With the heat of summer in full swing, many fans came inside to watch week two of the Metro Basketball League on Thursday night. While some players were missing, there were other new faces that were on the court. It also caused some teams to get mixed up from the original team rosters.
Creighton’s Nate Funk saw his first action in Summer League as well as high school prospect Akoy Agau. The referees however have not taken the summer off assessing some technical fouls as well. Here are the results and observations from the evening:
Bank of Nebarska 90, Judd Knispel Agency 65:
Bank of Nebraska was led by Wes Wilkinson with 26 points and Bellevue University graduate Klaye Rowe with 21. Justin Carter had a few amazing dunks which were captured on camera and may be posted here later. One of the dunks reported was what some considered had to be the play of the night. When Carter drove to the basket, he threw the ball off the backboard and tomahawk dunked it over somebody. Right now, it appears Bank of Nebraska is the team to beat in the league this summer.
On the other side, the Judd Knispel Agency again struggled without the services of Doug McDermott sending them quickly to 0-2 in pool play. To account for his absence, high school prospect Akoy Agau and other high school players did their best to fill in. Agau led them with 13 points.
Narmi Group @ Smith Barney 90, Thompson Basketball Camp 74:
The Narmi Group had a late addition of former Creighton star Nate Funk who helped lead them to the win over Thompson Basketball Camp to jump out to a 2-0 record. Andy King, who played at Samford, nailed eight three-pointers for 24 points in addition to Funk’s 16 points. Creighton’s Avery Dingman had a big night with 29 points in the loss. Geoff Grosselle made his first appearance of the summer and chipped in 12 points. He is recently coming back from a foot injury that sidelined him for a while.
EQ School of Hair Design 79, Bellevue University 77:
Midland’s Ben Imig drilled a huge three-pointer in the last 10 seconds to give EQ the lead off a nice Jahenns Manigat assist. Manigat was all over the place and had to be close to a triple double. James Parrott also came up huge for EQ with his 21 points. Imig finished with 11 points. Things were a little heated in this game as the referees even T’d up a player from the Bellevue team before halftime. Darius Robinson had 18 for Bellevue University and Mike Dotson 12. Bellevue sits at 0-2 in the league.
Zurlo’s 78, PJ Morgan Real Estate 77:
Zurlo’s defeated PJ Morgan with three key free throws by former Husker Ryan Anderson to end the game after trailing by two before the final foul of the game. Both teams are now 1-1 in league play.
Construction Zone 79, Chris Carder Agency 76, OT:
Construction Zone rebounded from last week’s loss to take down Chris Carder Agency in overtime. UNO senior Alex Welhouse played very well for Chris Carder Agency pouring in 25 pts.
UNO Alumni 97, Paragas Law Offices 77:
Creighton to-be sophomore Will Artino had 18 points in the loss and Josh Jones chipped in 11. Andrew Bridger had 19 to lead the UNO Alumni in a balanced attack.
Shanks Law Firm 76, Andy’s Lawn & Landscape 67:
The Husker heavy Andy’s Lawn and Landscape was not enough to overtake Shanks Law Firm. John Turek had 16 points and Jason Dourisseau had 15 in the loss. Shanks was led by North Dakota graduate Ervin Youmans and former Bellevue Bruin, Ben Walstrom, who each chipped in 17 points.
Higgins Weatherguard 70, Wissing 65
This one was a tight game throughout. UNK’s Mike Dentlinger led the way with 14 points and Northwest Missouri State graduate Jake Reinders had 12 for Higgins, who is now 2-0.
Walentine O’Toole McQuillan & Gordan 61, HCMC 56:
WOMG was led by Ethan Wragge’s 17 pts in a 61-56 win over HCMC. Creighton’s Nevin Johnson also continued to impress those in attendance with his ability to drive to the basket.
Vanderslice 84, ABIDE 69
The gridiron warriors, Vanderslice, is now a surprising 2-0 while ABIDE falls to 0-2.
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Jason Isaacson and members of the Bluejay Underground contributed to this report.