Tuesday, 19th March 2024

7/17/2014: PTL Notebook — Semifinals set

Posted on 17. Jul, 2014 by in Iowa Basketball

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By Brendan Stiles

HawkeyeDrive.com

NORTH LIBERTY, Iowa — The first night of playoff action in the Prime Time League concluded Thursday night with the two first round favorites emerging and a semifinal field with the top four teams (in terms of seeding) being set.

No. 4 Westport Touchless Autowash/IAHomesForSale 100, No. 5 Vinton Merchants/Marion Iron Company 96

In the first semifinal of the evening, Autowash/Homes and Merchants/Iron played a game that was mostly back-and-forth throughout the first half. But a strong push by Autowash/Homes to extend a six-point halftime lead into double figures early in the second half proved to be just enough as it emerged with the 100-96 win, thus ending Merchants/Iron’s summer.

Autowash/Homes, who moved to 3-2 on the summer, was led in scoring by Northern Iowa’s Zach Bohannon, who had 28 points. It also received a pair of 19-point performances on Thursday from its Hawkeye duo of juniors Adam Woodbury and Anthony Clemmons. Woodbury shot 8-of-14 from the floor and also compiled 17 rebounds for his third straight double-double of the summer. Clemmons posted a team-high six assists and four rebounds to go along with 7-of-13 shooting effort.

“I just want to make the right plays and stay aggressive,” Clemmons said. “I feel like that’s when I’m at my weakest, when I’m not aggressive. I just got to be more aggressive on the court.”

As for Merchants/Iron, the summer concludes with a 2-3 record in this year’s PTL. Northern Iowa’s Wyatt Lohaus led the way with 28 points. Junior guard Mike Gesell tallied 16 points on 7-of-16 shooting and also had six assists and four rebounds.

Thursday also marked the best singular performance of the summer for incoming freshman forward Dominique Uhl, who emerged with a double-double of 12 points on 5-of-14 shooting and 11 rebounds.

Uhl said he is slowly getting accustomed to the style of play he’ll be expected to be part of at Iowa over these past few weeks and that the one area he still needs improvement at is getting over screens.

“I got to play against college freshmen for the first time and it was a fun experience,” Uhl said about being in the PTL this summer. “Now I’m just looking forward to the season.

Autowash/Homes moves on to the PTL semifinals, where it will face top-seeded Armstrong.

No. 3 L.L. Pelling/Comfort Care Medicare 113, No. 6 BlendCard 99

Two weeks after beating BlendCard by two points up in Waterloo, Pelling/Comfort Care did so again Thursday. It had a bit more ease to the victory this time around though as it led the majority of the game and held on to a 113-99 win to advance to the PTL semifinals.

BlendCard entered Thursday’s contest short-handed, which was expected after sophomore guard Peter Jok was suspended from all Iowa basketball-related activities earlier this week. Jok had 30 points against Pelling/Comfort Care the first time around and his scoring would be missed Thursday.

Playing one of his best PTL games of the entire summer for Pelling/Comfort Care was senior guard Josh Oglesby. The Cedar Rapids native shot 9-of-18 from the floor to finish with 26 points, along with six rebounds and six assists.

“It has just been a lot of hard work,” Oglesby said about how the summer — to this point — has gone for him. “I’ve been putting in a lot of extra shots in the gym, just knowing that I have one year left. I’m just trying to approach it like I do every year though.

“I think we have something special and the more we’re in the gym and the more we’re working out, the only better we’re going to be.”

In addition to Oglesby’s contributions, Pelling/Comfort Care got a 25-point, 12-rebound showing from senior center Gabe Olaseni and was led in scoring by former Iowa guard Jason Price, who had 30 points.

With Jok being out, former Iowa forward Melsahn Basabe took part in Thursday’s first round contest for BlendCard and finished with 20 points on 9-of-15 shooting from the floor. Junior forward Okey Ukah was the lone Hawkeye player to suit up and he had six points for BlendCard, who finished the summer with a 1-4 mark.

Pelling/Comfort Care, now 3-2 on the summer, will face second-seeded Culver’s/McCurry’s in the PTL semifinals next week.

Culver’s/McCurry’s 103, Jill Armstrong of Skogman Realty 96

Even though both top-seeded Armstrong and second-seeded Culver’s/McCurry’s had first round byes in the PTL playoffs, both teams took part in an exhibition game of sorts Thursday night with Culver’s/McCurry’s emerging victorious by a 103-96 margin.

Although Culver’s/McCurry’s didn’t have the services of incoming sophomore guard Trey Dickerson on Thursday, it did have senior forward Aaron White back after he spent last week participating at the LeBron James Skills Academy in Las Vegas, Nev. White had 18 points on 8-of-17 shooting, along with nine rebounds and six assists.

In defeat, junior forward Jarrod Uthoff finished with another double-double for Armstrong by going for 27 points on 10-of-20 shooting and 12 rebounds.

*Be sure to visit HawkeyeDrive.com throughout the summer for ongoing coverage of the 2014 Prime Time League.

Playoff schedule:

Thursday, July 24:

6 p.m. — No. 4 Westport Touchless Autowash/IAHomesForSale vs. No. 1 Jill Armstrong of Skogman Realty (3-1)

7:30 p.m. — No. 3 L.L. Pelling/Comfort Care Medicare vs. No. 2 Culver’s/McCurry’s (2-2)

Thursday, July 31:

7 p.m. — 2014 Prime Time League Championship Game: Autowash/Homes-Armstrong winner vs. Pelling/Comfort Care-Culver’s/McCurry’s winner

*All games will be played in the Roberts Gym at the North Liberty Community Center. All times listed are Central Standard.

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