The Great Falls Electric and the Salem Capitals made the final minute of their game exciting. Both teams were deadlocked at 93-93 before Lyle Hexom, who earlier in the night received an award as last week’s TBL Player of the Week by The Basketball League’s President David Magley, scored the winning long distance shot with a second left to lift the Great Falls Electric (9-6) to a thrilling 96-95 victory over the Salem Capitals to keep them in third place in the TBL’s Pacific Northwest standings. The Capitals are sitting in fourth place at 8-7.
The Great Falls Electric led the Salem Capitals throughout the contest including a 54-47 advantage at halftime.
Salem’s first lead since the first quarter (21-18) occurred in the third quarter with 1:18 remining off a basket by Valentine Nyakinda, a native of Kenya. The Electric gained back control with a deep three from Kareem Jamar, a layup by a speedy Antwaan Cushingberry and a free throw by Lyle Hexom put the home team ahead, 73-71 as the third period ended.
Salem built a nine-point lead (93-84) with 4:52 left in regulation capped off by a field goal by Valentine Nyakinda. The home crowd gave the Electric a boost and went on a 9-0 run to even the contest on a three-point field goal from the right corner by Kareem Jamar with four seconds left. Kylor Kelley from Corvallis, Oregon drove to the basket for an attempted layup that appeared to be blocked by a Great Falls defender, but the league officials called goaltending and Kelley picked up his 19th point with 0.9 remaining. After a timeout, Great Falls newcomer Broc Finstuen inbounded the ball to an open Lyle Hexom who turned around from the right side and buried a three-point shot for the wild 96-95 win for Great Falls.
The win gave Great Falls the season series lead (2-1) after each club won once in The Salem Armory Auditorium since March 16th. In Great Falls’ second game of the season on March 16th, the Capitals game out on top, 113-100 despite a terrific game by Great Falls’ Antwaan Cushingberry, who scored 31 points and Lyle Hexom’s 20 boards. Paul Hafford led the charge for Salem with 19 points. Kareem Jamar’s 29 points led the way in Great Falls’ 118-104 victory on April 26th. Lyle Lexom had a double-double with 27 points and 11 rebounds. The Capitals received 29 points and six assists from Preston Whitfield in the loss.
Antwaan Cushingberry, Lyle Hexom, Kareem Jamar, and newcomer Andrew Whitsett accounted for 77 of the 96 points for the Electric. Cushingberry, Hexom and Jamar each went 3-for-5 from behind the arc for head coach Johnny Clark’s team. Hexom led the team with 12 defensive rebounds and Cushingberry contributed eight assists.
Oregon native Kylor Kelley shined for the Capitals despite the last second setback. He scored 19 points and dished out 10 rebounds and blocked four shots for head coach Kevin Johnson Jr.’s squad. Joseph Billinger, Jr. created nine assists for Salem.
NEXT CONTEST: Great Falls and Salem will clash on the court once more during the regular season. Great Falls will host their fourth meeting on Saturday, May 4th at 7:00PM (MST) at the Swarthout Fieldhouse, the home court for the Great Falls High School Bison.
NOTES: The President of The Basketball League (TBL), David Magley attended the game to hand out last week’s Player of the Week Award to Great Falls Electric’s standout Lyle Hexom. Hexom, from Omaha, Nebraska was a big reason Great Falls swept their three game (road) series against the Emerald City (OR) Jaguars (106-94), Salem Capitals (118-104) and the Vancouver (WA) Volcanoes, 105-101 (April 25-27), who are the top team in the TBL’s West Conference’s Pacific Northwest Division.
Lyle Hexom combined for 67 points and 31 rebounds over the three-game series. Congratulations to Lyle for his efforts!!!
On May 9-10, the Electric will be touring the state of Washington. The first matchup is with the second place Seattle Super Hawks (10-5) on Thursday, May 9th followed by a game against the Wenatchee Bighorns on Friday, May 10th.
Great Falls and Wenatchee will meet in Great Falls on May 24-25 for the final regular season games of the season. Those games will be at the C.M. Russell High School Fieldhouse due to the 2024 Montana State AA & C Track Meet taking place at Great Falls High’s Memorial Stadium on Labor Day Weekend.
PROMOTION NIGHT: It was Great Falls Public School’s Junior High Night. Students attending either North MIddle School or East Middle School received FREE Admission by showing their School ID card. Parents that accompanied their student got into the game for $10.00 each plus got a FREE Game Program with roster.
