After a stormy start, the Clams sailed to victory in front of a capacity crowd at the Dundee Center on Tuesday night. They went just 36-82 as a team for 44%, but made up the slack with good defense, three-point shooting and free throws. They held Wok Style to 38% from the field, while going 7 for 16 on threes and sinking 18 of 30 from the line.
Things seemed bleak in the first half when the Dundee starters started dropping like flies. Hui sat down with three fouls in the first quarter, and the team went to the break down 6. Campioni sparked the team to a 9-2 run at the top of the second, but was injured with 9 left in the quarter. Three minutes later The Spaniard also sat down with his third foul, and Wok Style came back to finish the half up one.
Coach Simon must have given one heckuva pep talk at the half, because the Clams came out strong in the third going on a 15-4 run in the first 6 minutes and building a 16-point lead by the start of the fourth. Joan “Largemouth” Bassols, exploded off the bench for 18 in the second half. He would go on to lead the team in points (22), rebounds (8) and blocks (3) in his 37 minutes. Álvarez, came back in the second half and ended up totaling 15 points and 8 rebounds. The Duke scored 13 and served up 6 assists for the night. And Smith, the rookie, logged 11 points and 7 rebounds. But the night belonged to Bassols, who left the stadium to the delirious crowd chanting “Largemouth! Largemouth!”
The bench has been a big part of the Clam’s success all season, and nothing changed in Tuesday night’s victory. Together they scored 39, raked in 18 rebounds, blocked 5, dished out 4 and stole one. Like with Bassols, the team relied on Saleas, who took over at SG, shut down Novellas and contributed 13 points. The All-Star Stratzalis gave 11 good minutes and Aysil and the Wiz combined for 6 min at SF.
As the series travels to the Staples Center tonight, the Clams look to repeat their success. Coach Simon told reporters this, “Wok Style is a great team with great players and we’d be foolish to underestimate them. Melo and Dziebowski both scored 20 or more on us and we’re gonna have to figure out how to stop that. But make no mistake. We’re looking forward to trying to win this thing on the road. And if we can’t, we wanna do this at home for our fans.”
Last edited by Rhymin Simon at 5/12/2012 2:19:20 PM
Last edited by Rhymin Simon at 5/12/2012 2:21:59 PM