Sacramento 69, Charleston 57
R-Dogs hound Mountaineers into submission
SACRAMENTO -- The Sacramento River Dogs used a smothering fourth-quarter defense to notch their seventh win of the season, 69-57 against the visiting Charleston Mountaineers in a cross-over game that matched last season's semifinal foes. It was the third straight win for the home team.
The victory makes the R-Dogs 7-1 on the season and clinches a playoff spot for Sacramento, where they join Dallas as the only other team to punch a post-season ticket thus far.
Meanwhile, Charleston drops to 4-4 for the season, sputtering to its third consecutive loss and leaving the door open for another East team to claim the second playoff spot behind Dallas.
This game was a close-to-the-vest affair with defense oft-times trumping scoring possibilities. Sacramento choked the life out of the Charleston offense in the fourth, especially down the home stretch, when they prevented 12 Mountaineer points.
The West is now 6-2 in cross-over games.
POINTS PREVENTED BY QUARTERS
Charleston....4...4...2....0 Total=10
Sacramento...4...2...6...12 Total=24
Top players in points prevented
1. Tree Fiddy, Sacramento 8
2. Great Gruncle Terry, Sacramento 6
TURNOVERS CAUSED BY QUARTERS
Charleston.....0...1...2...1 Total=4
Sacramento...2...2...0...1 Total=5
Top players in causing turnovers
1. Potus Obama, Sacramento 5
2. Frog Morton, Charleston 2
PLAYER OF THE GAME
Nailing down his third Player of the Game honor, Sacramento veteran forward DOO-RAG DRIPP padded his lead for the second All-MBA forward spot behind Chip Battoe, who happens to be the only MBA player this season to have more POGs. Battoe has 4. Dripp, who is averaging 17.9 points per game, is fourth in the league in scoring behind Battoe. His 27-point scoring effort was easily high for the game against Charleston, with the 6-7, seventh-year player going 11 for 12 from the floor (including a slam) and 5 for 6 from the foul line. If he continues at this pace, Dripp will be his team's high scorer for the fifth time. He also pulled down 4 rebounds, had 1 assist and 1 blocked shot, dominating Faku Sosume (who fouled out) from the get-go.
Other 20-plus GVP performers
-- Sacramento point guard Great Gruncle Terry came within a bucket of registering another triple-double. As it was, the 6-5 Terry scored 8 points, grabbed 5 rebounds and tied for game-high in assists with 6. He's ahead of the pace to set a new assist record to supplant the one of 6.3 per game shared by Percy Faith and Bull Bunson, needing 10 to tie and 11 to surpass them in the last two games. Terry also finished second in points prevented in this win,
-- Terry's Sacramento running mate at guard, Potus Obama, was a wild dog on defense, adding to his league-leading steal mark with 2 more swipes and wreaking havoc with a game-high total of 5 turnovers. Obama scored 18 points, grabbed 3 rebounds, tied for tops in steals, dished 2 assists and blocked 1 shot, dominating his man Cat Timol in this playoff-clinching win.
-- Charleston point guard Hurricane Furrwizard registered the first triple-double of his five-season career, tying for team-high in scoring with 12, tying for game-high in assists with 6 and utilizing his 5-11 frame to pull down 5 rebounds.
-- Charleston forward Frog Morton didn't do much scoring, managing just 6 points, but the 6-9 forward grabbed a game-high 7 rebounds, tied for most steals with 2, tied for most blocked shots with 3 and handed out 2 assists, while playing some fine defense.
NEXT UP: Milwaukee (3-4) at Dallas (7-0). The Greyhounds are chasing the sputtering Charleston team for the second East playoff berth and would be in the driver's seat if they could somehow manage to spoil the Demons perfect season with an upset road win. Dallas won a defensive struggle by 9 their first meeting. Milwaukee would still be in the hunt, even with a loss, since its last two games of the season are against win-less Kansas City.
Bonus: Top 10 GVP
(compiled prior to the addition of this last game's stats after 7 games for each team)
1. Chip Battoe, Dallas forward.............................28.7 GVP
2. Dr. Marcus Brody, Los Angeles guard.............27.6
3. Jesse Shershot, San Jose rookie guard..............25.3
4. Chochky Galumpkus, Oklahoma City center...24.1
5. J.J. Gargantuan, Charleston center....................23.6
6. Tree Fiddy, Sacramento center..........................22.7
7. Meat Pants Masterson, Dallas guard.................22.6
7. Cat Timol, Charleston guard.............................22.6
9. Doo-rag Dripp, Sacramento forward................22.5
10. Chutcher Mouthchair, Philadelphia center......22.4
No comments:
Post a Comment