Last Night in the D-League; So Long, Showcase

Yesterday wrapped up the week's D-League Showcase action.  This was the last day to make an impression in front of such a large group of scouts and assorted onlookers.  Some took advantage of the opportunity, others did not.  Let's sort them out.

Albuquerque Thunderbirds 101, Tulsa 66ers 97 (Box Score)

• Carlos Powell is one guy who's played reasonably well in the Showcase, and he finished with 25 points along with showing off some passing skills and picking up seven assists, and he probably could've had a few more if his teammates had co-operated.
• Chad Toppert and Kevin Pittsnogle had very similar lines (18 points on 5-12 shooting, 3-4 on threes, seven boards, two assists/12 points on 5-12 shooting, 2-7 on threes, nine boards, two assists).  Other than the three-point shooting, the difference was that Toppert actually got to the foul line and was 5-5.  You know, the guy who isn't the "big man."
• Kurt Looby was 7-8 from the field.  Who knew?  On the other hand, he had just five rebounds; I was in favor of putting him and Pittsnogle together in the lineup, under the theory that Looby could handle the post defense while Pittsnogle took power forwards outside the paint and could wander around the perimeter to his heart's content, but the results haven't been great.  Not sure what the problem is, and it's not just that Pittsnogle misses a lot.
• It's possible that I over-praise Latavious Williams since he has almost no offensive game at the moment (just 1-3 for two points yesterday), but...he had 11 rebounds in 20 minutes.  So I don't really think that I do.
• D.J. White looked good again, with 22 points on 10-15 shooting, 11 rebounds and three blocks.  It's really too bad that there's no room for him in the Oklahoma City rotation.

The rest of the games are below the jump.

Iowa Energy 96, Bakersfield Jam 91 (Box Score)

• Curtis Stinson got his second triple-double of the season with 18 points, 12 rebounds and 13 assists.  Even more impressive (to me, anyway) is that he turned the ball over just three times despite playing all 48 minutes.
• Actually, all of Iowa's big names came through in this one.  Earl Barron had a pretty good game with 25 points and nine boards, and Jeff Trepagnier had 20 points and seven steals.  Well, except for Cartier Martin, who shot 7-17.
• Most of what I know about Brian Butch comes from Scott, but he had a monster of a game with 30 points and 14 rebounds.  Of course, he also shot 2-8 from outside and fouled out in 35 minutes.  Actually, given his numbers I take back what I said about Earl Barron having a pretty good game.
• This game became a free throw fest in the last minute and a half.  Those are always fun, right?  Actually, this is fun depending on how you look at it; Will Voigt got a technical after Jeremy Wise was called for a charge with six seconds left in the game, and Mark Tyndale missed the free throw.  Alright, so I guess that's not all that fun.

Utah Flash 131, Fort Wayne Mad Ants 120 (Box Score)

• Utah finished strong in this one, with 44 points in the fourth quarter coming from all over.  There's so much talent on this team, that even with Luke Nevill having missed a stretch of games they really should be more than 9-7.
• Dontell Jefferson was one of those key guys in the fourth, doing a great job of getting to the foul line and finishing with 32 points on 16 shots (he was 11-12 from the line), seven rebounds and six assists.  Bennet Davis has a nice offensive game off the bench, 20 points on 11 shots.  Orien Greene was 6-8, and I'm going to stop naming guys because the Flash shot almost 60 percent as a team.
• And, to their credit, the Mad Ants were right there with them until that final quarter.  Ron Howard had a fantastic all-around game, with 28 points on 13 shots, seven rebounds and eight assists.  Kyle McAlarney was nice off the bench, hitting all of his threes on the way to 15 points on eight shots.
  
• Jared Reiner and Sean Sonderleiter both fouled out, and Anthony Kent finished with five fouls.  There were also four technicals handed out, one each to Brad Jones, Carlos Wheeler, Jefferson and Sonderleiter.  Scott (or anyone else who saw the game), care to enlighten us?
  
• [Scott's Note: Would love to.  I thought Reiner was T'd up instead of Sonderleiter, but I guess D-League box scores don't lie.  First, Reiner/Sonderleiter were tied up under the basket and it got heated enough that Mark Madsen had to tell his Flash players to stay on the bench, behind the line.  I don't remember what Carlos Wheeler did to get his.  Brad Jones just complained about a call, I believe it was loose ball calls, then kept saying 'are you serious' and 'are you kidding me' really loud until the ref told Mark Madsen to take care of Jones or he would.  Mark Madsen is apparently the guy that handles all technical's for the Flash.]
  

Erie BayHawks 102, Los Angeles D-Fenders 89 (Box Score)

• Alade Aminu followed his monster performance by...disappearing.  11 points on ten shots and just two rebounds.  He started at center, but played a lot at power forward where his counterpart Diamon Simpson went off for 17 points and 12 boards.  Aminu is in the D-League (for now) for a reason.
  
• Luckily for Erie they got nice games from John Bryant, who had 18 points and 14 rebounds off the bench, and Mike Gansey, who seemed to finally settle in and made half his threes on the way to 25 points, while pitching in and grabbing 15 boards, both season highs.  He also had four assists and three steals.
• Ryan Forehan-Kelly had 28 points on just 12 shots and 10 rebounds for LA; aside from his three-point shooting he's been wildly inconsistent so far, though, so I'm skeptical that we'll see that kind of performance again for awhile.
• Forehan-Kelly was 3-4 from outside, though, while the rest of the team was 0-11. Oh.  I guess that's what happens when you combine Dar Tucker and Joe Crawford.