SHAWNEE, OK – The Potawatomi Fire are one step closer to winning their fourth straight TBL Title. The Fire beat the Tri-City Tide 151-114 on Thursday night and now lead the 2026 TBL Finals 1-0. Should the Fire win on Friday and sweep the Tri-City Tide, the Fire will also finish undefeated for the second time in the last three seasons.
“I thought we played very focused basketball tonight,” said Fire head coach Mark Dannhoff. “I thought all of the guys were ready to go and really executed well. This is a good Tri-City team. They are much better than the score indicates and I expect they’ll play better tomorrow. But, tonight, our guys were focused and ready and played a heck of a game.”
The Fire set team records for field goal percentage (67.4%) and three-point percentage (58.8%). The Fire also scored 150 or more points for the sixth time this season.
The Fire were led by K.D. Moore who scored 30 points while dishing out seven assists and grabbing seven assists.
Among the other starters, Ricardo Artis II scored 27 points and grabbed six rebounds. He also had two assists and three steals. Willie Warren recorded a double-double finishing with 14 points and 12 assists. Jay Hedgeman scored 13 points to go along with four rebounds, three assists, and a pair of steals.
Of the bench, Jahmal McMurray scored a season-high 27 points to go along with seven rebounds, seven assists, and three steals. Cam Williams scored 20 points on 8-12 shooting. Finally, Isaiah Wade, the newly minted 6th Man of the Year, finished with 13 points, eight rebounds, and three steals.
A full box score is available here.
With the win, the Fire have now won 44 consecutive games overall and 67 straight games inside FireLake Arena.
Up next, the Fire will host the Tide for Game 2 of the 2026 TBL Finals on Friday, June 19th. Tipoff is set for 7 PM. Tickets to Game 2 can be purchased at https://www.potawatomifire.com/tickets/ or by calling the FireLake Arena box office at 405-273-1637.
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.
