The Great Falls Electric (5-3) and the Seattle Super Hawks (6-4) have both encountered each other on the basketball floor this season in The Basketball League (TBL). Each team has acquired one victory in the season series.
Great Falls has five wins in eight games and is fourth in the TBL’s Pacific Northwest Division in the West Conference. They have won three of their four home games at Great Falls High’s Swarthout Fieldhouse including two victories last weekend against the Emerald City Jaguars, based out of Eugene, Oregon.
Meanwhile, the Super Hawks are one spot ahead of Great Falls with a 6-4 record. Seattle, under the direction of head coach Mark Leslie, started this season with four wins in their first five games. They escaped with a 131-122 win over the second-ranked Vancouver (WA) Volcanoes in their lone contest last week.
On March 23rd in Great Falls’ home season opener, Kareem Jamar, Antwaan Cushingberry, and Lyle Hexom scored 69 of their 111 points as they defeated Seattle by seven points. Nahziah Carter scored a team-high 40 points for the Super Hawks. The following evening, the Electric and Super Hawks put on a spectacular show with not one but two overtimes before a winning team was decided. Seattle eventually came out on top, 103-97.Great Falls’ Lyle Hexom had 34 points while Seattle was led in scoring by Nahziah Carter with 31.
The Great Falls Electric have now won three consecutive games as they took back the lead in the final minute against the Seattle Super Hawks. Great Falls guard Lamine Komara scored a layup with 68 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter and Antwaan Cushingberry sank one of this two free throws to help the Electric successfully comeback to defeat the Super Hawks 110-108 in Seattle, Washington on Friday night.
Lamine Komara scored the opening points on a long distant three pointer to give Great Falls their first lead. The lead lasted 80 seconds before Seattle took a 5-3 advantage as JD Tisdale, jr. and Emeche Wells scored the first five points for the host team. Seattle led by as many as 14 points and never trailed after the first two minutes. Lyle Hexom scored seven (of the Electric’s nineteen points) of his 23 total points before the first quarter concluded to lead the Electric in scoring. Emeche Wells had nine of Seattle’s 31 first quarter points.
After Seattle’s Armond Davis connected on a layup to give the home team the 33-19 lead, Great Falls’ offense rattled off eight straight points capped off by a layup by former Great Falls High product Brendan Howard to cut Great Falls’ deficit to eight points (35-27). The visiting team kept the contest under ten points throughout the second quarter. Brandon Jamar’s dunk with 20 seconds left before the half pulled the Electric within two points (54-52).
In the third, the Super Hawks outscored the Electric, 30-25 for a seven-point lead with one twelve-minute quarter remaining. Nahziah Carter registered six field goals for ten points for Washington. Antwaan Cushingberry completed the quarter with 11 markers.
Antwaan Cushingberry, Lyle Hexom, and Brandon Jamar accumulated the first six points to pull to within three points (86-83) to begin the final quarter. Although Seattle continued to lead for the next nine minutes, the momentum started to shift for Great Falls. Coach Johnny Clark’s squad led for the first time since the first minutes of the first when Lamine Komara’s layup and a free throw by Antwaan Cushingberry in the last minute helped seal the win for the Montana TBL squad.
Antwaan Cushingberry never rested as the Indiana native played all 48 minutes for the Electric and had a great stat line. He was three rebounds shy of a triple double as he acquired 26 points, seven rebounds and dished out 11 assists. Brandon Jamar led both squads with 16 rebounds. Brendan Howard went 5-for-7 for 12 points.
Seattle had three players record over 20 points. Nahziah Carter led the Super Hawks with 22 points and 13 boards. Emeche Wells and David Jenkins Jr. each scored 20 points.
NEXT CONTEST: Great Falls will tip off their 8:00PM (MST) road contest against the Wenatchee (WA) Bighorns (2-5) live from Wenatchee Valley College in Wenatchee, Washington. This is the only opponent in the six-team Pacific Northwest Division that Great Falls has not played yet in their inaugural season.
