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.