Three double-doubles and two more near double-doubles propelled the Potawatomi Fire to the West Regional Championship of The Basketball League Saturday night at FireLake Arena.
Ricky Artis, candidate for TBL Sixth Man of the Year, tallied 25 points and pulled down 13 rebounds. Deshawn Munson fired in 24 points and grabbed 18 boards and All-TBL First Team selection Chuck Guy tossed in 16 points and added 14 assists as Potawatomi swept a two-game series from the Los Angeles Ignite.
Nabbing near double-doubles were Paul Harrison with 25 points and seven rebounds and K.D. Moore with 23 points and nine boards.
The Fire upended the Ignite 140-108 in Los Angeles Wednesday night to take Game 1.
Saturday’s victory advances Potawatomi to TBL finals where they will face the St. Louis Griffins in a rematch of the 2023 finals in which the Fire won in three games.
Two of the Potawatomi players – Guy and Moore – played Saturday’s game in unusual and emotional circumstances.
For Guy, he was playing after just learning that his uncle Victor Butler passed away after the team arrived home to Shawnee from L.A.
As for Moore, it was his birthday and another year didn’t stem his energy in Saturday’s game.
“I tried to block that (Butler’s passing) out. But what a great way to come out and compete,” Guy said. “What a game to come out and do it (win) for him.”
Moore had a team-best three steals and blocked a shot on his birthday.
The Fire (26-0) struggled early, trailing the entire first quarter after falling behind 7-0 at the start,
getting behind as much as 25-13 and even falling into a 30-19 hole by quarter’s end.
But Potawatomi opened the second period with a massive 17-0 run. In fact, the Ignite went scoreless for the first 5:33 as J.T. Terrell knocked down 2-of-3 foul shots. L.A. didn’t get its first field goal of the quarter until the 5:43 mark before halftime.
“We had to pick up the energy and lock into us and what we needed to do,” Moore explaining the difference between the first and second periods. “They were doing all that rah-rah stuff and physical grabbing. It was just us getting together and playing as we’re supposed to.” Moore says this was probably the best game of his professional career on his birthday, but remembers having a 20-point game around his birthday while playing for East Central University.
That huge spurt was sparked by a putback shot by Ruston Hayward, who ended up with four points in the contest. Artis II and Moore followed with back-to-back baskets. Munson then registered an old-fashioned 3-point play. Moore then slammed the ball through the hoop off a Harrison pass. Munson then executed a reverse layup, Moore canned two free throws and Munson scored off the glass to give Potawatomi a 36-30 lead with 6:30 to go before halftime.
The Fire, still maintaining a six-point lead (45-39), closed the final 3:13 of the quarter with a 14-4 run to take a 59-43 cushion at the break.
Potawatomi outscored the Ignite 40-13 in the second period alone.
The largest lead for the Fire was 27 points (118-91) late in the fourth.
Potawatomi shot 50% from the floor, but was only 20% (5-of-25) from 3-point land. The Fire also knocked down 21-of-31 foul shots (67.7%).
L.A. which had a magnificent run as a first-year team in TBL, hit at a 40.2% from the field, including 33.3% from outside the arc, and 71.4% (5-of-7) from the charity stripe.
Like the Fire, five players reached double figures for the Ignite.
Cameron Smith led the way with 18 points, Kwah Gredic followed with 17, Tarin Smith added 16, Alex Smith contributed 15 and Ty Glover tacked on 12.
Notes: Fire Head Coach Mark Dannhoff was presented his second straight TBL Coach of the Year Award, prior to Saturday’s game…The Fire Girls were presented the Central Conference Dance Team of the Year Award for 2024.
