Cleaves comes up big for Jam
| Wednesday, Mar 11 2009 02:52 AM
Last Updated Wednesday, Mar 25 2009 02:32 PM
The Bakersfield Jam has no shortage of big-time scoring threats. But as the Jam demonstrated Tuesday night, when its crunch time it still turns to Mateen Cleaves.
After Reno cut Bakersfield’s lead to just a one point with 42 seconds remaining, Cleaves blew past his defender and drove down the middle of the lane for arguably the biggest basket of the night for the Jam, which went onto to finish off the Bighorns 101-96 at Rabobank Arena.
“I just feel comfortable with him that for the most part he’s going to make the good decisions we need,” Jam coach Scott Roth said. “… There’s just a comfortable level having him have the ball, especially late in games.
Patrick Ewing Jr. rallied Reno (15-21) back from a 10-point fourth-quarter deficit with eight straight points before Alton Ford sank a pair of free throws to tie the game at 89-all with 3:50 remaining in the game.
But thanks to Cleaves, who had six points in the waning minutes, the Jam (21-17) was able to regain control of the game. The Jam point guard finished with 10 points and 12 assists.
“Ewing’s a monster,” Roth said. “He’s always caused us trouble when comes here and we have trouble guarding him. Justin Reed did a nice job on him for about three and a half quarters and then he (Ewing) just got away from him for a little bit.”
Ewing had a double-double for Reno with 19 points and 14 rebounds.
Trey Johnson had 22 points and Nick Lewis added 18 points and 10 rebounds for the Jam, which snapped a three-game losing streak and sent Reno down to defeat for the first time in four games,.
The win was the Jam’s 12th at home this season, tying a franchise record. And it couldn’t have come at a better time as Bakersfield starts its final push for a D-League playoff berth.
“These games are all crucial to us,” Roth said. “It will probably come down to the last two or three games of the season…”It’s going to be difficult to get in. There are a lot of good teams. In the last 10 days some very very good NBA players have gotten on some teams rosters so some teams are getting better.”
The Jam led 49-46 after an uneven first half that saw the two teams combined for 63 points in a wild first quarter but only 32 more before the break.
The Jam shot to 58 percent from the field in the first quarter to jump in front by three.
Despite cooling off a bit in the second period, Lewis capped off a 12-6 Jam run with a putback of a Justin Reed miss to extend the lead to nine with 5:06 remaining in the first half.
Russell Robinson and Richie Frahm answered with back-to-back 3-pointers to pull Reno within three. The Bighorns shot just 40 percent in the first half but was 7-of-14 from 3-point range.
The Jam got off to a hot start, scoring nine straight points after Reno’s Richie Frahm opened the game with a 20-foot jumper from the right wing.
Frahm continued to burn the Jam early on with his deadly shooting, sinking a pair of 3-pointers that helped the Bighorns climb out of the hole and briefly take the lead.Full stories go in regular bodytype.
