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.