The Shreveport Mavericks got the Potawatomi Fire’s number just at the right time. The Mavericks were on the brink of elimination after falling on Wednesday night in Shawnee, OK when they lost 113-100. The Mavericks came back home on Friday night and forced a third and final game in this series on Saturday night with a 120-107 win. This was the first win all season over Potawatomi.
The Mavericks had seven players in double digits in points. Paul Park achieved a double-double with 19 points and 10 rebounds. Bilal Richardson was hot shooting 8 for 10 from the field scoring 19 points and 7 rebounds all in just 18 minutes of playing time. Tyrone Jordan bucketed 18 points. Tyrin Cummings scored 15 including shooting 6 for 8 from the field. Paul Harrison scored 13. Deandre McIntyre added 11. Jamal Brantley contributed 10 points.
The Mavericks took the game defensively to the Fire and it paid it off. Like Wednesday night, the Maverick had 10-4 in steals once again over the Fire. This time, though, the points backed up the defense, unlike the 38% shooting that occurred on Wednesday night. Shreveport also forced 20 turnovers on Potawatomi and turned them into 25 additional points.
The Mavericks bench was key as they outscored the Fire 49-30.
Potawatomi tried to take control early in the first quarter as they jumped on the Mavericks with a 14-3 run triggered by Theophilus Johnson with five of those points. The Fire had accumulated a 16-7 lead with 5:26 remaining in the first. The Mavericks went on a rampage of threes and dunks. Jordan buried back-to-back 3-pointers exclamation by Cummings dunk. Richardson’s layup followed by another three from Moore had the Mavericks regain the lead at 20-16. Munson tried to calm down Shreveport with a bucket. Jordan came back with another three to cap off the 15-2 run and give Shreveport the 23-18 lead with less than two minutes remaining. Shreveport made a statement in the final minute of the first quarter as they netted another small 5-0 run with a three from Parks followed by a splash by Brantley to close out the first quarter up by 30-24,
Shreveport started to separate for the Fire as they went on a 13-2 run mainly off of “AND1” plays and a three from McIntyre. Shreveport took a 46-30 lead with eight minutes remaining in the second quarter. The Maverick hit a drought in the field as they were unable to score except for two free throws three and a half minutes late in the quarter. Potawatomi began to burn away the lead on an 11-2 run spurred on by Munson with a six-point run of his own. The lead went down to eight points with 1:42 remaining. A 3-pointer race ensued in the final two minutes. Parks ended the run for the Fire with a three. Foster countered one for the Fire. McIntyre showed Shreveport was still in control with a final three for the quarter as Shreveport took a 63-52 lead into halftime.
The two teams traded baskets in the first half of the third quarter. Potawatomi had problems shooting in the third quarter as they only had one 3-pointer in the third and eight overall field goals. The Fire scored one field goal in the final six minutes of the third quarter. Shreveport captured some small runs late in the final four minutes. Richardson scored four in a small 6-0 run to push the lead to 87-68. Richardson scored another two as Cheesman popped a three. Shreveport had a 94-77 lead heading into the final quarter.
The Fire attempted to charge back into the game midway through the fourth quarter. Tevin Foster nailed a three to kick off the 9-0 run. Munson added four points in the run as the lead was sliced to 100-88 with 7:23 remaining. Richardson countered with six points of his own along with two free throws from Parks to push back to an 18-point lead at 106-88. Little did Shreveport know that Richardson’s basket would be the last field goal for almost the remaining six minutes. Foster took things into his own hands for the Fire. Foster buried three more 3-pointers in the final minutes and scored 12 points in the final six minutes. Potawatomi cut the lead to nine points in the final six minutes. The drought Shreveport was in could have scorched them once again but an old reliable charity stripe saved them. Shreveport shot 14 of 16 from the free-throw line to take game two at home at the Gold Dome.
Coach Tucker said on social media today about the win: “Tonight we Won Game 2 of our Series with Potawatomi. Potawatomi has an excellent Team. We know Game 3 tomorrow night here in Shreveport at the Gold Dome is going to be extremely hard. All close-out games are hard. We know the Challenge in front of us. I encourage our fans to come out to the Gold Dome and cheer on your S-Mavericks.”
The winner has a series against the defending TBL champions, Enid Outlaws. The Outlaws swept Dallas Skyline 2 games to 0 with a win on Thursday night 132-125.
The final game of the series will be decided tonight (Saturday, June 11) at 7:05 pm. Tickets can be purchased at the following link: https://shreveportmavericks.hometownticketing.com/embed/all.
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