’Devils deny Cavalry
By Bruce Sayler - 12/30/2007
Link: http://www.mtstandard.com/articles/2007/12/30/sports_semipro/hjjcihgjjifjfa.txt
Butte didn’t have a chance. The Daredevils were down to six players on their roster and a couple of them came up limping a time or two. Plus, they were playing against the No. 3 team in their professional Continental Basketball Association division.
So, Butte won. Really.
The Daredevils captured their 10th victory in their last 12 games, downing the Oklahoma Cavalry 115-99 Saturday night in front of a Butte Civic Center attendance counted at 912 spectators. The Butte club fired out to a 32-13 lead without subbing and then held Oklahoma at bay much of the rest of the way. Rookie forward Benson Callier scored 29 points and fan favorite Odell Bradley netted 27. Three other Daredevils scored in double figures, too, as Aaron Cook and Jibril Hodges notched 19 points apiece, and rookie 7-1 center Blake Sholberg put in 14.
“I’m happy with the way we competed for 48 minutes and gave ourselves a chance to win,” Butte head coach Pat O’Herron said, looking and sounding like he just got out of the way of a charging elephant. “We came out fantastic. We were together, executed and hit our shots. And we were fresh.”
With just one sub, though, freshness was not to last long. Just long enough.
Pre-Christmas roster moves included trimming Lionel Davis from what was a nine-player squad, and then seeing Jason Miller sign a promotion with a German team at the European League Division I level. O’Herron and Daredevils front office workers, meanwhile, were working the phones, looking for replacements. Then, Marcus Jefferson failed to return to the team after his holiday break.
All three, Davis, Miller and Jefferson, were starters. And so, O’Herron and assistant coach John Williams were down to six players.
“I’m working on trying to get some help,” O’Herron said. “I’m, right now, waiting on some people to see if they want to come here or go to another league.”
The Daredevils, 12-7 this season, second
See ’DEVILS, Page B6
only to Yakama’s glitzy 17-1 league mark, are off until a Jan. 3-4 showdown against the East Kentucky Miners in the Civic Center. Butte might really want a full bench by then. The teams brawled in Pikeville, Ky., earlier this season.
Oklahoma’s only lead Saturday night was 2-0 on a Curtis Haywood jump shot from just inside the 3-point arc. Butte scored the next 11 points and 18 of the next 19, charging ahead 18-3. The rookies, Callier and Sholberg, keyed the run, and Jibril Hodges canned a 3-point basket. Floor general Aaron Cook, who dished 10 assists and had seven steals to go with his 19 points, did much to control the game tempo. The Daredevils shot 67 percent from the field for the frame. Sholberg finished the game with 13 rebounds and Callier wound up with 10.
Butte built is 32-13 cushion and O’Herron knew that the altitude factor may come into play — for both teams. So, the early, commanding lead was important, especially when the opposing coach is familiar with the area, too. University of Montana Hall of Famer and former NBA All-Star Micheal Ray Richardson directed the Cavalry
“They came out in the second quarter and played well, and started hitting their shots,” O’Herron said. “We didn’t want to lose the quarter. We battled for a shot to ti the quarter and knocked it down. That, to me, was really key to how the game turned out.”
Bradley’s deep 3-point basket on a pass from Hodges with nine seconds left in the half gave Butte 33 points for the quarter, matching Oklahoma’s total. And the teams split the quarter point. Butte’s halftime lead was 65-46.
The Cavalry put five players in double-digit scoring for the game, too, as 5-foot-8 Albert Robinson scored 21 points, Haywood had 19, Eddie Smith 18, Marvin Phillips 13 and Malcolm Johnson 11. Phillips also had 15 rebounds and Haywood snared 12. Smith dealt 10 assists.
The Cavalry charged back into the game in the third quarter. They cut Butte’s lead to eight points, 78-70, on a 3-point shot by Marlow Currie with 4 minutes and 21 seconds to go in the third quarter. Martane Freeman sank a free throw for Butte before Hodges dunked on a block and toss from Callier, and then Bradley netted two foul shots to build the lead back up again to 83-70.
Rebounding and strong play by Judson Stubbs and Smith led Oklahoma’s surge.
“That third quarter, we just didn’t have it for the first six minutes,” O’Herron said. “Then in the last part of the quarter we battled.”
O’Herron indicated he thought fatigue began to hamper the nine players in the Cavalry unit, which might have been because of the altitude factor.
“As the fourth quarter began, I thought they looked more tired than we did,” the coach said. “I was concerned with foul trouble. You get that sixth foul and then it’s a technical foul with a shot and the ball out of bounds each foul you get (on that player) after that. We did a good job of staying away from that scenario.”
Oklahoma was unable to shrink the deficit to less than 10 points the rest of the game and Butte used an 8-0 run midway through the period to gain some comfort with its lead. Bradley scored four of the points, on a drive and, later, two free throws, that were followed by a Hodges layup off a Bradley feed, and a Callier layup set up by an alley-oop pass from Hodges.
The highlight move of the night was probably a Callier dunk that came on a fast break when Bradley bounced a pass high off the floor as the rookie soared toward the basket. It pleased the crowd very much.
“I was happy with the way we defended tonight,” O’Herron said, noting the Cavalry shot just 39 percent from the field, 25 percent from 3-point range. “The only thing I was not happy about was our free throw shooting (19-for-34). We practice it all the time. It’s all repitition and confidence.”
The Mining City Challenge will be contested in the two-game series with East Kentucky. The winner’s base city will receive homemade food fare from the opponent depending on which team wins the season’s four-game series. The teams split two games in Pikeville.
“I hope to get a big crowd for East Kentucky,” O’Herron said. “They drew 1,500 both nights and they were loud.”
But with roster holes popping up, and safety issues, O’Herron said the team is hoping for no more altercations. He said his team can’t afford the suspensions that were levied by the CBA last time.
Note — Terri O’Herron, the coach’s wife, resigned as Daredevils general manager, it was announced at the game Saturday night. No reason was given, but Pat O’Herron said his spouse is looking at other career opportunities in the area. Joe Clark, the team’s chief executive officer, was out of town Saturday and so it was not known if the position Terri O’Herron is vacating will be filled, or what the process will be if it is.
OKLAHOMA (7-8)
Marvin Phillips 4-11 5-8 13, Judson Stubbs 3-5 0-0 6, Albert Robinson 8-20 5-7 21, Curtis Haywood 8-18 1-3 19, Malcolm Johnson 4-9 1-2 11, Eddie Smith 8-16 2-8 18, Adam Spanich 2-3 0-0 5, Greg Plummer 1-5 0-3 2, Marlow Currie 1-3 1-2 4. Totals 39-90 15-29 99.
BUTTE (12-7)
Martane Freeman 3-9 1-2 7, Odell Bradley 8-18 10-12 27, Blake Sholberg 6-8 2-5 14, Benson Callier 13-22 2-7 29, Aaron Cook 7-10 4-7 19, Jibril Hodges 8-16 0-1 19. Totals 45-83 19-34 115.
Oklahoma 13 33 30 23 — 99
Butte 32 33 23 27 — 115
League points — Butte 5.5, Oklahoma 1.5. 3-point goals — Oklahoma 6-18 (Robinson 0-2, Haywood 2-7, Johnson 2-4, Spanich 1-2, Plummer 0-2, Currie 1-1), Butte 6-15 (Bradley 1-1, Callier 1-3, Cook 1-3, Hodges 3-8). Total fouls — Oklahoma 27, Butte 29. Technicals — Oklahoma coach Richardson, Butte coach O’Herron. Rebounds — Oklahoma 57 (Phillips 15, Haywood 12), Butte 49 (Sholberg 13, Callier 10). Blocks — Oklahoma 2 (Smith 2), Butte 8 (Freeman 2, Sholberg 2). Assists — Oklahoma 19 (Smith 10), Butte 18 (Cook 10). Steals — Oklahoma 7 (Smith 3), Butte 14 (Cook 7, Bradley 3). Turnovers — Oklahoma 23, Butte 19. A — 912.