First season leads to playoffs - Jul 2, 2009 (by Eurobasket News)
With the World Basketball Association Exposure League playoffs starting tonight, the Tupelo Rock-N-Rollers have already silenced their critics during the expansion team's first season.
'We're 7-3,' said Rock-N-Rollers and former Ole Miss player Jason Smith (6'6''-F-77, college: Mississippi). 'We were picked last.
'A lot of people in the league weren't expecting us to come in the first year and do that. We are really proud of that [read more]
With the World Basketball Association Exposure League playoffs starting tonight, the Tupelo Rock-N-Rollers have already silenced their critics during the expansion team's first season.
'We're 7-3,' said Rock-N-Rollers and former Ole Miss player Jason Smith (6'6''-F-77, college: Mississippi). 'We were picked last.
'A lot of people in the league weren't expecting us to come in the first year and do that. We are really proud of that.'
As the second seed in the four-team, single-elimination playoffs, the Rock-N-Rollers will face the Decatur (Ga.) Court Kings tonight at Buford, Ga.
The Tupelo club lost 77-71 at home to the Court Kings in both teams' season opener in May. The Rock-N-Rollers avenged their season-opening loss with a three-point win in Decatur nearly two weeks ago.
'Basically, both of these games have come down to the last two minutes of regulation,' said Rock-N-Rollers head coach Brian Alexander. 'The first game, they made the plays when it counted; the second game, when we were at their place, we made the plays when it counted.
'So, these two teams are pretty evenly matched.'
The winner will play the winner of tonight's other semifinal between the top-seeded Buford Majic and the fourth-seeded Cartersville (Ga.) Baseline Warriors in Friday night's championship game.
Buford swept both games against the Rock-N-Rollers during the regular-season. Tupelo beat Cartersville in the teams' only meeting this season.
'Any time you start a new franchise in any sport, your first year normally doesn't go very well win-or-loss wise,' Alexander said. 'So, for us to come out here and be 7-3, it's a big deal.
'It's a big deal for our franchise. It's a big deal for Tupelo.'
What makes a Rock-N-Roller
What is also a big deal to the Rock-N-Rollers players is the chance to play for another club during the winter. By playing in the WBA, players such as Courtney Bradley (6'5''-F-83, college: Jacksonville St.) and Smith are, in a sense, auditioning for other clubs.
'I played in France my first year out of college,' said Rock-N-Rollers guard/forward Courtney Bradley, who played collegiately at Jacksonville (Ala.) State from 2005-07. 'I played in the ABA, and now I'm playing in the WBA trying to get back overseas.'
Smith, 31, sat out this winter after playing previously in Iceland, Venezuela, Belgium and, most recently, Romania.
'I got back in this league to get in shape, to see if I still had a competitive nature,' Smith said. 'I still have it.
'I was thinking about hanging it up. Then, this team was coming to Tupelo and I just wanted to see if I still had a little bit in me, and I still have a lot in me, actually.'
The WBA is currently a six-team league with its main objective as being a stage and stepping stone for players seeking to advance their careers professionally.
'It's a good league,' Smith said. 'It's definitely above college because of the talent in the league.
'The guys are hungry at this level, real hungry to get a job overseas. I think there are going to be a lot of guys that will get called to go have a job somewhere.'
For now, the players are hungry to win the WBA title.
'These guys that are going to make this trip with us on Thursday are very hungry and their attitude is good and they want to win,' Alexander said.
Courtesy of www.nems360.com
Warriors beat Rome for third straight WBA victory - Jun 24, 2009 (by David Archer)
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Written by: Joe Myers, PR Director
770-298-1335
josephc.myers@yahoo.com
Cartersville, GA - The Cartersville Warriors continued their late-season surge Wednesday night, beating the Rome Rage, 88-76, in a world Basketball Association contest in Rome.
The Warriors (8-3, 6-3 WBA) have now won four straight games overall and three straight in the WBA going into their regular-season finale against the Buford Majic Sunday [read more]
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Written by: Joe Myers, PR Director 770-298-1335 josephc.myers@yahoo.com
Cartersville, GA - The Cartersville Warriors continued their late-season surge Wednesday night, beating the Rome Rage, 88-76, in a world Basketball Association contest in Rome.
The Warriors (8-3, 6-3 WBA) have now won four straight games overall and three straight in the WBA going into their regular-season finale against the Buford Majic Sunday. Meanwhile, Romes struggles continued as the Rage fell to 0-7 with the loss.
'I think the guys are playing well right now,' said Cartersville head coach Cory Baldwin. 'We've got our rotation set and everybody really knows their roles on our team. In the games we've won, we've had several different leading scorers and tonight was'nt any different.
Veteran guard Jermaine Spivey led the Warriors with 20 points and eight assists. Andrew Jones pitched in 18, Bobby Brown finished with 17 and big man Darnell Cox put up a double-double with 14 points, 12 rebounds and five blocks.
Jermaine has been playing a lot of point guard for us lately and hes really doing a good job of getting everyone involved, said Baldwin. (Jones) has been one of our top scorers all season, but (Brown) really gave us a spark tonight when we needed it. He hit three 3-pointers that gave us a lift.
Cartersville led almost the entire way, opening up a 28-point lead in the third quarter before Rome made a run to close the gap. The Rage got to within seven points with four minutes left in the game, but Cartersville took care of its business down the stretch and held off Rome for the win.
Shan Finley led Rome with 25 points, while Latece Williams turned in a nice performance with 21. Mike Dean was held to a season low 14 on the night. Nathan Charles had 10.
'One of the biggest reasons we won tonight was our defense,' said Baldwin. 'We held Rome under 80 points again and did a good job on the defensive end of the floor.'
Cartersville now closes out its regular season Sunday against the WBA-leading Buford Majic. Tipoff for the game at J.H. Morgan Gymnasium is set for 4 p.m. and after the Warriors beat Buford, 95-86, in Buford on June 19, Baldwin knows Buford will be looking for revenge.
We know Bufords going to come ready to play, said Baldwin. We want to play well, hopefully end the regular season on a high note and carry some momentum into the playoffs.
Cartersville Warriors cage Rome Rage, 103-79 - Jun 22, 2009 (by David Archer)
6
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Written by: Joe Myers 770-298-1335
Josephc.myers@yahoo.com
Cartersville, GA - The Cartersville Warriors picked up their second straight World Basketball Association win Sunday afternoon at J.H. Morgan Gymnasium, steamrolling the winless Rome Rage, 103-79..
Even though Romes record is what it is (the Rage is now 0-6), theres a bit of a rivalry between our teams, said Cartersville head coach Cory B [read more]
#s#
Williams
Billingslea
Frierson
Brown
Cox
#e#6
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Written by: Joe Myers 770-298-1335 Josephc.myers@yahoo.com
Cartersville, GA - The Cartersville Warriors picked up their second straight World Basketball Association win Sunday afternoon at J.H. Morgan Gymnasium, steamrolling the winless Rome Rage, 103-79..
Even though Romes record is what it is (the Rage is now 0-6), theres a bit of a rivalry between our teams, said Cartersville head coach Cory Baldwin. Rome is the closest team to us in the league and we made a trade with them for Jermaine Spivey (6'3''-G-72) of Rome Rage (back on June 8), so there was so motivation there for us not to overlook them.
We came out and got a lead early, but we relaxed and let them back in the game. However, we scored some buckets late in the first half and once we got to the second half, we played like we were supposed to.
Cartersville (7-3 overall, 5-3 WBA) jumped out to a 17-7 lead in the first 4:51 of the game behind strong post play from Larry Cox (6'11''-C-85). Cox scored 12 of his 14 first-half points in the opening 10 minutes and the Warriors held a pronounced advantage on the boards all game long.
I definitely think our big guys came out motivated, said Baldwin. They came out more focused and aggressive on the offensive glass than they were at Buford (last Friday). Thats been a weak point in our play for most of the season, but today it was a strength.
The Warriors led 26-16 after one quarter and were up by 13 points before the Rage went on a 14-2 run to close to within 35-34 on a jumper by Tyrone Eboigbe (6'7''-F-85) - one of the two players Cartersville traded to Rome to get Spivey - with five minutes to go before halftime.
Rome got as close as one point two more times, at 37-36 and 43-41, before Cartersville scored the final five points of the first half to take a 48-41 advantage into the locker room at the break.
The Rage closed to within 50-46 in the first minute of the third quarter, but Cartersville took control of the game for good with a 13-0 outburst that saw the Warriors lead swell to 63-46 with 4:47 remaining in the period. Cartersvilles lead was 79-54 by the end of the quarter and the Warriors cruised to the win in the fourth quarter.
Cox led Cartersville with 20 points, five rebounds, three assists and two blocked shots. Andrew Jones had 18 and nine rebounds, Justin Billingslea (6'10''-F-85) had a double-double with 13, 11 rebounds and three assists, Chucky Frierson (6'6''-G/F-83) had 13 and four rebounds, Bobby Brown (6'6''-F-79) pitched in 11 with four rebounds and Spivey just missed a triple-double with nine points, eight assists and six rebounds.
Latece Williams (6'8''-F-79) paced Rome with 16 points and 10 rebounds. Shan Finley netted 15, Eboigbe had 10 and six rebounds and Nathan Charles (6'5''-F-82) - the other piece of the Spivey deal - had 10 points and four rebounds for the Rage in the loss.
Warriors earn road win over undefeated Majic - Jun 22, 2009 [read more]
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