Breaking Down The Boxscore - BLUEGRASS STALLIONS 99, RAINMEN 89

BLUEGRASS STALLIONS 99, RAINMEN 89
Rainmen Record:  4W-2L
After blowing out the Kentucky Bluegrass Stallions 115-83 last Friday, the Rainmen were looking to repeat that performance when they made the road trip to Kentucky.  But on Sunday afternoon, that wasn't the case.  Going in shorthanded without head coach Les Berry, Eric Crookshank and an injured Desmond Ferguson, the Stallions proved that they were a better team than they were a week ago in Halifax.  Led by their leading scorer, Kenny Jones, the Stallions' forward scored 20 points and grabbed 14 rebounds.  The Stallions were active on the glass, outrebounding Halifax 58-51 which included 25 offensive boards.

For Halifax, Mike Mercer was moved out of the starting lineup in favour of Tommy Mitchell in Sunday's game.  Mercer, who was the Rainmen leading scorer going into Sunday's game struggled for Halifax, scoring just 4 points (2-10).  Halifax had problems handling the ball, turning the basketball over 26 times.

Kentucky had a 76-74 lead with seven minutes to play in the fourth but it was the second half play of Jason McLeish that was an integral part of the Stallions strong finish.  McLeish, scored all of his 18 points in the second half for the Stallions.  The game was still in reach for Halifax until 1:26 to play, when Jason McLeish stole a Rainmen pass that led to an Aubrey White basket and a foul, to put the Stallions up ten to seal the game.

Some Key Stats:

• Glaring Stat of the Night:  Rainmen could have really used Eric Crookshank on Sunday, Kentucky had 25 offensive boards and outrebounded Halifax 58-51
• Stallions Player of the Game (based on the boxscore):  Kenny Jones 20 points (8-14), 14 rebounds (8 offensive)
• Shoutouts to the Rainmen: Kavon Jones 20 points (9-11), 13 rebounds, 2 blocks and 2 steals
• The New Guy:  Former NBA player, Kirk Snyder, made his Rainmen debut and scored 0 points (0-3) and grabbed 2 rebounds in 10 minutes of play
• The Standings: The Rainmen move to a 4-2 record while the Stallions move to 4-3 

Post Game Links:

Halifax Chronicle-Herald

""We made a push and took the lead in the third quarter but we had some bad foul calls against us and the guys let their heads down," said assistant Jeff Paris, who coached the team during its road trip."

Metro Halifax
"Ex-NBA guard/small forward Kirk Snyder played 10 minutes but didn’t score in his Rainmen debut after signing on Saturday. Snyder was convicted of aggravated burglary, felonious assault and assault in April 2009 and was sentenced to three years in prison in May 2010. He is now looking to return to the NBA."

BluegrassStallions.com
"Kenny Jones scored 20 points and grabbed 14 rebounds to lead the Bluegrass Stallions to a 99-89 victory against the Halifax Rainmen in a Premier Basketball League game at Georgetown College."

Next up, the Rainmen face off against their Maritime rivals, Saint John Mill Rats, on January 29th here in Halifax...

Romy Aquino covers the pro basketball game (the Canadian Flavour of the NBA, the PBL's Halifax Rainmen) from a fan's perspective.  He also can be found at NBA hoops blog, Hip Hoop Junkies (A Member of TheScore.com's Sports Federation) and writing about the PBL/Rainmen at NorthPoleHoops.com.  Follow him on Twitter: @romyaquino