The Great Falls Electric have had two full weeks of games during their first season in The Basketball League (TBL).
Great Falls is 3-3 (2-1 at home/1-2 on the road) in that span with a victory over tonight’s opponent, the Emerald City (OR) Jaguars (122-89) in Eugene, Oregon and seven-point home win (111-104) in their debut in front of the home fans inside Great Falls High’s Swarthout Fieldhouse Seattle Super Hawks on March 22nd. The three setbacks have occurred against the Salem (OR) Capitals, Vancouver (WA) Volcanoes and a narrow home loss to the Seattle Super Hawks two weeks ago. Meanwhile, Emerald City (0-7) is winless in their first month of the 2024 TBL season after seven games but continues to show improvement. In addition to the Electric, they have faced the four other squads (Salem Capitals, Seattle Super Hawks, Wenatchee Bighorns, and the Vancouver Volcanoes (twice) that comprise of the Pacific Northwest Division in the West Conference of the TBL.
In the first meeting on March 15th, the Great Falls Electric’s offense looked like a veteran squad as they led the Jaguars, 14-1 early in the first quarter at their game in Oregon in March. Coach Johnny Clark’s squad went on to win, 122-89 in their first outing as a member of the TBL behind a great offensive effort from Lyle Hexom, who poured in 22 points and grabbed 15 rebounds (13 on the defensive side). Brandon Jamar went 9-for-10 from the field to finish with 19 points. The Jaguars, guided by head coach John Tyson, received 16 points from Dante Scott and Elihu Cobb had a team-high 10 rebounds in the loss.
Great Falls welcomed the Eugene, Oregon-based Emerald City Jaguars for a two-game home series this weekend (April 5-6). Tonight saw the homecoming of former C.M. Russell High School (Great Falls) standout Josh Huestis return to town. Huestis, who played collegiately at Stanford (CA) University and saw action with the NBA’s Oklahoma City Thunder, teamed up with Russell Country Federal Credit Union for “Jersey Off Your Back” Night where he auctioned off his “one-of-a-kind” Josh Huestis Foundation jerseys. The first 150 kids that came got a FREE Josh Huestis Foundation shirt. Josh, along with the Great Falls Electric players, signed autographs and posed for photos with the fans.
Through six contests, Antwaan Cushingberry, Lyle Hexom, and Brandon Jamar lead the way for the Montana TBL squad. Indiana native Antwaan Cushingberry currently leads Great Falls with 21.2 points per game and is the assist leader with 6.0 assists per contest. Jamar, whose brother, Kareem is also on the roster, and Lyle Hexom both average about 10.0 rebounds per contest.
Jaylen Nixon (21.4 ppg) and GaMaun Boykin (6.4 rpg) leads Emerald City.
Former University of Montana Grizzly All-American Kareem Jamar was one of five players in double figures as the Great Falls Electric, who sit in fourth place in the six team Pacific Northwest Division of the West Conference in the TBL, pulled away with a 97-87 win over the Emerald City (OR) Jaguars during Friday’s The Basketball League (TBL) action at the Swarthout Fieldhouse at Great Falls High School in Great Falls, Montana.
Jamar scored 28 points and added 10 rebounds to lead the way for both squads. Kareem’s brother, Brandon, had 10 points. Great Falls guard Antwaan Cushingberry scored 19 points, Lyle Hexom made 16 points on 7-for-10 shooting and former Great Falls High prep standout Brandon Howard finished with 12 markers on 7-for-10 shooting.
Emerald City saw forward Kevin Fletcher record 22 points while Quadir Croston, Brandon Suttles, and Jaylen Nixon combine for 64 points as the Jaguars continue to seek their first win for head coach John Tyson.
Kareem Jamar and Lyle Hexom scored the first four points for the Electric capped off by a dunk by Brandon Jamar with the home team leading 6-4 with 6:48 remaining in the opening period. Quadir Croston, a 6’9” Center for the Jaguars scored the first four points for Oregon. The Electric led by as many as ten points and held a 30-20 advantage after the first quarter.
The Electric continued to lead by double digits throughout the second and a layup midway through the first period by Choteau native Isaac Howard increased the lead to 19 (45-26). Kareem Jamar scored two of his 28 points on free throws before the period expired with the Montana TBL team leading 58-35 at halftime.
The halftime talk for Emerald City helped jumpstart their offense in the third. The Jaguars started coming back and went on a 9-0 run during the first two minutes with Quadir Croston adding five points and Joshua Jones getting four points before the Electric stopped the run on a long-distance trey from Isaac Howard. Great Falls went on to outscore Emerald City, 26-24 during the last ten minutes with a fadeaway jumper by Kareem Jamar to end the third quarter.
Although the Jaguars never lead, they did come within two points in the final quarter (83-31) with five minutes left in regulation. The visiting team from Oregon trailed by single digits until the end when Antwaan Cushingberry made two free throws to extend the Electric’s lead to ten points (97-87) with under a minute to go.
A special thanks to Josh Huestis and his namesake foundation for coming to Friday’s contest, greeting fans, and signing autographs and to Russell Country Federal Credit Union for teaming up with the Josh Huestis Foundation on the jersey auction.
NEXT CONTEST: The Electric will finish their weekend series with the Emerald City Jaguars on Saturday, April 6th at Great Falls High’s Swarthout Fieldhouse with the action starting at 7:00PM (MST).
On April 12-13, Great Falls will embark on a two-game road trip through Washington state where they will challenge the Seattle Super Hawks in Seattle, Washington and then meet the Bighorns of Wenatchee (WA) the following night.
