Season 52 Featured Game No. 10...Oklahoma City at Dallas

Dallas 77, Oklahoma City 73

DEMONS WIN; MILWAUKEE IN

DALLAS -- The Dallas Demons (now 8-2) clinched home court advantage throughout the playoffs with a spirited win over the visiting Oklahoma City Lariats (5-5), but lost starting forward Satan Israel to injury for the entirety of the post season. (He was replaced on the roster by Stan Doffish).

The Dallas victory finalized the fourth and final playoff spot to the surprising Milwaukee Greyhounds, eliminating Oklahoma City on the final game of the season for the East Division.

It was later determined that Charleston, with a 5-5 record, and not Oklahoma City (also 5-5) finished in last place in the East; the first time in 52 seasons a .500 team has ever finished in last place.

While Dallas finished in first at 8-2, Milwaukee, Philadelphia, Oklahoma City and Charleston all finished 5-5. The first tie-breaker and the playoff spot went to Milwaukee, which won 4 divsion games, while the other three 5-5 teams each won 3 division games. The second tie-breaker for those three teams was head-to-head wins, with Philadelphia getting 3, Oklahoma City 2 and Charleston 1. 

PLAYER OF THE GAME

30 GVP...Rookie of the Year shoo-in KOPI LUWAK of Dallas nailed down his fourth POG of the season, tying him at this point with Hall of Fame guard Jesse Shershot of San Jose for the league lead in that department. The smooth-shooting Luwak scored a game-high 22 points on 9 of 15 shooting, hitting 2 of 5 from deep and going 2 for 3 from the foul line. The 6-2 guard added a game-high 2 steals and pulled down 4 rebounds. He finished the season with a robust scoring average of 17.7 ppg, good for second in the league behind Shershot at the moment.

Other 20-plus GVP performers

23 GVP...Dallas defensive ace Juzan Djinn nearly shut out Handsy Joe Potatoe of Oklahoma City, allowing him just 2 points on 1 of 8 shooting. Meanwhile, the third-year Demons star scored 12 points, tied for game-high in rebounds with 6, handed out 3 assists and added to his league-high blocked shots total with 2 more for a grand total of 31.

23 GVP...Rookie forward Pete Marzano of Dallas scored 14 points, topped everyone in blocked shots with 3, dished out a team-high 4 assists, stole 1 pass and grabbed 1 rebound in the win. 

23 GVP...Going head-to-head with heralded rookie Biggus Dickus, Oklahoma City center Chochky Galumpkus led his team in scoring with 19 points while grabbing 2 boards and assisting 2 times. He's in a major battle with Johnny Bananas of Charleston for his third All-MBA foil star.

20 GVP...In the game-within-a-game head-to-head battle for the second All-MBA spot at guard, Oklahoma City's King Czardines netted 20 GVP against Luwak's 30. Will it be enough to get him that foil star? He scored 13 points, grabbed 1 rebound and led everyone with 6 assists giving him a 4.7 per game average in that department. That means perennial assist champ, Hall of Famer Great Gruncle Terry, will need 4 assists in his final game to tie for the assists title and 5 to win it outright. 

MBA Standings … Season 52

EAST DIVISION

DALLAS………………….8-2 (clinched playoffs and home court throughout playoffs)

MILWAUKEE……….. 5-5 (clinched playoff spot)

PHILADELPHIA………5-5

OKLAHOMA CITY…..5-5

CHARLESTON……….5-5

 

 

WEST DIVISION

SACRAMENTO…6-3 (clinched playoff spot)

SAN JOSE………….5-4 (clinched playoff spot)

SEATTLE…………..5-5

GILLETTE………….3-6

LOS ANGELES…..1-8

 

NEXT UP:  Gillette at San Jose…The home team Fighting Amigos still have a smidgeon of a chance to get first place in the West Division. They need to beat the Humps (who they creamed behind Eddie Creamer 71-50 in their first meeting) and then hope that a 1-win Los Angeles team can take down a heavily-injured Sacramento in the final regular season game of Season 52.