National Athletic Basketball League: Press Release

Friday night at Explosion - Everett Sports Arena in Everett, Washington the Snohomish County Explosion open the NABL Exhibition Season against the Seattle Flight of Seattle, Washington. 

The Flight standouts were 6’5” shooting guard Roy Smiley, 6’2” guard Marquis Echols , 6’0” guard Robert Bishop and center 6’9” Maurice Shaw.

Snohomish County Explosion started veteran point guard 5’10” Jason Hicks who averaged 18 points and 10 assists last season.  Also returning to the lineup were Chris Ferguson and veteran center Mike Jones. 

Friday night started like last season with fast up tempo basketball.  Seattle jumped out to a quick lead in the 1^st and 2^nd quarters to push a 11 point lead at the half.

The Explosion chipped away at Seattle’s lead to go ahead by seven points with six minutes left in the 3^rd quarter.  The game was tied going into the fourth quarter with Roy Smiley going head to head with Jason Hicks.  Smiley made four 3’s in a row to finish with 26 points.  Hicks gave his all to finish with 28 points.

The final score 119-104.

National Athletic Basketball League – Announces New Commissioner – Tyrone White replaces Nathan Mumm

Portland, Oregon - After a successful first year, the National Athletic Basketball League is pleased to announce Tyrone White as its new Commissioner. White is a legendary Portland area player out of the famed Jefferson High School. Tyrone; who goes by "Ty" is the current owner of the Portland Showtime and Troutdale All-Stars teams, along with the duties of running the league.  Nathan Mumm and Joe Becerra are the founders of the NABL, which was in its first season of play in the 2010 season.

The league is innovative in a unique way allowing the owners' to have some creative control, along with the opportunity to vote on all aspects of the business.

                                           NOTE:
* League Play has been canceled for 2011 to revise league.

* We will however have exhibitions games for the 2011 year, continue to check the NABL website for more details. 

Game one of the NABL Championship between the Salem Stampede and Portland Showtime took place July 3rd in the heart of the city at Jefferson High Schools infamous gym. The result, a 20 point beasting enforced by Showtime, ending with a final score of 160-140. I know what you may be thinking, 300 combined points showing on the scoreboard of a championship basketball game? Is this All Star Weekend? Where is the 'D'?!

Well the question soon became, how much 'O' can there really be in one game?

Portland Showtime quickly let it be known as they gave you a full taste of balanced scoring, with six players with 20 plus points. They initially exploited the Stampede with inside scoring; Terrence Twotwo (26pts,12rebs), dominated the glass, the entertaining Kevin Ford (6'9'-F/C, agency:Hart Sports Mngm) posted 26pts, 15rebs and dished out 9 assist. Bayo Arigbon had 25 off the block. Anthony Lackey (22) and DeMarcus Foster (22) rained 3's from well beyond the 3 point line. The dynamic point guard Mac Hopson opened up posting another triple double 24pts, 12rebs and 19 dimes in his head to head battle with the Stampede's Jeremiah Dominguez. Dominguez ended the game with 29pts. and 14 assists and 9 boards but Hopson's steady back court mate and Jeremiah's former tandem terror at Portland State; Dominic Waters missed the game due to Rookie Camp Tryouts with the Utah Jazz.

Now don't think this Salem squad were not ready for the task as the exciting Chris Neal dropped 24 in the loss; the cool offense of Jeff Dunn led to 28, with 18 of those points from 6 threes. The Schmidt brothers caught fire early, with Matt scoring 22. His brother Ryan led all scorers with 33. Along with Dominguez they hit their Stampeding stride and erased the 20 point piecing they were enduring, narrowing it down to just 4 early in the 3rd quarter. This is the same third quarter that saw Bayo go on a complete one domination, as his low post game seemed to be showcased. He scored 17 in a very short span and almost single handedly rounded up the Stampede.

The fourth period saw Showtime's center Kevin Ford playing multiple positions, including point guard Ford grabbed a miss by Salem's Chris Neal, and went from one coast displaying his AND ONE Mix Tape handles as he entered theother coast. Tossing the ball off the glass, he caught it with two hands and smashed all hopes of a Stamped win.

The Portland Showtime now sit one game away from being the NABL CHAMPIONS, The Salem Stampede host game 2 in Salem this weekend. Game three will be Sunday July 11th at Jefferson High (if necessary). Make your presence felt, the Offense will definitely be dealt.

Salem will be looking to push the series back to Portland for a deciding game three with a game two home win. Portland will be looking to close out the Championship and parade back up Interstate 5 with the NABL's coveted Iron Horse League Championship Trophy.