both teams, which is somewhat unusual for summer league, but was initially an advantage for Winning Mentality as they started the half on an 8-0 run to cut the Rooferees lead to 38-36 within the first four minutes. The pressure continued on the Rooferees, who had trouble holding on to the ball during a stretch, as Winning Mentality tied up the game at 46 on another Biggs three-pointer, his 6th of the game.
Things got a little tense as the Rooferees went on a bit of a run behind an Andre Smith 3-pointer and then was fouled on a three-point attempt the next time down the court. As Winning Mentality argued the call, a technical was called. Smith missed the free-throw for the foul, but then hit the technical free throw to put the Rooferees up 53-48.
Former Nebraska Cornhusker, Steffon Bradford turned on the offense in the second half scoring 8 of his 10 points and cut the lead to 53-50 with 5:30 to go. After a basket by Gibbs, another former Husker, John Turek, got a great pass in the lane and extended the lead to 57-50 with 3:50 to go.
Then it was clutch time for former Hastings College Bronco Derek Fletcher. Fletcher scored on back-to-back threes, the first a banked in free throw with 2:30 to go. After another Biggs basket, Fletcher again hit a perfect, nothing but nylong, three pointer to put the Rooferees up 65-54 with 1:45 to go. Fletcher then went on to close out the scoring for the Rooferees to pull out the victory and become MBL champs.
For Winning Mentality, Deverell Biggs had 33 points along with 7 three-pointers.
Scoring: Rooferees–Gibbs 14, Smith 14, Fletcher 13, Turek 8, T. Dougherty 6, B. Dougherty 6, Cardenas 3, Winning Mentality–Biggs 33, Bradford 10, Grace 7, Gandy 7, Perez 2, Williams 2
Reaction after the game:
Yes sir! Way to go fellas. https://t.co/xI1zDryCFT
— Jason Dourisseau (@JRD_Huskers) July 22, 2016
Congrats to the Rooferees, and thanks to @OMAMetroLeague for competing in our house! https://t.co/r2KR2djDq6
— Omaha Sports Academy (@O_Sports_Acad) July 22, 2016
@OMAMetroLeague love love love that name, the rooferees!!! ❤🏀❤
— V. Mar. (@martinezv1979) July 22, 2016
Semifinals
Rooferees 66, Narmi Group @ Baird 65
Grant Gibbs was the hero in this one as a last second shot off an offensive rebound was the difference in the Rooferees victory over the Narmi Group @ Baird 66-65. The first half was a bit slow as the teams went back and forth with Ronnie Harrell leading the way in the first half for the Narmi Group with 10 points to give them a 28-25 halftime lead.
In the second half the scoring escalated as former Bluejay Jahenns Manigat and Andre Smith were competing with each other in the scoring column. Manigat came out and scored 13 of his 17 points in the first few minutes for Narmi, but Smith kept pace scoring 9 of his own for the Rooferees. Gibbs also came alive in the second half for the Rooferees after being limited in the first half with 5 points, including the opening 3-pointer of the game. Gibbs took over and scored 15 of his 20 points in the second half as Narmi was playing catchup most of the second half.
John Turek hit two free throws to give the Rooferees a 63-61 lead with under a minute to go. The lead was extended to 64-61 off oa Tyler Dougherty free throw, but then missed the bonus and Manigat was fouled on the ensuing play to cut the lead to 64-63. After Dougherty missed the front end of a 1-and-1, Ronnie Harrell was fouled with 29 seconds remaining. He hit both free throws to give Narmi the lead 65-64 as the Rooferees setup for the final shot. And then this happened:
Shades of Robert Horry beating the Kings, @DoubleGfor3 sends his team to the @OMAMetroLeague championship game pic.twitter.com/hJUmO1CVOB
— Bluejay Banter (@bluejaybanter) July 22, 2016
Gibbs beat the buzzer and sent the Rooferees to the final. Quite the way to celebrate on the eve of Gibbs birthday. Gibbs had 20 points and Smith had 19 points in the victory. Ronnie Harrell had 18, Jahenns Manigat had 17, and Matt Dorwart had 11 for the Narmi Group.
Some reaction from Gibbs former Creighton teammates after the game.
@MatthewDorwart @OMAMetroLeague @JManigat12 @Sniper4_ @T_storm02 @mattwall_ace30 I have that shirt framed in my bedroom
— Tyler Clement (@TylerClement_11) July 22, 2016
@MatthewDorwart @OMAMetroLeague @JManigat12 @TylerClement_11 @Sniper4_ absolutely
— Taylor Stormberg (@T_storm02) July 22, 2016
Damn you @DoubleGfor3! 😏
— Jahenns Manigat (@JManigat12) July 22, 2016
But for real tho, happy birthday Gibby! @DoubleGfor3
— Jahenns Manigat (@JManigat12) July 22, 2016
Winning Mentality 73, Regulators 63
Winning Mentality basically led the game wire-to-wire, but the game was close early as Winning Mentality held on to a 21-18 lead midway through the first half. The Regulators bounced back to take the lead 29-28 with 7:25 to go in the first half. However, that lead was short lived as Winning Mentality came back to take the lead and went to halftime with the 37-32 lead.
The second half started and it seemed Winning Mentality would run away with it. Deverell Biggs and crew started the second half with a 24-6 run and took a 61-38 lead with 12 minutes to go. However, the Regulators, a team of Bellevue University grads, would not go down without a fight. They were able to cut the Winning Mentality lead to 11 with 2:48 to go, but they were not able to get any closer as Winning Mentality went to the finals.
Notes:
- Congratulations to league organizer Jason Isaacson and the birth of another child to their crew:
God is great!!! Thank you for our beautiful baby girl!!! Paisley Ann and Amy are both doing great!!! pic.twitter.com/YgFpQ2ZIXc
— Coach Isaacson (@CoachIsaacson) July 22, 2016
Jason played on the Rooferees all summer so it is fitting that they were able to pull out the tournament victory on Thursday night.
- Special thanks to friend of WBR Jacob Padilla for collecting stats throughout the summer, Ravi Lulla from Bluejay Banter for sharing videos, and WBR’s own Tom Nemitz and Adam Streur for capturing some photos from the games. With a lot going on each night, the resources were great to have to compile these recaps amongst the things I was watching.
- For more information on the Summer League from this summer and to find things next summer, here is the link to the mini-site and follow @OMAMetroLeague on Twitter for more information.