LITTLE ROCK, ARK – The Potawatomi Fire (1-0) started off their quest for a third straight TBL championship with an impressive 112-61 win over the Little Rock Lightning (0-2) inside Hall High School on Sunday afternoon. The 51-point victory was the third largest margin of victory in Fire history.
The two-time defending TBL champions got the game started off with an easy basket as Ricardo Artis II scored right off the opening tip. The Fire would then go on to score the first seven points of the game.
“I thought we started off really strong,” said Fire head coach, and two-time TBL Coach of the Year, Mark Dannhoff. “Little Rock is a talented team and made a couple of runs but I thought we kept our composure and did a nice job playing our brand of basketball.”
That brand of basketball started on the defensive end Sunday. afternoon The Fire held Little Rock to just 61 points and 26% shooting from the field. Only two players reached double-digit scoring for Little Rock, Aaron Cassell (17 points) and Braylon Steen (11 points).
“Our defense was strong all game,” said Dannhoff. “I thought we rotated well and scrambled well to the ball. Our big guys did a great job altering shots at the rim and our perimeter players really showed active hands tonight. We had a couple of blown assignments but, overall, I liked our defensive effort.”
Offensively, the Fire were balanced with six players finishing in double-figures. Artis II, TBL’s reigning 6th Man of the Year, led the Fire with 21 points on 8-14 shooting. Paul Harrison finished with 18 points and 7 rebounds while Chuck Guy finished with 10 points. Guy also recorded eight assists on the night putting him just six shy of 1,000 assists in his career.
Off the bench, three other Fire players finished in double-figures. Kam Williams scored 17 and was 3-4 from behind the three-point line. Jay Hedgeman finished with 12 points and 4 rebounds while Isaiah Wade scored 11 points and grabbed 5 boards. Deshawn Munson scored just 8 points for the Fire but grabbed a team high 15 rebounds and 5 steals.
“We were very balanced today,” said Dannhoff. “We moved the ball well and guys took the open shots when they were there. When we get multiple guys involved, our offense is usually going to find success.”
A full box score is available here.
Up next, the 1-0 Fire will host their home opener as the Western Oklahoma Skykings (0-1) visit FireLake Arena in Shawnee on Saturday night, March 8th at 7 PM. Tickets for that game, and all Fire home games, are available at potawatomifire.com/tickets. You can also 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 Twitter/X, Instagram, Facebook, 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 three years, the Fire have established themselves as the premier franchise in TBL. Along with winning the TBL championship in 2023 and 2024, 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 and 2024.