Cedar Valley CourtKings win inaugural MBL championship - Aug 22, 2016
MINNEAPOLIS - The Cedar Valley CourtKings knocked off the top-seeded Minnesota Rangers, 108-98, to claim the inaugural Midwest Basketball League championship Sunday at the Minneapolis Sports Center.
The CourtKings had lost twice previously to the Rangers during the regular season by three points each time.
'This group was bound and determined to win the championship,' CourtKings owner Gary Rima said. 'We had to beat the No. 1 seed (Dayton) Saturday night and the No. 1 seed from the MBL West) to do it. I'm so happy for these guys.'
'If you look at it, it is the exact same group that started on April 1. We had no turnover. We stayed together, stayed dedicated through the whole season and coach Stan Hughes did a tremendous job with the guys.'
Cedar Valley trailed after one quarter, 17-16, but a huge second quarter where the CourtKings scored built a 11-point halftime leader, 46-35, a lead it never relinquished en route to the championship.
Singleton had 13 boards for a double-double, and Heffernan added nine boards. Wall had three steals.
'We played great team defense. The guys really stepped up against two teams this weekend that tried to go out and score 125, 130 points a game. Our defense really lead us,' Rima added. 'Everybody stepped up, really ... Alex Coleman, Clay Cook, Gage Heffernan ... across the board.'
James and Singleton will represent the CourtKings Saturday in the MBL all-star game in Lincoln, Ill.