Defending champ Sun Kings stay hot

By GEORGE GEISE
Tribune Sports Editor

Link: http://www.greatfallstribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071205/SPORTS/712050320/1006/SPORTS

If local pro basketball fans were looking for silver linings Tuesday night, there were plenty to go around.

To be sure, the Great Falls Explorers lost their CBA game against the Yakama Sun Kings, but everybody else in the league has lost to the Washington powerhouse this season. The Sun Kings' 111-97 victory at Four Seasons Arena before about 500 fans was the ninth straight for the two-time defending CBA champions, who had won 53 of a possible 56 quarter-points entering the game.

The fact that Great Falls won the third quarter 31-29 and tied the second quarter 24-24 didn't go unnoticed, or unappreciated.

"Getting a quarter point and tying another against that team is a step in the right direction," said Explorers guard Cody Toppert, a 6-4 southpaw who scored 15 points and displayed excellent hustle all night.

"As a player, you like to play the best," Toppert added. "It's a tough start for us to play (Yakama) right away, then come back against Oklahoma (also undefeated) the next two nights.

"We stayed with them for three quarters, and they're an experienced team ... we got it down to seven, but we kind of ran out of gas their. Their transition defense kind of killed us."

Yakama, coached by Paul Woolpert, led 90-83 early in the fourth quarter following two straight inside baskets by Great Falls guard William Maupin, who finished with 14 points and a game-high 11 rebounds.

But the Sun Kings turned up the defensive heat, reeling off 13 unanswered points, most of them inside the lane.

Jason Forte and Jermaine Blackburn each had two field goals during the run, which put the game out of recah.

Great Falls responded with an 8-0 burst sparked by the first four professional points from 6-7 forward Mike Chavez of Browning.

Great Falls coach Scott Wedman, whose team dropped to 1-7 — including five losses to undefeated opponents — saw a lot of like from his squad, especially in the middle two quarters.

"We had sections where our defense really looked good," said Wedman, a former NBA star a few decades ago.

"When we had our small lineup in early in the second half we made a nice run. Maupin and Toppert made some plays ... what a player Will is. He's not the biggest guy (6-5) but he probably had more rebounds than anybody."

Veteran guard Keith Salscheider led Great Falls with 16 points, including two 3-pointers. Eric Strand sank three treys on his way to 11 points, and 6-6 Nate Green was the only inside player to have much success, getting 10 points and four boards.

Yakama had six players in double digits, topped by Desmond Ferguson with 21 and Jason Sasser with 19.

Wedman said moral defeats aren't his goal with this team.

"Losing is not what we're striving for, but to win a quarter and get another half-point, we'll take it. We need work on our conditioning, and we need to get up and down a little better."

The Explorers got only 28 points and 13 rebounds from its four post players, who were facing a physical, athletic front line.

"With our bigs, we're looking for some consistent post play," said Wedman. "But it was nice to see Mike Chavez give us a little lift in the fourth quarter. He got his feet wet."

Chavez, the former Heart Butte and Browning prep star, played sparingly until the final four minutes, and finished with four points and two rebounds in about 10 minutes of court time.

The Explorers will stay busy with four more games in the next five days, starting with contests tonight and Thursday against the Oklahoma Cavalry.

"It's a great weekend of basketball for the city," said Toppert, who's playing his third season of minor-league basketball after a college career at Cornell.

"We let a couple points get away at Oklahoma, and we know what matchups should be successful against them. If we continue to improve we should get some victories."

Tip-off tonight is 6:05, and plenty of tickets are available.

Yakama 33 24 29 23 — 111 Great Falls 20 24 31 20 — 97

YAKAMA (111)

Jason Sasser 6-10 6-7 19, Desmond Ferguson 7-8 4-4 21, Harvey Thomas 3-5 2-2 8, Jason Forte 6-10 2-3 14, Elvin Mims 6-10 0-0 12, Moochie Norris 3-6 4-5 10, Jermaine Blackburn 5-12 1-1 11, Anthony Washington 3-8 2-2 8, Tim Ellis 1-1 0-0 2, Ray Weathers 1-3 3-3 5. Totals: 41-75 25-30.

GREAT FALLS (97)

Mike Harmon 1-2 1-6 3, Nate Johnson 4-9 0-0 9, Najeeb Echols 3-8 3-5 9, William Maupins 7-11 0-0 14, Cody Toppert 7-15 1-1 15, Keith Salscheider 6-12 2-3 16, Nate Green 4-11 2-3 10, Mike Chavez 2-5 0-0 4, Tyler Hughes 3-4 0-0 6, Eric Strand 4-7 0-0 11. Totals: 41-84 9-19.

Three-pointers: yakama 4-14 (Forte 0-2, Weathers 0-3, Thomas 0-2, Blackburn 0-2, Ferguson 4-4, Washington 0-2, Sasser 1-6), Great Falls 6-17 (Johnson 1-4, Toppert 0-2, Strand 3-4, Salscheider 2-4, Green 0-1, Chavez 0-2). Rebounds: Yakama 37 (Sasser 8), Great Falls 47 (Maupins 11). A: 500 (ets).