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Volume 40, Issue 10.
February 25, 2003
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T-Birds suffer loss to
South Mountain
Ames’ A-game not enough to overcome Rollin’s
trouble
By Danny Alcocer
Mesa Legend
“Foul on number 44” That’s what the referee said calling
out Hakeem Rollin’s fourth foul mid-way through the first half.
With that the Thunderbirds fate was practically sealed.
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DANNY ALCOCER/MESA LEGEND
#44 Hakeem Rollins looks for the
rebound, though he did most of his looking from the bench due to
early foul trouble.
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The leagues leading scorer thus far this year went to the bench, Rollins
who is averaging 24.7 points and 8.9 rebounds per game, would score a
quiet 10 this night.
The Thunderbirds didn’t go down without a fight, battling back from
an 8 point deficit at one time to tie the game up at 42 before half-time.
The Thunderbirds struggled to get into their offense in the second-half,
with Rollins on the bench.
Forward Tarek Abdala commented, “We definitely need Rollins, but
we also are going to have to learn how to play without him.”
Abdala had two field goals, one three, and was 2/2 from the line giving
him 9 points against South Mountain.
With Rollins out the team looked to their other big guns, forward Rayshaun
Ames and guard Paul Mohr.
Ames stepped up to the challenge scoring 29 hard points.
When asked about his stunning performance Ames responded, “It was
a tough loss for us.”
Ames talked about the game down the stretch saying, “We had a couple
rough breaks at the end, if I would have to choose a turning point it
would be the three we missed in the corner near the end of the game. I
think that hurt us, but either way there were a lot of missed opportunities
on our part.”
Ames is averaging 18.3 points and 9.3 rebounds per game this season.
Mohr did what he could, but with no big man down low to attract attention
it was tough for him to get any type of penetration into the lane.
He closed the night with one field goal and four three-pointers totaling
14 points, four points below his season average.
The Thunderbirds other guard Jesse Groethe was silent all night long and
ended with 6 points.
He had this to say, “It’s hard when Hakeem has to sit because
of foul trouble, because it allows the other team to put a lot more pressure
on us as a whole since they don’t have to look out for him.”
South Mountain started to pull away building their lead to six with fewer
than two minutes to play.
Mesa mounted a come back with a Rollins dunk which cut the lead to two
late in the game, but his efforts proved too little too late.
Rollins came out with class after the game gave a smile and said, “I
had a lot of trouble tonight, we didn’t get a lot of breaks, but
down the stretch they just made more big plays than we did. That’s
what it came down to.”
With 3 games left the Thunderbirds will be looking to finish strong, or
as Groethe put it, “We want to win out and make it to the playoffs,
where anything can happen.”
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