Sunday, March 27, 2011
Defending champs hit road block with Idaho Stampede at home
By Raul Garcia Jr.
The Rio Grande Valley Vipers fell to the Idaho Stampede at home. With the help of Antoine Walker and Tony Bobbitt’s jump shot from downtown was enough to stampede passed the Vipers 115-92.
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| McneAL WITH REVERSE SHOT. |
“Yeah you know we just couldn’t straighten stops together and offensively we went on some droughts,” said Jon Scheyer the Vipers starting guard. “So we need to go back and figure what we need to do now. But it’s about playing hard and playing together and we’ll get there.”
After a slow start and loosening the Vipers grip, the Stampede were led by NBA great Antoine Walker’s leadership and experience. Walker scored 24 points shooting in the paint and around the basket. It was Bobbitt’s 24 points from downtown that weakened the defending D- League Champions hope for a win on Thursday night March 23.
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| Thabeet in the paint. |
Viper guard Jerel McNeal led all scorers with 29 points. Tony Bobbitt rang in 26 points going 8 for 10 from beyond the three-point line. The Little General Cedric Jackson hit 14 points and Sean Banks dropped 19 for the Stampede.
After three lead changes the Stampede took the lead before the half after trailing by as many as 11. The Vipers had a 43 percent shooting performance-going 13 for 34 from downtown.
Number two pick overall in the NBA 2009 Draft, Hasheem Thabeet proved inffective scoring only two points and blocking three shoots on defense for the Vipers.
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| Walker driving in for a layup | . |
Early in the game the Vipers took a seven-point lead with good ball movement and good shooting to end the first quarter.
At the 10:30 mark of the second period Walker helped mount the Stampede attack with impressive transition ball movement and leadership trailing by five 31-26. By Half time the score was 45- 48.
The Stampede moves to a 21-25 record overall trying to clinch the eighth and final spot in the playoffs. The Vipers are tied for the best record in the league at 30-16 on the season.
“The guys have just given me everything they had and we feel if we get into the playoffs we have a good chance as anybody to win,” said Coach Randy Livingston for the Stampede. “We’ve beat every one of the top teams and the guys just play together and I was really happy tonight.”
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| Coach Finch in the huddle. |
He said the Vipers are a very talented team and McNeal did really good, Coach Finch does a really great job with the team but the Stampede just had an answer for every thing the Vipers had.
# posted by Raul Garcia Jr. @ 8:53 AM 
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