It was a fast paced game from the start. Both teams did not waste any time getting up and down the floor. Play on both sides was crisp and it appeared like the game could be tight throughout the night. Neither team wanted to make the mistake that could cost them. With both teams giving up little ground the Drive led 19-17. Nathan Fuqua tipped in a shot by Daniel Ruffin at the buzzer.

The Drive kicked it into the next gear in the 2nd quarter. They started the quarter with an 8-0 run that turned into a 14-4 run. The Central Illinois players got some style points along the way as well. Jemal Farmer had a nice dunk. Matt Salley hit a shot from behind the basket while falling out of bounds but it did not count because the shot clock ran out. Momentum had swung in favor of the Drive but they would need to keep up the good play in the final two quarters. At halftime the Drive led 43-37 after a 24-20 quarter. Perry Petty was leading scoring with 14 points.

The 3rd quarter started like the 1st. Both teams played with a lot of intensity and wanted to keep their offense hot. The Central Illinois defense was on their game, keeping Rochester from keeping the game too close. But the RazorSharks were not going away. The Drive offense had to keep up the pressure and speed to keep their big lead. At one point they led by 14 points. The Drive outscored Rochester 29-23 in the 3rd and led 72-60.

The Drive started the 4th with a 9-2 run and eventually opened up the lead to 20 points. It was the largest lead of the game. The Drive had it all going and Rochester lost their composure when Aaron Williams threw the ball at Perry Petty resulting in a technical foul. All the Drive players had to do was keep scoring and play solid defense and the Championship would be theirs.

Box score:

http://www.dakstats.com/WebSync/Pages/BoxScores/BoxScores.aspx?association=56&sg=MBB&sea=PBLMBB_2011&team=18687&compID=147734

Series Recap

Game 1: Drive 98 – Rochester 91

Game 2: Rochester 80 at Drive 101

For more on the Central Illinois Drive, visit www.drivehoops.com and visit the Premier Basketball League at www.thepbl.com. All games can be heard on WJBC Online.

With 4:39 left in the game, Jerice Crouch (10 points) hit a 3-point shot to bring the Drive lead down to 89-81, but a Perry Petty (16 points, seven rebounds) shot, a RazorSharks turnover, and a technical foul by Crouch gave the Drive a 92-81 lead with 3:23 left.

Tasheed Carr (20 points, 6 rebounds) hit six of his 12 free throws with under 3:00 left in the game to help pull the RazorSharks within as many as five points, but an offensive foul by Melvin Council (14 points) with 36 seconds left helped seal the game for the Drive.

“They are a good team, but we had too many turnovers and we did not execute,” said Carr. “If we give it 110% and play hard for a full 48 minutes, we can win this championship.”

The first quarter opened up with intense, back and forth action for both teams. Johnny Mayhane hit a 3-point shot from deep to give the RazorSharks a three point lead early, but the Drive’s Todd Peterson (14 points, five rebounds) answered with a 3-point shot of his own to tie the game with 7:18 left in the first quarter.

A huge block by Jamaal Davis (10 points, five rebounds, four assists, four blocks) on a drive by Nathan Fuqua (13 points, five assists) led to a 3-point shot from Todd McCoy (13 points, five rebounds )and later a baseline underhanded flip by Crouch helped pull the RazorSharks within one point with 4:00 left in the first quarter, as the first quarter ended with a 17-16 score in favor of the Drive.

“Our games are so different,” said Aaron Williams (10 points, 10 rebounds). “They like to space the floor out, so we need to have better rotation and not allow any easy baskets.”

The first four minutes of the second quarter belonged to the Drive, as a 3-point shot made by Petty gave the Drive a 32-23 lead with 8:00 minutes left in the half. A Keith Friel (nine points) 3-point shot as the shot clock expired and two made free throws from Friel, Davis, and Crouch brought the RazorSharks within two points with 4:00 left in the half.

A give-and-go from Davis ended with a Friel basket and a Carr drive gave the RazorSharks the lead with 2:40 left, but a deep 3-point shot from Petty took the lead right back for the Drive. McCoy hit a shot right before the halftime buzzer, giving the RazorSharks a 41-38 lead at the half.

The Drive started the second half on fire, including a Jemal Farmer (seven points) reverse slam dunk to put a stamp on a 10-0 Drive run for a 48-41 lead with 10:17 left in the quarter.

After Carr was followed on a 3-point attempt and made all three shots, Peterson nailed a deep 3-pointer to give the Drive a 57-51 lead with 4:30 left in the third period of play. A Jarhon Giddings pass into the paint for a Davis finish brought the RazorSharks within one point with 1:25 left, but a Rodney Edgerson 3-pointer helped give the Drive a 72-69 lead into the final frame.

“In order to win this championship, we need to sustain the effort we had from the first half,” said Head Coach Rod Baker. “They were not going to lay down and we had a poor start, we have to become better in order to win on Saturday.”

The RazorSharks will travel to Bloomington, Ill. for game two on Saturday at 8:05pm at the US Cellular Coliseum. If the RazorSharks win, game three will be played there also, with a 5:05pm tip off.

The Drive swept the Scranton Wilkes-Barre Steamers last week in round 1 to advance to the PBL Championship Series. Game 1 at Scranton was all Drive. Both teams showed their offensive muscle early but eventually the Drive stretched the gap and won 132-103. In game 2 the Steamers stayed with the Drive in the opening quarter but then Central Illinois took off with a 44 point 2nd quarter. Most of the 2nd half was spent playing solid defense and capitalizing on turnovers. The Drive won 125-108 to advance to the PBL Championship Series.

For most of the season the RazorSharks were in second place behind the Drive. Early on the Drive were unbeaten and Rochester had lost one game. When the Drive lost to Sauk Valley the two teams were tied with one loss each. When the Scranton Wilkes-Barre Steamers beat the RazorSharks on April 1, the Drive took over first place. These two only lost a combined three games. Now they get to test their skills against each other.

Series Recap

Game 1: Drive at Rochester April 12, 6:35 pm CDT

Game 2: Rochester at Drive April 14, 7:05 pm CDT

*Game 3: Rochester at Drive April 15, 4:05 pm CDT

(*if necessary)

The Drive have had an exciting inaugural season up to this point. They quickly picked up interest with some local talent and then got off to one of the hottest starts in league history. The team won their first 15 games before losing at the Sauk Valley Predators in early March. The winning streak tied the second longest in PBL history. That loss was the only loss of the regular season. The team had no trouble on offense all season as they only played three games where they did not break 100 points. Some wondered how they would handle a playoff type game. The challenge was answered on March 4 when the Sauk Valley Predators came to Bloomington. The Drive fell far behind early and came all the way back to win the game in overtime and clinch the Central Division. Perry Petty led regular season scoring with 17.3 points per game (329 points total). Todd Peterson made the most three-point baskets going 46-117 (39.3%). Anthony Slack and Perry Petty tied in rebounds with 123 on the season but Slack’s 7.7 rebounds per game beat Petty’s 6.5. Jemal Farmer led the team making 68-85 (80%) free throws.

The Scranton Wilkes-Barre Steamers had a streaky season but never got too high or low. They started the season with a pair of losses and then won three straight. That would be the ongoing theme of their season. Like the Drive, the Steamers had no trouble on offense as they scored over 100 points in all but three games. They finished second in the Eastern Division with seven fewer wins than Rochester and four more than third place Dayton. Vincent Simpson led the team with 20.4 points per game (387 points) and he also led the team going 44-133 (33.1%) from three point range. Rob Robinson led the team with 125 rebounds (11.4 rebounds per game). Darrion Griffin led the team making 81-120 (67.5) free throws.

Game 1: 4/5 Drive at Steamers – 6:05 pm CDT

Game 2: 4/7 Steamers at Drive – 7:05 pm CDT

*Game 3: 4/9 Steamers at Drive – 7:05 pm CDT

(*if necessary)

For more on the Central Illinois Drive, visit www.drivehoops.com and visit the Premier Basketball League at www.thepbl.com. All games can be heard on WJBC Online.

After the RazorSharks went on a 9-1 run to start the fourth quarter and take a 95-90 lead, Brandon Tunnell (15 points, 7 assists) of the Steamers drove through the lane to make the basket and the foul, swinging momentum back towards Scranton Wilkes-Barre and creating back-and-forth action.

The Steamers took a seven point lead with 3:29 left in the game when Jerice Crouch (19 points, 7 assists) hit a 3-pointer and a Steamers turnover led to a fast break with Crouch throwing an alley-oop to Aaron Williams (team-high 20 points, six rebounds) who finished with an emphatic dunk to bring the crowd of 4,877 to their feet and bring the RazorSharks within two points.

After a Chris Commons (27 points, six blocks) 3-pointer gave the Steamers a lead, Williams hit one of two free throws for Rochester to tie the game with 20.5 seconds remaining.

With the Steamers in possession of the ball, Simpson (20 points, eight assists) took a 3-pointer for the win, but was fouled by Johnny Mayhane (seven points, seven rebounds, five assists) and proceeded to hit all three free throws.

A Jamaal Davis (eight points, eight rebounds) 3-pointer missed at the buzzer, sealing the Steamers first win against the RazorSharks this year.

Other leaders for the RazorSharks were Tasheed Carr with 17 points and six assists and Todd McCoy with 16 points. Jarhon Giddings had 12 points, seven rebounds, and three steals off the bench, Brandon Webster ended with 11 points and seven rebounds, and Melvin Council had a team-high eight assists.

For the Steamers, Tyler Bullock had 14 points, six rebounds, and three steals and Colby Batiste finished with a double-double of 13 points and 10 rebounds along with four assists and three steals. Matt Gorman finished with 11 points and six rebounds and Kyle Robbins had 10 points and six rebounds.

This was accomplished during this past weekend’s games in which the Sauk Valley Predators clinched the number 2 seed in the Central division by defeating the Chicago Muscle 107-89.  “This has been an exciting season joining the PBL. When we started this organization back in August of 2011, our goal was to bring a team to our city that our community can be proud of and to make the playoffs. We’ve achieved that goal and so now it’s time to bring the first championship to our fans,” commented Predators owner Brad Grenoble.

The Scranton Wilkes-Barre Steamers secured the number 2 seed in the PBL’s Eastern Division after their win against the Dayton Air Strikers with a score of 111-89.  This was a close finish to securing the number 2 seed.  Even if the Dayton Air Strikers were to finish with the same record as the Steamers, the series record between the two teams belongs to the Steamers.  “This is something that our guys have worked hard for all season and it has finally paid off.  We are excited to be a part of the PBL’s Playoffs with this being our first season in basketball,” stated Steamers owner Joe Runco. “We could have not asked for a more successful season and want to bring a Championship home to Scranton Wilkes-Barre,” continued Runco.

The PBL’s Playoffs will consist of cross divisional play with the 1^st place Eastern Division Rochester RazorSharks competing against 2^nd place Central Division Sauk Valley Predators.  The 1^st place Central Division’s Central Illinois Drive will face off against the 2^nd place Eastern Division’s Scranton Wilkes-Barre Steamers.  “This playoff structure will provide some exciting basketball.  These teams have not played each other at all therefore the games will be interesting to watch as each team will not be familiar with the other’s style play,” stated Carrie Ann May, league commissioner and vice president of operations.

The Central Illinois Drive will hold on to the number 1 seed and home court advantage throughout the playoffs all the way to the Championship series.  “The Central Illinois Drive team and staff have had an exciting year, our first in the Premier Basketball League.  We are anxious to begin the 2012 PBL playoffs.  Our thanks go out to our fans, sponsors and everyone at the US Cellular Coliseum and the Premier Basketball League Staff for helping our inaugural season to be such a success.  Good luck to all the teams in the playoffs,” stated Central Illinois Drive co-owner Scott Henderson.

The Rochester RazorSharks, also last year’s PBL Champions will look to defend their championship as they square off against the Sauk Valley Predators in their first round of playoffs.  “This is the most exciting time of the year, and we’re looking forward to beginning the PBL playoffs with a win.  We’ll continue to take this time leading up to next week to prepare and get better, coming into the postseason fully focused on reaching our goal for another championship,” commented head coach Rod Baker.

Teams will play in a best of three series where the lower seed will host the first game.  The higher seed will then host the next two games (the third if necessary) at their home venue.

The PBL’s Playoff dates have been set and are as follows:

4/5/12 – Game 1, Central Illinois Drive at Scranton Wilkes-Barre Steamers.  7:05pm local time tipoff

4/6/12 – Game 1, Rochester RazorSharks at Sauk Valley Predators.  7:05pm local time tipoff

4/7/12 – Game 2, Scranton Wilkes-Barre Steamers at Central Illinois Drive.  7:05pm local time tipoff

4/7/12 – Game 2, Sauk Valley Predators at Rochester RazorSharks.  7:05pm local time tipoff

4/9/12 – Game 3, Scranton Wilkes-Barre Steamers at Central Illinois Drive.  7:05pm local time tipoff (if necessary)

4/9/12 – Game 3, Sauk Valley Predators at Rochester RazorSharks.  7:05pm local time tipoff (if necessary)

To keep up with PBL Playoff action, you can watch the games live by visiting www.AtSportsTV.com.  The PBL postseason games can also be seen on the TUFF TV Television Network (www.TuffTV.com)

For more information including ticket sales for the PBL Playoffs, please visit – www.DriveHoops.com, www.RazorSharks.com, www.SaukValleyPredators.com, www.SWBSteamers.com.

For more information on the Premier Basketball League visit www.ThePBL.com

Lake Michigan jumped off to a 6-0 lead to open the game but Dayton countered with Avery Smith and Bo Harris, both scoring 8 points a piece, and took a 25-21 lead.

Dayton extended their lead to 15, midway threw the second quarter, before the Admirals put together a 12-4 run, closing to within three at the half, 54-51.

The Admirals pulled within one, 76-75 with 2:24 left in the third, then tied the game at 78 a piece. The Air Strikers scored with 6.4 seconds left, maintaining an 82-81 edge after three.

Dayton expanded their lead to 7 with back to back three pointers by Smith and Carl Hampton in the fourth. The Admirals pulled within one on Ryan Young’s three point bomb, 102-101, with 1:14 left, but the Air Strikers’ defense tightened up and finished the game off at the free throw line.

Dayton placed six players in double figures with two players scoring double doubles Avery Smith with23 points and 11 rebounds and Harris with 19 points and 13 rebounds.

Lake Michigan had two players that scored double doubles as well with Onyie Onunaku’s 20 points and 11 rebounds and Jason Underwood’s 16 points and 16 rebounds. Odgra Bobo’s also had 19 points and Tyc Snow had 17 points.

The Admirals are 4-14 for the season. Admirals final two games of the season is next Saturday and Sunday. Saturday’s tip-off is at 6:00pm at LMC and Sunday at 3:00pm at Benton Harbor.

The game was intense throughout, as the Phoenix jumped out to an 8 point lead at halftime. Indiana stormed back and led by 1 at the end of the third quarter, as each teams began trading baskets in the fourth. The Phoenix proved to be too much in overtime and ultimately pulled away en route to a victory. Terry Evans was sensational for St. Louis, scoring 41 points and hauling in 18 rebounds. Corey Hill and Lonnell Johnson each added 30 points as well. The Diesels were led by Keith Radcliff who scored 38 points. Christopher Ames notched an impressive double-double for Indiana with 25 points and 21 rebounds.

The St. Louis Phoenix would like to thank everyone who supported them in their inaugural season in the PBL. It is through this support that success was achieved and a foundation was put in place for years to come. Best of luck to all PBL teams in the playoffs, and we look forward to another great season in 2013.

The Drive controlled play in the opening quarter. They made good shots and got rebounds when they missed. They had 20 rebounds in the 1st quarter alone. Coach AJ Guyton let some bench players get some action early and the move paid off. The Drive led 32-20 after the 1st.

In the 2nd the Drive kept the offense coming but Indiana stayed with them early. As the quarter moved along the Drive got hotter. Eventually they would outscore the Diesels 35-21 in the quarter and led 67-42 at the half. The team had 32 rebounds at halftime and Matt Sally led the team with 13 points.

The Drive opened up their lead to 30 points in the 3rd. As was the case in the 2nd, Indiana was able to score early on but Central Illinois got stingy on defense late in the quarter. The Drive led by 36 at the end of the quarter and were up 95-59. They outscored Indiana 28-17 in the quarter.

The Drive focused more on defense in the final quarter and were able to wrap up the win. Indiana kept pushing but it was never close enough to make a comeback of any sort. Indiana outscored Central Illinois 30-27 in the quarter.

Box score:

http://www.dakstats.com/WebSync/Pages/BoxScores/BoxScores.aspx?association=56&sg=MBB&sea=PBLMBB_2011&team=18687&compID=144976

The Drive play their last game of the regular season next Friday at 1:05 pm as they travel to the Chicago Muscle. For more on the Central Illinois Drive, visit www.drivehoops.com and visit the Premier Basketball League at www.thepbl.com. All games can be heard on WJBC Online.

Both team had no trouble scoring in the opening minutes of the game and the Phoenix offense looked pretty good. But the Drive were able to take control of things on offense by opening up the defense for easy scored down low. They forced mistakes on defense and played a smart offense. After the first quarter the Drive led 32-26.

Things continued down the same path in the 2nd quarter as the Drive kept forcing mistakes and capitalizing. Twice the Drive scored and then stole the inbounds pass for a score. The Phoenix stayed with Central Illinois for most of the quarter but the Drive pulled away late in the half. Central Illinois out scored St. Louis 36-19 in the quarter and led 68-45 at halftime. Perry Petty had 20 points while Anthony Slack had 14.

It all clicked for the Drive in the 3rd quarter as they opened up their lead. Central Illinois scored easily and often, forcing St. Louis to rush and miss easy shots. Perry Petty had yet to miss a shot going 10-10. The Drive outscored St. Louis 32-21 in the quarter and led 100-66 going to the 4th.

Coach AJ Guyton got some of his bench into the game in the 4th quarter. They did a good job to hold the lead and add to it. Rodney Edgerson scored 9 straight points early in the quarter. St. Louis outscored the Drive 26-23 in the quarter.

Box score:

http://www.dakstats.com/WebSync/Pages/BoxScores/BoxScores.aspx?association=56&sg=MBB&sea=PBLMBB_2011&team=18687&compID=146386

The Drive play the Indiana Diesels at home tomorrow at 1:05 pm. For more on the Central Illinois Drive, visit www.drivehoops.com and visit the Premier Basketball League at www.thepbl.com. All games can be heard on WJBC Online.