PTL preview: 6/27/2013 games
Posted on 26. Jun, 2013 by admin in Iowa Basketball
By Brendan Stiles
HawkeyeDrive.com
Here’s a rundown of what Iowa basketball fans can expect Thursday evening with the three Prime Time League games taking place inside the Jones & Roberts Gyms at the North Liberty Community Center:
L.L. Pelling/Hawkeye Report (2-0) vs. Comfort Care Medicare/Mike Gatens Real Estate (1-1)
6 p.m., Roberts Gym
The night’s opening act is likely the best among Thursday’s trio as it features a pair of teams both coming off wins this past weekend.
Pelling/Report looks to remain unbeaten this summer following a 109-98 win over Culver’s/McCurry’s on June 23. In both games played thus far, its Hawkeye duo of senior forward Zach McCabe and junior center Gabe Olaseni has been stellar. McCabe has posted double-doubles in both prior contests, with the most recent consisting of 27 points and 15 rebounds, while Olaseni is coming off a 25-point effort where he shot 9-of-13 from the floor.
What makes this one perhaps most intriguing though is seeing Olaseni going head-to-head with sophomore center Adam Woodbury, who scored a team-high 23 points for Comfort Care/Gatens in its 93-81 win Sunday over Financial/Merchants. Freshman guard Peter Jok will also be looking to build off a 22-point outing last weekend and it’s likely that redshirt freshman forward Kyle Meyer will spend most of the evening going at it with McCabe.
Jill Armstrong of Skogman Realty (1-1) vs. Greater Iowa Financial Group/Vinton Merchants (0-2)
7:30 p.m., Roberts Gym
Financial/Merchants is winless through two games and was short-handed on both occasions, but could be getting a boost Thursday night with the likely return of senior guard Devyn Marble to the lineup after he missed the first cuts made Wednesday at Team USA’s training camp for the World University Games.
Marble played in Financial/Merchants’ opener on June 20 and came away with 29 points in a game it lost to Pelling/Report. It’s still unknown as to whether Financial/Merchants will also have junior guard Josh Oglesby returning to the court Thursday. Oglesby has been dealing with a finger injury that has sidelined him so far this summer.
As for Armstrong, it looks to bounce back from a 115-100 loss to BlendCard suffered last weekend. Despite the defeat, it once again received a strong showing from sophomore guard Mike Gesell, who tallied 21 points and 15 assists. Sophomore walk-on Okey Ukah also posted a double-double of 17 points and 10 rebounds against BlendCard.
Culver’s/McCurry’s (0-2) vs. BlendCard (2-0)
7:30 p.m., Jones Gym
Through two PTL games, a valid argument can be made for BlendCard being the best team thus far and it will look to move to 3-0 on Thursday in this contest against Culver’s/McCurry’s.
In its 115-100 win over Armstrong on June 23, it was BlendCard’s 1-2 punch of sophomores Jarrod Uthoff and Anthony Clemmons providing the biggest sparks yet again. Uthoff finished with 29 points and nine rebounds, while Clemmons came away with 25 points, seven rebounds and seven assists in the victory. To this point, both players have scored 20-plus points in each of BlendCard’s games.
Meanwhile, Culver’s/McCurry’s was short-handed in its most recent loss to Pelling/Report and looks to be again on Thursday. It again will be without the services of junior forward Aaron White, who did make the first cut at the Team USA training camp for the World University Games and will remain in Colorado Springs, Colo., the remainder of the week. It will also likely be without junior walk-on Darius Stokes, who is currently nursing a sprained ankle suffered last week.
*Be sure to visit HawkeyeDrive.com following Thursday’s action at the North Liberty Community Center for ongoing coverage of the Prime Time League this summer.*
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