Admirals win big over the Detroit Hoops 135-109

By AARON GREEN - H-P Sports Writer

Published: Sunday, March 7, 2010 1:08 PM EST

ST. JOSEPH - It took a little time for the lake Michigan Admirals to settle into the game Saturday night. The Admirals did get going in the second quarter and used a 22-0 run to take control of the game and easily defeated the Detroit Hoops 134-109 in an American Basketball Association divisional playoff game.
Lake Michigan now advances to the ABA playoffs, consisting of a single-elimination eight-team tournament.

Lake Michigan will play next Saturday, but a location has not been determined as of press time "We did not play that well to start and were a little tight," Admirals coach Buck Riley said. "Our effort was there from the start but we started to get it in gear in the second quarter."

The Admirals jumped out to a quick 8-2 lead but the Hoops used the 3-point shot to quickly pull even at 11.
Detroit continued to shoot well from behind the arc, connecting on five threes in the quarter to take a 27-24 lead.

Lake Michigan hit a shot at the end of the quarter to tie the game at 27. In the second the teams traded baskets to start, but the Admirals' defense began to contest the jump shot and force Detroit out of its comfort zone.With Detroit leading 33-31, Lake Michigan began to find its defensive intensity.The Admirals forced 14 second-quarter turnovers and held the Hoops to just 5-of-19 shooting (26 percent) and used the 22-0 run to take full control of the game.

The Admirals went 13 for 26 in the quarter scoring, 34 points to lead the Hoops 61-40 at the half. We started attacking with the ball," Riley said. "When we get our transition game going we are tough to stop. I wish our transition defense was better. We played good tonight, but we have not come close to peaking yet. We have the pieces of the puzzle in place to be a very good basketball team." The third quarter saw the Admirals continue to push the tempo and saw its lead grow to as many as 31 points. "We have great depth and like to wear teams down and I think that's exactly what we did tonight," Riley said. "I was very proud of our energy, and we shared the ball well tonight."

The fourth saw Demarcus Berry try and bring the Hoops back into the game scoring 20 of his game high 37 in the quarter, but Deangelo Johnson answered for the Admirals with 17 points of his own in the quarter as Lake Michigan kept a comfortable margin. "(Johnson) has the ability to do that on any night," Riley said. "These guys are just fun to watch and like to share the ball. They shared it almost too much in the second half, but you get that when you have a big lead."

Lake Michigan used a balanced scoring attack to win as all the players on the team scored including eight in double figures. Johnson led the way for Lake Michigan with 25 points. Dominick Melton added 24 points. Antonio Griffin and Shane Ross had 13 points each.

Gus Chase scored 12 points and Brandon Ball and Anthony Slater chipped in 11 points apiece.

"I still think we need to be more steady on defense, but when the game hit the nitty-gritty tonight and got physical, we laid the hammer down," Riley said. "Once we started with our pressure, we wore the other team down."