The Albany Legends won their first game of the 2012 season last night against the Battle Creek Knights 129-102.The first thing I noticed was that Will Pratt and Kyle Downey weren't there and Pratt wasn't listed on the roster. According to timesunion.com, Downey had a prior commitment and might not play with the team until their game on April 13th. I still don't have any word on Pratt. I also noticed that Scott Morton, who played with the Legends last season, was with the team and was listed on the roster.
I predicted the starting lineup almost all right with the exclusion of Josh Jones. Emanuel Mayben, Jones, EJ Gallup, Tadre Sheppard, and Kenny Tribbett started for the Legends. The Legends won the tip and a short jumper by Mayben and a 3-pointer by Gallup put Albany up 5-0. A dunk by Tribbett put the Legends up 17-6 and another 3-pointer by Gallup put the team up 20-8. The first quarter ended with the Legends up 22-14.
The Legends kept their level of play up in the second quarter. One highlight play was when Mayben threw an off-the-backboard alley-oop to Marcus Snipes. The score at the end of the first half was 57-47.
Albany continued to dominate in the second half and started out the third quarter with a 15-5 run. The Legends kept pulling away and led 98-72 at the end of the 3rd.
The Legends came out hot in the 4th and led 113-83 with 6:15 left in the game. The Knights were unable to make a comeback and the Legends won 129-102.
Here are some observations I had:
-The Legends led the entire game and didn't look back. It was a very comfortable win for the team.
-During a dead ball in the first, Courtney Smith of the Knights noticeably shoved Mayben and it wasn't called.
-I love Scott Morton's game. He is always taking charges on defense and diving for loose balls. There was also a specific play in which Morton really impressed me. He was hard-fouled by a player on the Knights and didn't try to retaliate or anything. He just got up and shot his free throws. That's good sportsmanship.
-Guy Dupuy doesn't do much else besides dunking. He threw down some good dunks in warmups and in the game, but didn't do much else noteworthy besides making a 3-pointer in the game.
-EJ Gallup's game hasn't changed a bit. He jacked up 12 3-pointers made 5 of them. He finished with 19 points.
-TJ Czeski and Zachary Bye served as good role players off the bench. Neither of them played overly well, but they're both young and should improve over the course of the season. Czeski had a good dunk during the game and I think he will serve as a good back-up point guard to Mayben.
-Josh Jones and Marcus Snipes both scored the ball well and helped the team. I think Ben Smith should start 2 out of these 3 players at shooting guard and small forward: Jones, Snipes, and Gallup.
-Kenny Tribbett, who started for the Legends, played fairly well, but didn't seem to be overly aggressive on either side of the court. He did make a few shots from inside.
Player of the Game: Tadre Sheppard. Sheppard scored 23 points and grabbed 10 rebounds.
Random Highlight of the Game: EJ Gallup hits a 3-pointer off an assist from TJ Czeski.
The Legends play the Knights again today at 1:00 pm at CBA.
Sources:
http://www.fox23news.com/sports/custom/localsports/story/Albany-Legends-Win-Season-Opener-129-102/InXeEl93QUKprJ6xiK-MXw.cspx
http://www.timesunion.com/sports/article/Legends-open-with-a-victory-3448976.php
Have any thoughts on the Legends winning their first game of the season. Do you think they can go all the way this year? Leave a comment below and tell me what you think.
