Around The Basketball League: Darrington And Howard Lead Toledo To Top, Lebanon Leprechauns Test Their Luck, Will Zach Naylor And Southern Kings Run Away With Southeast, Who Can Beat The Capitals ?
Week 4 is ready to reveal true colors for TBL conference leaders from Syracuse, to Sugar Land, and Salem.
Before heading into Week 4 of TBL games, take a quick look back on how things are shaking out conference by conference around the league coming off of a Week 3 that saw three teams remain unbeaten and four teams come up short to secure their first wins of the season.
Somewhere in-between, a number of teams across TBL vie for a chance to gain ground on conference leaders while others are struggling to find their true chemistry in the first month of the season. Teams who are showing a strong start to 2022 are playing consistent basketball and stringing together wins, because for as much as the TBL is about “exposure” nothing gets people to take notice more than a winning organization. In a 24 game season there’s still plenty of time to right the ship, but if you wait too long to get moving in the right direction teams could start to sink sooner than they expected.
Who Can Stop The Salem Capitals In The West Conference?
Salem kept their undefeated streak intact and improved to 6-0 with weekend wins over Bakersfield and Vancouver. Former Boise State standout point guard Montigo Alford has pushed the tempo and provided everything from scoring to timely assists for the Capitals as he went for 22 points and 7 assists, while grabbing 6 rebounds versus the Magic. Salem forward Kevin Johnson Jr. continues to lead TBL in rebounding and is proving to be tough to keep off the glass. He finished with 19 rebounds against Baksersfield and has now grabbed 13 or more rebounds in each of the Capitals’ six games. The Week 3 contests against Bakersfield and Vancouver were another example of how the frontline of Salem might be one of the best in the entire TBL. Not only did Johnson finish with another double-double (15 points and 14 rebounds), but center Vincent Boumann also went for back-to-back big games with 20 points and 9 rebounds against Bakersfield and 23 points and 9 rebounds against Vancouver.
The Capitals next take on the 5-1 California Sea Kings on Saturday in Salem, with the Sea Kings having their undefeated record snapped by the winless San Diego Sharks (104-103) last Friday night. California bounced back on Sunday by defeating the SoCal Moguls 119-108 thanks to three players giving the Sea Kings twenty-plus point games: Greg Foster (29 points), Nigel Jones (23 points), and Jahlin Smith (20 points). It was an important weekend for San Diego and Vancouver with both franchises seeking and finding their first wins of the 2022 season. Along with the Sharks sneaking by the Sea Kings, Vancouver beat visiting Bakersfield behind 26 points from Kwame Bates and 21 points by Andre McCowan.
Sugar Land Imperials Aim To Stay Perfect In The Central Conference
With a nine team market, the Central Conference is beginning to break down into three layers if you take a look at how the records are starting to play out. Along with Sugar Land joining Salem and Syracuse as the three remaining teams without a loss so far, the Imperials are fending off both defending TBL champs the Enid Outlaws and the expansion Potawatomi Fire who are tied for second in the Central at 5-1.
The next wave sees the Shreveport Mavericks (4-2), Dallas Skyline (4-2), and Beaumont Panthers (2-3) trying to make up some ground, while the Waco Royals (0-6), Rockwall 7ers (0-5), and Little Rock Lightening (0-5) are all struggling to get their first wins. So how are the Imperials able to keep their winning ways alive? Look no further than balanced scoring and a strong approach to defense. Currently the Imperials have six players averaging double-figures, led by Marquez Fletcher-Ellis with 13 points, 11.3 rebounds, and 3.5 blocks per game. Those numbers are good enough to rank the former Nevada forward 7th in TBL in average rebounds and blocks.
Upper Midwest Conference Belongs To Toledo Thanks To Darrington And Howard
Hats off to Toledo Glass City head coach Freddie Zamora and his team for jumping out to an impressive 5-1 record in a competitive conference that includes the 4-1 Jamestown Jackals and a scrappy Lansing Pharaohs squad that earned their first two wins of the season over the weekend and now find themselves in the middle of the the pack in the Upper Midwest Conference.
For Toledo, the scoring has come in bunches and has helped Glass City overpower TBL teams with Chris Darrington and Travon Howard simply too hard to handle as a one-two punch. Darrington dropped 34 points on Friday night versus Cincinnati, only to turnaround and go for 25 points in the win over Flint. “Tray” Howard was equally effective on the court for Toledo in a two-game stretch that saw him tie his season-high in scoring with 27 points against the Warriors and 17 points versus the United. The bonus for Toledo: the hot play is starting to rub off. On Sunday’s W against Kaleb Vaughn posted a double-double of 13 points and 10 rebounds, earning him Player of the Game honors. If Glass City is going to keep framing up the competition, they’ll have to get used to playing away from home as they’re now faced with a five-game road trip starting with Cincinnati, Kokomo, back-to-back games against Jamestown, and Lebanon.
Lebanon Leprechauns Trying Their Luck Against Indiana All-Americans Atop Lower Midwest Conference
Another weekend in TBL, another game-winner.
This time it was Lebanon and a deep three from University of San Francisco alum Ronnie Boyce at the buzzer that gave the Owensboro Thoroughbreds their first loss of the season and presented the Leprechauns with a chance to keep their luck alive in the Lower Midwest Conference. What a home opener for the community of Lebanon, Indiana who packed the As it stands, they are looking up at the Indiana All-Americans who own the best record in the conference at 5-1 as the All-Americans snuck by a pesky Dayton Flyers team (135-131) and handed Owensboro their second loss of the season over the weekend.
On the season, Indiana forward Isaac Edmondson leads the team in scoring by averaging 26.3 points per game and is complimented nicely by guard Taishaun Johnson who is averaging 21.7 points per game for the All-Americans. The next two games should really be interesting as Lebanon and Indiana play on Friday and Sunday for Week 4 action.
At the other end of the conference, the Kokomo BobKats finally came away with two wins over the weekend, both in TBL and NBLC competition. The TBL victory counts toward their record, but unfortunately the NBLC game doesn’t. Friday night saw the BobKats beat the Medora Timberjacks 98-81 courtesy of five players finishing in double-figures in scoring. Despite falling to the Kentucky Enforcers on Saturday, Kokomo accomplished what only four other TBL teams could do so far this season – knock off an NBLC team – in their 2022 season home opener (96-93) against the KW Titans on Sunday.
Will Zach Naylor And The Tallahassee Southern Kings Run Away With The Southeast Conference?
After dropping their 2022 TBL season opener to the Raleigh Firebirds, the Tallahassee Southern Kings have rattled off four-straight wins and look poised to keep going strong in the Southeast Conference. Led by Zach Naylor’s 26.2 points per game and Marlon Hunter’s 20 points per game this season, the Southern Kings have sent the Carolina Cougars packing twice, beat the Gulf Coast Lions handily, and got a season-high 37 points from Naylor to trounce the Central Alabama Jaguars last week.
Keep an eye on these next two games for Tallahassee. With games scheduled against Raleigh and Carolina in Week 4 – the Sea Kings’ biggest challenges despite Central Alabama sitting in second place – we might just might get an answer to the question sooner than we thought in the Southeast Conference.
Syracuse Stallions Showing TBL What A Championship Caliber Team Looks Like In Northeast Conference
Much like the Central Conference, the Northeast Conference is nine teams deep. And much like the Central, the Northeast is made up of contenders and pretenders.
Take a quick look at the conference standings and it’s clear to see that some organizations are professionally polished and are trending upward, while others are merely trying to stay afloat without drowning in the deep end of a lengthy TBL season. Four of the nine teams currently have losing records (Massachusetts, Lancaster/Pennsylvania, Lehigh Valley, and Connecticut), one team is sitting at .500 (Reading), and two organizations are trying to push beyond three wins (Tri-State and Atlantic City).
Then you have two elite franchises to contend with in the Albany Patroons and Syracuse Stallions. Whereas the Patroons are still waiting to hear the verdict on their protest game against Lehigh Valley that resulted in Albany’s lone loss of the season, Syracuse has galloped to a perfect 5-0 record in TBL and also secured a win over the NBLC’s Sudbury Five over the weekend behind Jordan Robertson’s 28 points, 7 rebounds, and 2 assists becoming the first TBL team to win in Canada this season. When you are able to run the table on TBL teams and turn around and secure a victory in the NBLC (while also battling the London Lightening down to the end), you are doing something right.
* Sugar Land Imperials photo credit: Michael Williams Photography
* Salem Capitals photo credit: Salem Capitals / Tyler Joseph Zablocki
* Lebanon Leprechauns photo credit: Jacob Musselman / Lebanon Reporter
* Syracuse Stallions photo credit: Syracuse Stallions
* Lead photo credit: Melvin Thomas
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Wendell Maxey has covered and written about professional basketball and sports for 19 years and has previously been featured on ESPN.com, NBA.com, USA Today, FOX Sports, and SLAM Magazine among other publications and outlets. Connect with him on Twitter and LinkedIn or read through his archive on Linktree.