| | | |  | #s# Stegall | Scott | Wooten | Ingle | Doyley | #e#6 Cartersville, GA (Aug. 12, 2007) - Baseline-1 held off a late rally by D.O.T.S. to capture the 2007 SEBL Metro A-League Title, 76-68, at JH Morgan Gym Sunday evening. Fighting off a very good DOTS team, Baseline-1 had to go 10 of 10 at the line in the final minute.
Ernest Scott opened the game with a trey, but DOTS answered immediately on a three by Daniel Johnson. DOTS went up 5-3 on Randall Tatum's nifty drive to the cup, letting the bigger Baseline team know early on they were not going to back down. Ronell Wooten drained a three on the next possession, putting Baseline-1 back up by one.
DOTS badgered Baseline into several long misses over the next couple of minutes, while getting a tip-in by Jakp Mallory and two free throws from Langston Nolley. DOTS had inched out to a 9-6 lead at the 13:40 mark. Shuan Stegall dropped a 3-pointer to knot the score at 9-9, triggering an 8-0 run and seemingly waking Baseline up. Scott followed with a back down, turn around jumper and Golden Ingle drilled yet another three. Baseline was up 14-9. Xavier Trice countered with a three of his own for DOTS, to make it 14-11, then Nolley hit a nice 15 footer at the top of the key. Baseline began to establish some control pushing out to a 31-21 lead on two Stegall shots at the charity stripe. But, again DOTS showed resolve. Defensive pressure forced Baseline-1 to go cold. DOTS capitalized, as Tatum got another penetration bucket and Johnson sank in the lane, received a pin-point pass from Chris Agnes and kissed the ball off the glass for a two. Agnes, DOTS's leading scorer on the season, suffering from the flu and severely fatigued, mustered consecutive buckets on dribble-drives to cap an 8-0 run. DOTS had fought back again, trimming the score down to 31-29. Ingle created some space to launch a 25-foot bomb to shove Baseline back up by five. Then, Wooten forced Agnes to cough up the ball in the lane and flipped a pass ahead to a streaking Stegall, who slammed the ball home for two. Mallory answered with an offensive rebound and put-back. He also drew the foul and sank the shot. DOTS trailed 36-33, when Scott buried another trey for Baseline-1 just before the half. Baseline-1 carried a 39-33 advantage into the intermission. In the second half, Baseline was able to keep a 6-8 point gap on DOTS, who struggled to get clean perimeter looks at the basket against long defenders. Baseline moved out to an 11-point spread mid-way through the half. DOTS was not done though. With the game seemingly in hand, Baseline-1 led 61-51 after an Ingle trey, followed by a Marcus Henderson shot off the glass. After Baseline-1 miscues, Nolley and James Taylor connected for DOTS to trim the score to 61-55 with 4:20 left. Scott got free for a dunk to put Baseline up again by eight. Xavier Trice shot back with a high-arcing three from the right wing and DOTS trailed 64-58. Baseline's Henderson missed a short shot in the lane. After drawing a foul on a bump by Baseline's Casey Moore at half-court, Agnes sank both free throws to get DOTS to within 64-60. Ingle, brought the ball up against pressure on the next possession. He spun off a defender and went down the left side of the lane. His body got twisted while trying to elude the defenders and he had to scoop the ball off the glass with his right hand. The ball dropped through the net, putting his team back up by six with 2:08 left. Trice answered with a cool jumper on the right baseline from about 12-feet. Then, DOTS began to foul. Casey Moore sank two for Baseline, bringing the score to 68-62. Baseline's defense forced a missed three by Agnes. Ingle was fouled and calmly sank the two shots with 1:32 remaining, extending the Baseline-1 lead back to 70-62. Still showing fight, DOTS quickly found an open Nolley, who drilled a 14-foot jumper. DOTS caught Ingle in a trap, who threw the ball away. But, DOTS couldn't capitalize, as Trice tried to hit Nolley down the court. The ball went off his finger tips, back to Baseline-1 with 1:13 showing. Baseline missed an opportunity to put a at least one dagger in the coffin, when DOTS unsuccessfully tried to trap Ingle in the back-court. Ingle got the pass off up the court to Stegall, who had a clear left lane to the basket. As he glided towards the basket, he saw Wooten coming from the right side. Stegall was only a couple of feet from the basket, in the air, but awkwardly lofted the ball for an alley-oop dunk attempt for Wooten. Wooten was not expecting it and the ball sailed over his head and was deflected out of bounds. Baseline had missed a "golden" opportunity to go up by eight with under a minute to go. Instead, Chris Agnes found the strength to come down and drain a 24-foot tri-fecta, nipping at Baseline's lead, to only trail 70-65. After a long miss by Ernest Scott, DOTS's Trice missed a three attempt from the right side. The long rebound went to the left corner, where Stegall grabbed the ball up, and tried to force his way through two trapping defenders. He was called for the offensive foul. DOTS again missed a short jumper, but Nolley grabbed the offensive board and connected in the lane with 0:43 ticks on the clock. DOTS was with-in 70-67, with a lot of time left. Ingle was fouled immediately - and again sank the shots. Baseline was up by an unsteady five points. Chris Agnes again drew a tough foul, crossing mid-court. He missed the first, then was true on the second shot and DOTS was down four, at 72-68 with 0:32 left. On the inbounds, Ingle quickly flipped to Scott, who was promptly fouled. Scott nailed both to give Baseline the six-point spread. Still in the game, with 0:26 remaining, DOTS could not answer on a long shot attempt and was forced to foul again. Scott, again was good at the line on both. Baseline finally seemed to have an insurmountable 76-68 lead with only 0:18 seconds showing. DOTS couldn't muster another score, then declined to foul again, as Baseline dribbled out the final 0:12 seconds to victory. The fatigued and sick Chris Agnes finished with 18 well-deserved points for DOTS, while Nolley had 13, Trice 11 and Johnson and Mallory nine each. Tatum and James Taylor rounded out the scoring for DOTS with 6 and 2, respectively. For Baseline-1, Ingle and Scott each notched 20, while Stegall had 16 and Wooten 11. Casey Moore also had five, as Henderson and Kashif Gumbs (6'0''-G-87, college: State Fair CC) both contributed two for Baseline-1. ------------------------------------- There couldn't have been a better finish to the Metro Confernce A-League Championship Tournament, with the top seeds from the North and South Divisions facing off against each others. DOTS, the South's #1 seed and Baseline-1, the North's #1 seed. Each team, genuinely coached and eager to display a level of team-work and comradere that does not often occur in summer pro league basketball. The two most deserving clubs, each with equal chance to claim the Title, battling in the final game.
DOTS, in its second consecutive appearance in the SEBL Metro Final Four, finished 8-3 overall and advanced to the Title Game for the first time. Head Coach, Darnell Barksdale did a great job with an undersized roster, who are a testament to the philosophy of "team-work." The DOTS offense primarily flowed through Agnes, but everyone got involved and they welcomed the defensive challenge of facing bigger opponents. Trice showed a nice ability to play inside-out and Nolley is a superb outside shooter. The other supporting cast of guards, in Tatum, Taylor and Johnson, added a nice compliment of guys who could score when needed. Tatum displayed his ability to shoot the long ball and drive to the hole. Taylor possesses a steady, yet versatile approach and Johnson with his gritty notion to battle inside with a surprising leaping ability. Mallory mopped up with many offensive put-backs and gave a solid defensive, shot blocking and rebounding presence in the paint.
Baseline-1 was able to put together a complete roster for the 2007 summer season, while going 11-1 overall. Its only trip-up was a mid-season loss to a then hot Servpro-1 squad. Baseline ran through the competition, before running into a tough DOTS squad in the Championship Game. Golden Ingle delighted the crowd with his fast paced style of play, producing daring drives to the bucket and NBA-range bombs against swarming defenses. For his efforts, Ingle was honored, hands down, as the 2007 SEBL Metro A-League Most Valuable Player. Ernest Scott, with his uncanny inside-outside scoring ability, consistently gave Baseline-1 clutch buckets, hitting threes in bunches and posting up mismatches when needed. Scott, who averaged 24 ppg in the playoffs was named the Metro A-League Tourney MVP. Marcus Henderson experienced a resurgence in the latter part of the season, which may have been as important an ingredient to Baseline capturing the Title. He defending very well in the post, making the effort to change and block shots, along with rebound consistently. He also stepped his offensive game up, with a blend of confident mid-range jumpers and re-newed ability to back his man down for an array of baby-hooks and curl shots in the lane. Ronell Wooten showed why he may have a shot at being noticed by the NBA during his senior year at Kennesaw State, with his ability to shoot for distance, penetrate to the goal and play above the rim! He also is no stranger to defense, as he worked hard to handle his man and execute help-side when needed. Shaun Stegall (6'7''-F-85) and Rod Ashmore, both provided another scoring option, while sharing time as starters for Baseline. Both can shoot the three, as well as carry their defenders to the block. Casey Moore, new to the Baseline family, came off the bench to provide instant scoring and often guarded the opponent's most athletic scorer. Casey can shoot from very deep and has a penchant for getting to the basket as well. He showed a lot of class in accepting his role as the newcomer, when he quite obviously has traditionally been a main cog for his previous teams. Anthony Doyley, also a newcomer to the Baseline family, showed a level of class, accepting a reserve role, while still providing a high level of play on the court. He provided steady, heady play at both guard spots, hitting key jumpers and understanding when and where the ball needed to be. After missing the quarters and semis of the playoffs, Doyley suffered less minutes in the Final game, as a result of an emerging combination of players during the games he missed. He showed a lot class, in a supportive role in the Final. Kashif Gumbs also showed a level of maturity and class, accepting a supporting role off the bench, when he has the ability to put up 20 every night. The athletic, high-flying Gumbs joined Baseline mid-way through the season, scoring in double-figures several times despite his reserve role. The 19-year old, also played in the City Conference, earning All-Conference honors. For his play this summer, Gumbs has accepted an athletic scholarship offer to Belmont-Abbey. Several key reserves helped the Baseline-1 squad at various junctures during the season. Joe Hamilton played several games, before leaving for a free agent camp. He subsequently suffered and season-ending injury, and could not return to the team, but provided high-flying, exciting offense for Baseline, as well as superb shot-blocking ability. The Guard trio of Mike Linley, Quan Martin and Antron Pippen provided solid scoring and great defensive play during beginning and latter part of the season. Linley, who played the first few games, before suffering a season-ending injury provided super back-up role to Ingle, coming in to give high-percentage shooting from the perimeter and dependable ball-handling. Martin and Pippen (son of NBA great Scottie Pippen), both possess uncanny, athletic-styles of defensive play, often unmercifully shutting down their defensive assignments. They both turned their staunch defensive play into offensive opportunities, while taking the ball to the cup often. In the other SEBL Conference Title Games... Baseline-2 overcame a first half deficit to pull away from Rome ServPro-2, 90-75, to to claim the City Conference B-League Championship. Jermaine Spivey and Mikaiel Carter led Baseline-2 offensively, with 24 and 22 points, respectively. Shan Finley had 32 for Rome ServPro-2. Spivey, who also downed 63 points in an early tourney win, was named the City Conference Tourney MVP, while Carter was honored as the City Conference B-League's Most Valuable Player. Also, the BaselineUSA women stormed from 13 down in the second half to force overtime. It took two overtime periods, but they finally prevailed 79-74 over the North Georgia Stars, taking the WSEBL Women's Summer League Championship. Melissa Bunce-Winters got 25 points and Amanda Williams 22 for the Baseline women. Shagera Irwin got 12 for the Stars. Williams was chosen as the WSEBL's Most Outstanding Player for 2007. | | |
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