TBL PLAYOFFS: Great Falls holds on to defeat Seattle, 127-114 in Game 1

The Great Falls Electric (22-3) rolled over most of their competition during the 2025 The Basketball League (TBL) season with just three setbacks. Great Falls lost twice to the Wenatchee (WA) Bighorns and once to the Seattle (WA) Super Hawks, who they faced off against during Game 1 of the West Conference’s Pacific Northwest Finals on Wednesday evening at Royal Brougham Pavilion at Seattle Pacific University. Great Falls defeated Seattle four times (out of five) during their regular season matchups. The Visiting Great Falls TBL franchise led after each of the four quarters to defeat the Seattle Super Hawks, 127-114 on the road during their first-ever playoff encounter after fallling short of the postseason during their inaugural season in 2024. Great Falls Electric Head Coach Steve Keller had a trio of players leading the way in Game 1 including Lyle Hexom, one of three returning players from the 2024 team, who produced 34 points (12-for-20 shooting) with 12 of those points coming from behind the arc. The Nebraska native also accumulated 12 rebounds in 43 minutes of action. KD Moore had a great offensive output accruing 29 points (10-for-16 shooting) and dishing out a team-high of nine assists. Robert Upshaw, the 7’1″ center from Fresno, California, scored 22 points and 13 boards in the Electric’s first playoff win as a TBL franchise. Meanwhile, the Super Hawks, who finished the regular season in third place in the TBL West Conference’s Pacific Northwest Division, was led by David Jenkins, who led the team in points (28) and assists (7). Emeche Wells added 21 points and Nahshon George and Deon Stroud contributed 19 points apiece. George also pulled down ten rebounds in the loss. Great Falls started their first playoff game of their TBL franchise with Terry “TJ” Maston Jr. scoring the first five points of the contest as Great Falls grew their lead to 10-3 early in the first quarter. Later, a dunk by Lyle Hexom increased the Montana TBL franchise’s lead to 27-12 with 2:31 left before the second quarter. Seattle utilized their home advantage and finished with an 8-2 run. Seattle trailed by no more than 12 points but cut the lead to five (58-53) before halftime on back-to-back jumpers by David Jenkins Jr. The visiting Montana TBL squad outscored the Seattle-based TBL franchise, 34-27 during the 12-minute third quarter and a 12 point advantage (92-80) heading into the fourth quarter. On two occasions in the final quarter, Seattle pulled to within three points (103-100 and 105-102) but Great Falls was able to find a way to keep Seattle’s offense from leading or tying the contest. The final five points were scored between Robert Upshaw and KD Moore for Great Falls.