SHAWNEE, OK – The Potawatomi Fire kept their perfect start intact beating the Little Rock Lightning 121-96 on Friday night. The win was the Fire’s 25^th consecutive win and improved their record to 4-0. The win also bumped the Fire’s home winning streak to 55 games.

Offensively, it wasn’t the cleanest of games for the Fire as they shot just 49.1% from the field and were just 1-14 from behind the three-point line. However, the Fire buckled down on defense and stifled a very good Little Rock offense. The Fire held the Lightning to just 37.1% shooting from the field and 23.5% from three. The Fire also forced 24 Little Rock turnovers, recorded 16 steals, and blocked 6 shots.

“We certainly didn’t play our best and we will need to be better moving forward,” said Fire head coach Mark Dannhoff. “But we found some things that worked and were able to get the win. I thought we did a good job attacking the paint, even though we didn’t always finish at the rim. I also thought we rebounded well and kept Little Rock from find their rhythm offensively.”

The Fire recorded a season-high 72 rebounds, including a season-high 22 offensive rebounds. The 72 rebounds were also fourth most in single game in Fire history.

The Fire, once again, proved to be arguably the deepest team in The Basketball League with six guys finishing with at least 11 points. T.J. Maston led the Fire with 21 points. He became the fourth player in as many games to lead the Fire in scoring this season.

To go along with Maston’s 21 points, Isaiah Wade (19 points, 12 rebounds, 3 blocks), Willie Warren (15 points, 10 assists, 5 steals), and Chuck Guy (11 points, 11 assists, seven rebounds) each finished with a double-double. Rounding out the double-digit scorers were Ricardo Artis II and Jay Hedgeman. Artis II finished with a season high 14 points, seven rebounds, and five assists while Hedgeman had 16 points to go along with eight rebounds.

A full box score is available here.

“It’s nice to see everyone get involved,” said Dannhoff. “When we aren’t our best offensively, it’s good to have guys step up on defense. It’s also nice to have the depth we have because if a couple of guys just can’t get things to fall we know we have other guys to turn to. It takes a team to win and you saw that tonight.”

Up next, the undefeated Fire will travel to Little Elm, Texas to take on the CYM Leopards (2-2) this Sunday, March 22^nd, at 2 P.M. You can watch a live stream of the game at tbltv.tv or listen live on KGFF Radio (100.9 FM/1450 AM).

To stay up to date with all the latest news and notes regarding the Potawatomi Fire, follow the team on social media. You can follow the Fire on Instagram, Facebook, X, and YouTube.

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ABOUT THE POTAWATOMI FIRE

The Potawatomi Fire are the first professional basketball team owned by a Native American tribe (Citizen Potawatomi Nation) in Oklahoma. The Fire compete in the Central Conference of The Basketball League (TBL), a men’s professional basketball league, with roughly 40 teams across the U.S. and Canada. The Fire play their home games at FireLake Arena in Shawnee, Oklahoma.

Through their first four years, the Fire have established themselves as the premier franchise in TBL. Along with winning the TBL championship in 2023, 2024 and 2025, the Fire organization was named the 2022 winner of the Jim Koch Award as TBL’s Best Ran Business. The dance team of the Fire, the Fire Girls, were named TBL’s Best Dance Team in 2022 and 2025. The Fire Girls were also named the Central Conference Best Dance Team in 2023 and 2024.