In just their second year participating in the TBL, the Shreveport Mavericks will be competing for their fifth national title in franchise history. Four of those titles were in the ABA and this will be the first opportunity for TBL Title. The Mavericks picked up yet another piece of hardware claiming the Western Regional Championship in a 2-0 sweep of the SoCal Moguls.
“This means a lot to me, Shreveport is my home,” said Mavericks head coach Steven Tucker. “I’ve had some great times here and we won the championships in ‘14 & ‘15. This team had had a rougher road. This has been hard and to get to the finals and get a chance to play for a national championship again means a lot to me because Shreveport means so much to me. Shreveport/Bossier means a lot to me and this team means a lot to me…I think this is a great team and I think this could be one of the greatest Maverick teams ever if we do what we’re supposed to do next week.”
The opponent will be the East Regional Champs, Albany Patroon. They are the overall No. 1 seed and will get two of the three possible title games in New York. Albany won the Northeast Division with a 21-3 regular-season record. The Patroons outlasted the Atlantic City Gambits 2-1 in the Northeast divisional semifinals. They swept the Huntsville Hurricanes 2-0 in the conference finals. Albany won the East Regional Championship 2-1 over the Midwest Conference champions Kokomo Bobkats.
Game 1
Shreveport 113, SoCal 110
It’s hard not to prove that every shot counts in a basketball game. With seven seconds remaining, Paul Parks nailed a three-pointer that gave the Shreveport Mavericks the first game in the TBL Final Four game at the Centenary Gold Dome on Wednesday night with the 113-110 win over the SoCal Moguls.
Paul Parks had a stellar night shooting 56 percent (13-23) from the field including shooting 60 percent (6 for 10) from beyond the arc. Parks buried 33 points and snatched 8 rebounds. Paul Harrison scored 27 and grabbed 5 rebounds. Tyrone Jordan netted 17 points. Patrick Meyers scored 11 and took 6 rebounds and 5 assists. Tyrin Cummings pulled down a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds. Bilal Richardson gave the offense opportunities for 5 rebounds.
The hunger for a trip to a title chance popped off at the Harrison layup and back-to-back threes from Park to kick off an 8-3 lead. SoCal Moguls finally caught the Mavericks from points from Tatum and Smith at 10-10. Shreveport went on an 8-0 run on Parks five points and Cummings “And1” play. The Moguls called timeout to halt the scoring drive at 18-10. SoCal stormed back on a 7-0 run and back to 18-17 at 5:49 remaining in the first quarter. The Harrison-Parks combination pushed back a 25-20 lead on another 5-0 run. Winton and Gentry gave SoCal their first lead at 30-29 at the end of the first quarter.
Shreveport started the second quarter with an 8-0 run. Parks’ jump shot started the rally. Tyrone Jordan was fouled on a three-point shot and scored all three free throws. Patrick Meyers nailed a three to give you a 37-30 lead. The Moguls rallied back to take the lead on a 9-0 run sparked by 5 points behind Gentry at 45-44. Harrison with his 5 points on a 10-2 run gave the Mavericks a boost to jump back in the lead at 55-47 with 3:20 left in the half. Gentry and Winston obliterated the Maverick lead back to 55-54 with two minutes to go. Shreveport held on to the halftime lead at 60-56.
Harrison and Parks started the second half raining threes and took the lead to eight quickly. The Moguls countered with a 6-0 run to get back to 66-65. Five more lead changes happened in the third quarter. Shreveport took the 86-84 lead into the final quarter.
Fourth-quarter was much like the third where neither team could get the upper hand over the other. With 52 seconds remaining, Winton’s free throws tied the game at 110-110. Harrison tried a jump shot but Gentry rebounded for the Moguls. Numerous subs by both teams. With 3 seconds left, Paul Parks buries a three-point jump shot to grab Game 1 in the series.
“I don’t think we played well,” Coach Tucker said. “A lot of that could have been the emotional win up in Enid.”
Game 2
Shreveport 111, So Cal 94
The Shreveport Mavericks had the opportunity to play one more at home as all three games were set at the Gold Dome, but they wanted to make quick business of this series and head to the championship.
Shreveport seemed to have gotten into the psyche of the Moguls as So Cal looked to be out of it in the third and fourth quarters. Also, the all-around play of the Mavericks was key from the first-quarter rebounding of Bilal Richardson to the tirade of second-half points by Tyrone Jordan to the even-keel controlling play of the Pauls. In short, Shreveport dominated.
Shreveport was strong from the free-throw line as they shot 76 percent. The Mavericks outrebounded 67 to 47. Shreveport took the opportunities given with second-chance points as the Moguls only scored 5.
Tyrone Jordan led the Mavericks with a double-double with 31 points and 15 rebounds. “Nobody understands how good a player Tyrone Jordan is,” Coach Tucker said. “It amazes me that he gets no more recognition from our league in what he does.” Paul Parks scored 21 points with 8 rebounds. Paul Harrison also scored 21 points and 5 rebounds. Bilal Richardson snatched 9 rebounds. Alani Moore had 5 rebounds. Patrick Meyers helped with 5 assists.
Shreveport jumped out early on a 10-2 run. Richardson kicked off with a layup followed by a three from Parks. Smith put the first bucket in for the Moguls. Parks followed with another layup. Parks tried another three but McNeal fouled him. Parks nailed all three free throws. With eight minutes left in the quarter, Shreveport went on another 8-2 run. Harrison and Parks each bucketed a layup. Parks was fouled on his layup to make it a three-point play. Moore closed the drive with a three and Shreveport had a double-digit lead in the first six minutes at 20-8. Moguls closed the gap to 23-16 with four minutes left with scores from Gentry and Winton. Shreveport took the lead back to 32-20 to end the quarter.
Ireland tried to close the gap with all six points in the 6-0 run for the Moguls in the first two minutes. They countered with their own 6-0 run behind Harrison and Jordan. Shreveport was up 42-25 with eight minutes remaining. The Mavericks had pushed as high as an 18-point lead. SoCal piled together a late 6-0 run to close within 10 with 44-seconds left. Shreveport led 52-41 heading into halftime.
Shreveport pounced once more in the middle of the third with a 9-2 run to jump back up to 17 points 65-47 emphasized by back-to-back dunks from Richardson and Parks. Jordan went on a rampage scoring 12 consecutive points for the Mavericks and sending the lead to 24 points with 2:28 remaining. Shreveport took the 81-59 lead into the final quarter.
Shreveport opened the fourth with yet another 7-0 run behind the hot-handed Jordan’s 4 points to take the 88-59. SoCal’s performance looked deflated as the Mavericks continued to roll. SoCal returned with a small run to knock the lead to 23. The Moguls continued to keep below 30 the remainder of the quarter and Shreveport punched their ticket to the TBL National Championship.
“I thought tonight we came out focused,” Coach Tucker said. “I thought we guarded really well. We beat a really good team. They are tough and well-coached. Coach Polynice played in the NBA and he does a good job with them. They have nothing to be ashamed of. “
Shreveport will get to start the TBL National Championship at the Gold Dome on Saturday, July 2 with a 7:05 tip-off. Tickets can be purchased at https://shreveportmavericks.hometownticketing.com/embed/all
The Mavericks will have to travel to Albany, New York at the Albany Armory for Game 2 on Wednesday, July 6 at 6 pm CST. If necessary, Game 3 will be played Thursday, July 7 at 6 pm CST.
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