SHAWNEE, OK – Perfection continued for the Fire on Friday as they beat the Little Rock Lightning 125-105 to move to 11-0. The win was also the Fire’s 29th straight win at home inside FireLake Arena.

The Fire came out strong leading Little Rock 42-23 after the first quarter and then 69-44 at halftime.

“I really liked, especially in the first half, our approach tonight,” said Fire head coach Mark Dannhoff “I thought we played with a lot of energy. We could really see it throughout the week as guys got more rest and got the legs back under them. I knew we’d be ready tonight.”

The Fire struggled to shoot the ball from the perimeter but that didn’t matter as they were able to get just about anything they wanted inside. On the night, the Fire scored 90 of their 125 points in the paint.

While the offense put up some outstanding numbers, it was the defense that led the Fire tonight. The Fire held Little Rock to 43.2% from the field. The Fire also blocked three shots and recorded a season-high 15 steals as a team.

“I was a little surprised we didn’t shoot the ball better from three because we had been shooting it so well in practice,” said Dannhoff. “It was so easy for us, though, on the inside that we kept pressuring the rim and it didn’t really affect the outcome of the game. I really liked the defense in the first half. I thought we were doing everything well. I thought we had a slow start to the second half defensively but then once we refocused we got back on track.”

Individually, Chuck Guy, who was honored pregame for scoring 2,000 career TBL points in the pregame, led the Fire with 31 points, 16 assists, four rebounds, and a season-high five steals. Deshawn Munson recorded his second straight triple-double with 20 points, 11 rebounds, and 10 assists. K.D. Moore finished with 25 points, one rebound, two assists, and two steals. Jachai Simmons finished with 11 points and four boards. Finally, off the bench, T.J. Maston returned to the team after missing last weekend’s games and finished with 17 points and five rebounds.

A full box score is available here.

“I thought everyone played really well tonight,” said Dannhoff. “Chuck is the guy that gets us going on both ends of the floor and I thought he had a terrific night. Munson, with the triple-double, is raising the level of play. K.D. is doing a great job of pressuring the rim and getting inside. I thought everyone did a good job contributing on both ends of the floor.”

With the win, the Fire improved to 11-0. Up next, the Fire will host the Santa Ana Thunder on Thursday, April 25th. That game will take place at FireLake Arena and will tip off at 7:00 PM.

You can watch a live stream of the game on TBL TV or listen to the game on KGFF Radio (100.9 FM/1450 AM/KGFF.com).

Be sure to follow the Fire on social media (Instagram, Facebook, X) to stay up to date with all the latest information on the 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, now with 38 teams across the U.S. and Canada. Along with winning the TBL championship in 2023, 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 2022 Best Dance Team and Central Conference Best Dance Team in 2023.

The TBL season begins in February and runs through June, concluding with a championship playoff tournament. The players that make up the rosters of the TBL teams are former NCAA (Division I, II or III) or NAIA athletes. Many have played in the NBA’s developmental G-League and/or professionally overseas.

Story by Chris Cox / Photos by Kent Bush