SHAWNEE, OK – The Potawatomi Fire remained perfect on the season beating the Wichita Skykings 132-113 on Thursday night inside FireLake Arena.
The Fire, who were playing their third game in six nights, had to fight through physical and mental fatigue to overcome a hot-shooting Wichita team. From the opening tip, the Skykings knocked down tough shots and hit numerous threes. In the first half, the Skykings hit 10 threes and ended up making 19 in the game, many of which were contested.
“Wichita shoots the ball extremely well and plays extremely hard. They just aren’t going to go away,” said Fire head coach Mark Dannhoff. “I really give a lot of credit to our guys tonight. You saw a tired Fire basketball team tonight but they dug deep and didn’t give into the fatigue from the previous trip and we were able to come out with the victory.”
Despite the fatigue, the Fire proved they were ready for the task at hand tonight and had several guys deliver big performances to carry the Fire to the win. Chuck Guy led the Fire with a season-high 42 points. He also had 18 assists, six rebounds, and three steals. The 42 points and 18 assists were the second most in each statistical category by a Fire player in a single game. Guy is also now just five points away from recording 2,000 career points in TBL. Based off available stats from the league, Guy would become the first-ever player to reach the 2,000-point mark in TBL history.
K.D. Moore recorded his second straight 30-point game with 35 points, three rebounds, an assist, and a blocked shot. Deshawn Munson had 23 points tonight to go along with 20 rebounds, which is tied for the second-most rebounds by a Fire player in a single game. Munson also had seven assists, two blocks, and a steal. Off the bench, Ricardo Artis II had 11 points, 7 rebounds, and 5 assists.
“Our guys just continue to do what they do,” Dannhoff said. “I thought Munson was excellent tonight. I thought Chuck was outstanding as always. Then we got good play from the others. K.D. is scoring at a really high rate and defending well. I also thought Ricky was key defending too. He went out in the second half and guarded (Jahmal) McMurray for all 94 feet to wear him down a bit. It was a nice team effort tonight.”
As a team, the Fire shot 53.7% from the field and 40.0% from three. They also had 37 assists which is tied for second most in a single game by a Fire team.
A full box score is available here.
With the win, the Fire moved to 9-0 on the year and are the only remaining undefeated team in TBL. Up next, the Fire will make the short trip to Bethany, Oklahoma where they will play the Enid Outlaws on Saturday night, April 13th. That game will take place at the Sawyer Center on the campus of Southern Nazarene University and will tip off at 6:00 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.
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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