James Milliken has looked pretty good in Summer League. Unfortunately, his team is 0-6 heading into Thursday’s tournament (Tom Nemitz/WBR)
The final night of Metro Summer League pool play provided some excitement, some blowouts and a fitting end to setup a tournament that will not only be really competitive, but a wide open field that could create a few surprises. Thursday night could be a wild evening.
While several regular players were missing on Monday night, Nick Bahe and the Judd Knispel team welcomed another Bluejay home, Mo Watson continued his impressive summer, and the final game of the evening created a loud Omaha Sports Academy to it’s feet. Here is a recap from Monday evening.
Game of the Night
Andy’s Lawncare 92, Bank of Nebraska 82
This one actually played an hour earlier than expected due to some confusion with the schedule, but this one still lived up to the billing as most of the key players were present for this one. It was close early with Jason Dourisseau (Andy’s) and Wes Wilkinson (BofN) getting going early. Andy’s went into half with a five point lead. At that point, Justin Carter arrived to help out Bank of Nebraska.
The second half saw Andy’s extend the lead to 12 early and then up to 16 at the 12 minute mark. But Bank of Nebraska battled back to cut the lead to 70-60 with nine minutes to go after a Klaye Rowe three-pointer. Andy’s responded to the call to go on a 10-2 run to go up 18 points with 7:25 to go.
There was one last run left for Bank of Nebraska. Carter cut the lead to 11 with back-to-back plays of a three pointer and an authoritative dunk with 4 minutes to go and finally cut the lead to 7 with about 90 second left, but it was not enough. Andy’s heads into the tournament on Thursday as one of the top seeds behind the great low-post play by John Turek and Andre Smith.
Game of the Night Part II
Apex Foster Care 81, BD 77 OT
Some of the more exciting games in the league sometimes go unnoticed due to the focus on the current D-1 college and pros playing in the league, but the ending to the game between Apex (Peru State) and BD was as exciting as any other big game. As the last game still going at the end of the night, the crowd was there creating some deafening noise.
This game was close throughout as both teams were tied at 33 going into halftime. The second half was just as close with both teams going back and forth into the final minutes. After a great off the rebound dunk by BD to tied the game at 64 with under two minutes to go, Apex’s Kris Frazier responded with an amazing dunk down the middle of the lane through traffic to put them up two with 1:40 remaining creating a rise out of the large crowd that gathered around the court.
BD responded to tie it at 66 with a minute to go. From there, David Plain took over. He scored a basket to take the lead 68-66 with 30 seconds to go. BD hit a free throw to cut the lead to 1 with 15 seconds remaining. Plain surrounded four free throws around a BD basket to take 3 point lead with less than 10 seconds remaining before BD’s Jace Fredenburg took a late pass from Jelani Johnson and nailed a three-pointer at the buzzer to send the game into overtime.
In the overtime period Plain continued his late play by hitting a three pointer to take the early lead in the extra period. After a basket by BD and two free throws from Apex’s Corday Sims, Fredenburg again hit a clutch three pointer to tie the game with 40 seconds remaining in OT. Plain responded by getting back to the line to hit two free throws to get the lead back and Sims sealed it with a couple more at the end to lead Apex to their victory and an important one at that, as they moved to 4-2 in pool play. It was a great finish to the evening.
Creighton Heavy Games
Judd Knispel Agency 92, Shanks Law Firm 60
Last week, the Judd Knispel Agency, which I have now dubbed the Nick Bahe All-Stars, brought former Bluejay and current NBA player Anthony Tolliver back home to play on his team. On Monday, Tolliver wasn’t there, but in his place was former Bluejay Dane Watts who was in town. As for the game itself, Bahe and crew were pretty even with Shanks going back and forth and went into halftime with a 45-39 lead. The second half was completely different as Bahe, Watts, Jahenns Manigat, Matt Dorwart and Ali Farokhmanesh took over and started to pull away from James Milliken (24 pts., 5 reb., 2 assts.) and the Shanks team sending them to 0-6 in summer league play.
The Judd Knispel Agency moved to 4-2 behind Dorwart’s 24 points and 13 rebounds and Manigat’s 25 points, 6 rebounds and 6 assists. Oh, and Manigat also threw one down, which makes three dunks for his career. (Everyone laugh along.)
Zurlo’s 107, Narmi Group @ Baird 83
Mo Watson can’t play for Creighton next season, so his motivation must be to help lead his Zurlo’s team to win Summer League. Right away the Boston University transfer took it to the Narmi Group, who again was somewhat shorthanded, scoring at will and finding the open players to get to a quick 22-10 lead. For good measure, Watson even assisted on an alley-oop from half court. They went into halftime with a 60-29 lead and never looked back.
Watson finished the night with 35 points, 6 rebounds and 12 assists to lead the way for Zurlo’s. There was also some great three point shooting by UNO’s Alex Phillips to make up for the absence of Toby Hegner from the lineup. On the other side, Ronnie Harrell had another solid night, with some accounts having him with a triple-double (21, 11, 11). We won’t argue with that. Zurlo’s moves to 5-1 and could be on the opposite side of Andy’s Lawncare in the bracket.
EQ School of Hair 96, Paragas Law Firm 80
Dane Watts pulled double duty on Monday night as he teamed up with Josh Jones and Paragas to take on Zach Hanson and crew from EQ School of Hair. Both Will Artino and Ricky Kreklow were absent from Paragas while Leon Gilmore was out for EQ with back spasms.
EQ jumped out to an early lead and went into the half up 11 points. In the second half, Hanson went to work against Watts and UNO’s Tre’Shawn Thurman helped EQ pull away for the victory. Hanson had 25 points, 11 rebounds and 2 blocks, while Thurman had 17 points and 4 rebounds.
John Higgins Weatherguard 80, Winning Mentality 66
Devin Brooks was practicing some new moves on Monday night as John Higgins Weatherguard pulled away in the second half for the victory. Down a point at the half, Higgins came out firing in the second half to go on a 18-5 run to put things out of reach. Geoff Groselle built upon his performance last week with 18 points and 14 rebounds, while Brooks had a pretty full stat line with 13 points, 11 rebounds, 8 assists, 4 steals. He actually had a triple-double, but probably not the stat you want to get that designation.
The Rest
Mustangs 89, UNO Alumni 83
After suffering their first defeat of the season on Thursday night, the Mustangs (Morningside) rebounded to get their fifth victory of the summer. UNO Alumni actually had a 10 point lead early and a 51-45 lead at the half. However, the Mustangs battled back and were up five points with 9:45 to go. UNO Alumni rallied back to get it to 86-83 with 25 seconds left, but they ran out of opportunities and the Mustangs walked away with the win.
Cape Truck Acc. 85, Northeast 66
Cape Truck (Midland University) continues its upward climb with a solid victory over Northeast. They were up at the half 37-29 and rolled from there to victory. Northeast lost their fourth in a row.
Bruins 69, Big O Boys 65
The Big O Boys responded to their beating at the hands of Andy’s last Thursday and took an early lead over the Bruins during the first half and a one point lead heading into halftime. However, the Bruins jumped out early in the second half to get a five-point lead and hung on to get the victory.
Lopers 88, ABIDE 52
The Lopers quietly put away ABIDE to move to 4-2 in pool play and put themselves in a good position heading into the tournament on Thursday.
—–
Matt Demarinis weighed in on his picks for all Summer League teams. Here are his choices:
Metro Summer League MVP: Maurice Watson, Jr.
— Matthew DeMarinis (@mjdemarinis) July 15, 2014
Metro Summer League First Team F – John Turek F – Zach Hanson G – Mike Jenkins G – Maurice Watson, Jr. G – Austin Chatman
— Matthew DeMarinis (@mjdemarinis) July 15, 2014
Metro Summer League Second Team F – Andre Smith F – Justin Carter G – Tre’Shawn Thurman G – Ronnie Harrell, Jr. G – Devin Brooks
— Matthew DeMarinis (@mjdemarinis) July 15, 2014
——
Play continues on Thursday night as the Metro Summer League Tournament starts with opening, second round and quarterfinal games. Check WBR later this week for the bracket and matchups.