Professional basketball is back in the Electric City for Round Two.
The Great Falls Electric, a professional basketball team competing in The Basketball League (TBL), made their second season debut on Friday night in front of a great crowd at Swarthout Fieldhouse on the campus of Great Falls High School.
The TBL began in 2018 and currently features 37 teams across four conferences (East, Midwest, Central, and West) with the West Conference consisting of teams from Washington, California, and Oregon. Great Falls is the only team from Montana and is the ninth team in the West Conference that played in the Pacific Northwest Division.
The Electric has made some changes between the first and second seasons starting with new head coach Steve Keller, who is no stranger to Montana as he has coached at the high school and college (NAIA) levels and is now making his professional debut with the Electric.
Last season, the Electric was one shot away from making the playoffs and they are eager and ready to showcase their talent in their second season in front of their Great Falls and Montana fans. Antwaan “Cush” Cushingberry, Lyle Hexom, Broc Finstuen, and Choteau, Montana native Isaac Howard all return from last season. Cushingberry is the reigning TBL Rookie of the Year, TBL All Rookie Team and TBL All-Conference West First Team honors and Hexom was named as a member of the TBL All-Conference West Second Team.
The Wenatchee (WA) Bighorns, who are currently 1-2 after three games, is the debut opponent for Great Falls. They defeated the Willamette (OR) Valley Jaguars, 116-92, on March 1st in Wenatchee but lost to the Seattle SuperHawks 107-103 at home on March 2nd.
The Great Falls Electric brought a high level of energy in the 2025 season debut and hung on for a 123-120 victory over the Wenatchee Bighorns during Friday’s home opener for the Electric at Great Falls High School’s Swarthout Fieldhouse.
Five players scored in double digits led by power forward Lyle Hexom’s 31 points on 12-for-21 shooting. He also led the team in rebounds with nine. KD Moore, a Dallas, Texas native, who played on the 2023 and 2024 TBL National Championship team from Oklahoma called the Potawatomi Fire, scored 27 points in leading coach Steve Keller to his first professional victory. Antwaan Cushingberry provided 11 assists.
Memphis, Tennessee native Tavin Cummings made 22 field goals including four from behind the arc to finish with 45 points. Michael Kirkland and Nick Fleming combined for 41 points for head coach Matt Riley’s 2025 Bighorns squad.
The Electric jumped out to a 9-3 lead in their season opener as Lyle Hexom, Tremont Robinson-White, KD Moore and Dexter Williams Jr. all scored during the opening three minutes. Great Falls found themselves ahead 33-27 after the first quarter.
The Electric scored 29 second quarter points to take a 62-55 advantage into halftime. Lyle Hexom, from Omaha, Nebraska contributed 14 of his 31 points in second to lead all scorers for Great Falls.
The Montana TBL team took a ten-point lead (95-85) over the Bighorns into the fourth quarter. Bighorns standout Tavin Cummings put his team in front 113-111 with his long distance trey with two minutes remaining. Antwaan Cushingberry’s three pointer was successful on the next possession as the Electric regained the lead for good and held on for a 123-120 victory.
