Saturday, June 19, 2010

PLAYOFF FINALS – Game 4

Charleston 75, Houston 54



CHARLESTON -- There will be a winner-take-all Game 5.

The Charleston Rebels put the first serious ass-beating on their opponent in this Season 26 Finals, routing the Iguanas of Houston 75-54.

The Rebels, featuring balanced scoring, tough defense and dominant rebounding, sprinted to a 20-12 first-quarter lead and were never headed thereafter. The first quarter continues to be a key in this series.

The Iguanas were again held to under 50 percent shooting for the game (48.0). Only one Houston player, Dingo Dog Taylor (14 points) managed double figures in this one as the Iguanas were held to their lowest point total of the season. Meanwhile, all five Charleston starters scored 13 or more points, with two-guard Kippy Kinski leading the way with 18. This was the last home game in Kinski’s illustrious career, all eight seasons spent with Charleston.

Trailing 37-28 in the second quarter, Iguana hopes of catching up suffered a severe blow when point guard Jinx Bluzemen went down with an injury for the remainder of the contest. He is expected to return for the big Game 5 contest in Houston.

Neither team has lost a home game in the Finals.



Houston…..12…32…44…54

Charleston 20…39…55…75



Game MVP—Hall of Famer Jonny Cockaroo, Charleston 13 points, 9 rebounds, two blocks, one steal

Top Scorer—Kippy Kinski, Charleston, 18 points

Top Rebounder – Jonny Cockaroo, Charleston 9

Top Assister – Benny Gumm and Kippy Kinski, both of Charleston, 4

Tops in Steals – Tubes Mullard, Houston, 2

Blocked Shots – Jonny Cockaroo, Charleston, Davis Mastersoy and Zooch Managoogie, both Houston, all with 2.

Other Top Scorers—Dingo Dog Taylor, Houston, Benny Gum, So Ca Toah and Sammy Zazooch, all Charleston, all with 14 points.

Sunday, June 13, 2010

Finals--Game 3 in Houston

Houston 70, Charleston 63

With another hotly-contested 70-63 victory over Charleston, the Houston Iguanas are now one game away from winning their first championship since Season 12. As in the Game 2 Charleston triumph, the winning team jumped out to what proved to be an insurmountable first-quarter lead. Houston, led by game MVP Jinx Bluzemen (24 points) led 20-9 after one. The lead grew to 19 in the second quarter when Dingo Dog Taylor (17 points) popped in a three-point-shot, was fouled and converted the free throw to make it 34-15.
But Charleston, though in a deep hole, was not yet buried. The Rebels, led by Kippy Kinski (18 points) hit the boards hard, out-rebounding Houston 31-18 in the game and closed to within eight of their adversaries at the end of the third quarter. They got within five at 65-60 when Hall of Fame center Jonny Cockaroo grabbed an offensive rebound and slammed it home with 11 ticks left. Iguanas coach Doug Fresh, claiming that Cockaroo pushed off to get the important board, was then called for a technical foul. Benny Gumm of Charleston made it 65-61 and Charleston had the ball thanks to the technical.
But Kinski, pressured by Tubes Mallard, threw away the ball in what turned out to be Charleston's last good hope.

Charleston 9...27...44...63
Houston....20..41...53...70

Game MVP-- Jinx Bluzemen, Houston, 24 points, 4 assists, 2 blocked shots, 2 rebounds
Top Scorer--Jinx Bluzemen, Houston, 24 points
Top Rebounder--Jonny Cockaroo, Charleston, 9
Tops in Assists--Jinx Bluzemen, Houston, 4
Tops in Steals--Tubes Mallard, Davis Mastersoy and Dingo Dog Taylor, all of Houston, with 1 each
Other Top Scorers--Kippy Kinski, Charleston 18; Dingo Dog Taylor, Houston 17: Zooch Managoogie, Houston, 15.

Game 3 Notes: Houston shot under 50 percent for the third consecutive game, going 28 for 61 (45.9 percent), but continued to shine at the free throw line (11 for 13). In the finals, Houston is 22 for 24 from the line.
Houston 7-1 center Davis Mastersoy is the league's tallest player and the top playoff rebounder thus far at 5.6 per contest. But he's having a bitch of a time scoring, going up against two of the top defensive centers thus far in the playoffs, rookie Max Payne of Dallas and Jonny Cockaroo of Charleston. Mastersoy is shooting an anemic18.1 percent from the field (5.4 points per game) and has taken the most shots on the team, which accounts in part for the team's bad shooting percentage thus far.
Charleston's All-League guard and top scorer Benny Gumm continues to struggle in the finals thanks to the defense of Bluzemen. In Game 3, Gumm, an 18.9 per game scorer in the regular season, was held to just 10. He has scored just 28 points in three finals games.

Tuesday, June 8, 2010

Finals--Game 2 in Charleston

Charleston 63, Houston 58

The Charleston Rebels held off the Houston Iguanas 63-58 in Charleston, evening up the championship series and ending the longest winning streak in the history of the MBA.
Led by Hall of Fame center Jonny Cockaroo (22 points), the Rebels came out smoking, establishing a 10-point lead at 21-11 after the initial quarter.
Like Houston, Charleston boasted one of the toughest MBA defenses during the regular season and put it on display in this victory. The 58 points scored by Houston tied the Iguana's lowest total of the year which came in a loss to Charleston on the opening game of Season 26.
Charleston began the game with a 9-0 run, from which Houston never completely recovered. Houston, behind the efforts of forwards Dingo Dog Taylor (13 points) and Zooch Managoogie(12 points) extended a lot of energy to tie the score 46-46 late in the third quarter. But Charleston scored the next eight points of the game and put things basically out of reach.
Up 54-50, Charleston got a pair of key buckets by retiring two guard Kippy "As If I Had To Tell You" Kinski (14 points) to make it 58-50. A jumper by Rebel point guard Benny Gumm (10 points) made it 60-50 and the double-digit lead sealed the fate of the Iguanas.
For the second game in a row, Houston was held to under 50 percent shooting (44.8).

Houston.....11..25..46..58
Charleston..21..34..49..63

Game MVP--Jonny Cockaroo, Charleston, 22 points, 6 rebounds, 1 steal, 3 blocked shots
Top Scorer--Jonny Cockaroo, Charleston, 22 points
Top Rebounder--Sammy Zazooch, Charleston and Davis Mastersoy, Houston 7 each
Tops in Assists--Tubes Mullard, Houston, 6
Tops in Steals--Tubes Mullard, Houston 2
Other Top Scorers--Kippy Kinski, Charleston 14; Dingo Dog Taylor, Houston 13

Sunday, June 6, 2010

Finals--Game 1 in Houston

Houston 61, Charleston 58

Rare is the MBA game where a winning team shoots 42.6 percent, but that was the case in game one of the championship best of five round captured by the Houston Iguanas 61-58 over the Charleston Rebels.
This is win No. 13 in a row for Houston, and it is a league record. The Iguanas continue their victory skein, winning big, and winning ugly, winning with their bench and winning with their defense.
Against the Rebels, they hit five threes, a team record for the season from a team that does not depend on the trey. Basically, the Doug Fresh-coached team does whatever it has to in order to get on the left side of the ledger. A stifling defense was key in this one.
Veteran point guard Jinx Bluzemen (21 points) led the way for Houston, leading both teams in scoring, grabbing a team-high 8 rebounds, popping in a pair of 3-pointers and even jamming one home on an offensive putback. He was also a perfect 3 for 3 from the foul line and held All-League guard Benny Gumm to just 8 points.
This was a tight one almost all the way through. A medium jumper by Sammy Zazooch (8 points) of Charleston tied the score 34-34 at the half and Rebels guard Kippy Kinski (17 points) knotted the score again 56-56 late in the game before fouling out a few time units later with his team trailing 58-56.
Soh Cah Toa (14 points) tied it again 58-58 on an offensive rebound putback off his own miss with seven ticks left setting up the Houston heroics.
It was Zooch Managoogie (12 points) who provided them, driving to the hole, scoring and then hitting a free throw on the play to secure the lead with five time units remaining.

Charleston 15 34 43 58
Houston....16 34 50 61

Game MVP--Jinx Bluzemen, Houston, 21 points, 8 rebounds, 2 assists.
Top Scorer--Bluzemen, Houstin 21
Top Rebounder--Sammy Zazooch, Charleston 9
Tops in assists--Benny Gumm, Charleston and Tubes Mullard, Houston, 3 each
Steals--Zooch Managoogie, Houston, 2
Other Top Scorers--Dingo Dog Taylor, Houston, 19; Kippy Kinski, Charleston 17

Game 1 Notes: The 58 points was the lowest total of the season for Charleston. The Rebels' previous low was 63 in their regular-season loss to Houston.
Houston was 10 for 10 from the free-throw line.
Houston center Davis Mastersoy had a bitch of a time against Jonny Cockaroo, going 0 for 10 from the field.
Benny Gumm, the top Charleston scorer, had another bad offensive game, scoring just 8 on the heels of a 4-point game against San Jose.

Tuesday, June 1, 2010

Round 1, Game 3 in San Jose

Charleston 72, San Jose 71

In one of the greatest and wildest games in MBA history, the Charleston
Rebels defeated the defending league champion San Jose Fighting Amigos 72-71
to advance to the finals for the second consecutive year.
Talk about your madman games. After the closest first quarter in this
series, Charleston took commanding control in the second quarter, going on
an early run and leading by as many as 11 points before the Amigos reeled
them in to trail 34-29 at the half. The third quarter ended with San Jose up
56-55, setting up the wild and wooly fourth.
In the final quarter, the lead changed hands five different times as the
two worthy foes fought desperately to avoid elimination. It did not look
good for the visiting Rebels when All-League guard Benny Gumm, who was in
foul trouble all game, picked up foul No. 5 early on and left the game with
a paltry four points. Behind forwards Sagittal Occlusal and Ed Masterson,
San Jose broke free of the lead-changing pattern and gave their team a 69-65
lead as the game wound down.
Then Charleston lost power forward Soh Cah Toah to fouls, but they were not
dead yet. When Hall of Famer Jonny Cockaroo scored the second consecutive
Rebels bucket, the game was tied 69-69 with 12 time units remaining.
Moments later, one-time Rookie of the Year two guard Kippy Kinski (17
points) drained a medium jump shot to give the surging Charleston team a
71-69 lead.
Then, with four time units remaining, all hell broke loose.
Following a missed Charleston shot and subsequent battle for the rebound,
San Jose¹s Felipe Jazzman and Charleston¹s Jim Linzy began a free-for-all
fight that resulted in both players getting booted from the game and
technical free throws being awarded to both teams.
Hall of Famer Cockaroo hit his charity shot for the Rebels, but
soon-to-be Hall of Famer Occlusal missed his, leaving his team with a
three-point deficit and precious little time remaining.
The Fighting Amigos then won the jump ball, keeping hopes alive. Center
Zlatko Korkovic then immediately drained a medium jump shot to pull his team
within a point, but the defending champs could not get the ball back before
time ran out.
The Rebels will now face Eastern Division foe, the Houston Iguanas for
the Season 26 MBA title. The teams split their two-game regular-season
series, with Charleston¹s opening game win against Houston accounting for
the Iguana¹s only loss this year.
Houston has won three titles, the last coming in Season 12 while
Charleston, experiencing it¹s best two-year stretch in team history, goes
after it¹s first championship.

Game MVP--Ed Masterson, San Jose, 23 points, 3 rebounds, 3 assists
Top Scorer--Ed Masterson, San Jose, 23 points
Top Charleston scorer--Hall of Famer Jonny Cockaroo 22 points
Top Rebounder--Soh Cah Toa, Charleston, 7
Tops in Assists--Felipe Jazzman, San Jose, 5 (in his last game ever)
Tops in Steals--Felipe Jazzman, San Jose, 2