Sunday, July 15, 2001
Summer Basketball League semis today
By Malcolm C. Knox
The Cincinnati Enquirer
The final four teams in the Deveroes Summer Basketball League will play today at Oak Hills High School for a spot in Tuesday's championship.
The league showcases players from area high schools and colleges.
In Saturday's quarterfinals, Slats never had much of a chance in its 94-92 loss to No.3 seed Maaco-Blue Ash, which features 6-foot-7, 255-pound Brandon Hunter, a Withrow graduate who plays for Ohio University. Slats had only five players.
“I wouldn't expect guys not to show up in the playoffs,” said Slats' Melvin Levett (Cincinnati), who finished with 23 points.
Maaco led 49-47 at halftime, with Hunter scoring 18. Maaco scored 11 straight points at the start of the second half, extending its lead to 13.
Maaco took an 18-point lead midway through the second half, on a dunk by Paul McMillian (Aiken), who finished with 32 points.
But Slats cut Maaco's lead with runs of eight and nine points, then pulled ahead 90-88 on a 3-pointer by Tyson Freeman (Wright State) with 1:03 remaining.
Jack Jennings (Holmes, Western Kentucky) and McMillian scored to put Maaco back ahead by two, but Slats tied the score at 92 with 12.7 seconds to play.
Jennings stole the ball from Levett, and Steve Stewart scored to give Maaco the lead with 5.1 seconds left. Slats had one more shot, but Hunter swatted away a 3-point attempt by Jawad Ali (Winton Woods).
Slats players wanted a foul.
“The last one — the 3-point shot — the guy got hit,” Levett said. “It was wishy-washy.”
Hunter, who finished with 34 points, wasn't happy with himself or his team.
“They're terrible,” he said of Slats. “We were playing lackadaisically. We took them lightly.”
Freeman finished with 28 points to lead Slats.
Today at noon in the semifinals, Maaco will play the Stan Litz Law Office team, which defeated Harmon, Davis and Associates 83-78 Saturday. Litz trailed most of the game but pulled ahead on a 3-pointer by Miami's Doug Davis with 1:20 remaining.
Xavier's Keith Jackson scored 27 points and Wright State's Seth Daliboa had 23 as Cintas defeated Stratus Group 97-85.
Cintas will meet Mike Albert Leasing, whose game with McCluskey Chevrolet was stopped with Albert ahead 77-51 with 5:21 left to play, at 1:30 p.m. today.
Eric Taylor (Withrow) had 21 points for Albert, which led by 20 at halftime.
Sports Stories
Reds 6, Indians 5
Rijo allows 2 runs in Triple-A start
Same old Sabo
Ten Reasons Why Reds Fans Loved Sabo
Casey to have MRI on injured ankle
Fan's eye view of the Reds
Graves' defense saves Reds
What's wrong with Rocker?
Reds-Tigers Scouting Report
Reds box, runs
QB job Kitna's to lose
LeBeau planning to make early mark
Bengals training camp information
Summer Basketball League semis today
