The Erie BayHawks have won four in a row with the latest win being a 116-102 victory at Idaho against the Stampede on Saturday night.

Former NBA first-round pick, Mike Sweetney, made his Erie debut and had 19 points and nine rebounds in 23 minutes and 57 seconds. Guess the big fella didn’t slow down Erie’s offense as I figured he would.

 My bad.

Looks like Kyle Goldcamp is still starting for the BayHawks, but the key to this run is the play of Blake Ahearn and Mike Gansey. The two were at it again Saturday, scoring a combined 54 points.

Ahearn had 28 points. Gansey had 26. Add John Bryant’s 24 points and 16 rebounds and you got three guys who have been putting up huge numbers since Erie traded Alade Aminu to Bakersfield for Ahearn. 

The subplot to this game was Erie’s first-round pick, Donell Taylor, playinga against his former team. Taylor, who was traded to Idaho for Gansey, didn’t play Saturday night. He also didn’t play in Idaho’s previous game.

Too bad.

Here's Mike Sweetney in this season's training camp with the Boston Celtics.

I saw this guy when he was at Georgetown years ago when I was a beat writer for The Dominion Post in Morgantown, W.Va.

Big wide body. Space eater. Score a ton (seventh on Georgetown’s all-time career scoring list at 1,750 points).

Michael Sweetney was an effective college player, but after being the ninth overall pick in the 2003 NBA Draft by the New York Knicks, his pro career fizzled. Sweetney only averaged 6.5 points and 4.5 boards in 233 games and with two teams in the Knicks and the Chicago Bulls.

Now he’s going to attempt to rekindle his career in the D-League.

Hmmmm.

The BayHawks are filling the roster void left by rookie point guard Cedric Jackson, who signed a 10-day contract with the San Antonio Spurs earlier this week.

Since All-Star point guard Tony Parker will be out six weeks with a broken right  hand for the Spurs, San Antonio will likely keep Jackson for at least two 10-day contracts and might keep him for the remainder of the season.

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The BayHawks must contend with Albuquerque's Keith McLeod, who has averaged 31.1 points in his last six games.

Erie BayHawks (15-25) at Albuquerque Thunderbirds (18-22)

Saturday, 9 p.m., Tingley Coliseum, Albuquerque, N.M.

On the air: WJET-AM 1400, www.nba.com/dleague (live stream).

Players to watch, Erie:

SF Jackie Manuel (Expected to play tonight after missing Tuesday’s win against Sioux Falls with a stomach virus.). … SG Blake Ahearn (Averaging 21.6 points in his three games with Erie since being traded from Bakersfield for D-League All-Star rookie power forward Alade Aminu). … SF Ivan Harris (Scored 21 points Tuesday after not scoring in Erie’s previous game against Iowa).

Players to watch, Albuquerque:

G Keith McLeod (After not scoring in an Feb. 25 loss at Idaho, McLeod has averaged 31.1 points in his last six games. He went for 44 in a March 3 loss at Dakota). … G Antonio Agudio (Averaging 15.4 points and shooting 42.8 percent from 3-point range). … SF Trey Gilder (Traded to Albuquerque from Maine for center Kurt Looby on March 5, Gilder is averaging 13.9 points this season.

Fast facts: Erie — The BayHawks are without rookie point guard Cedric Jackson, who signed a 10-day contract with the San Antonio Spurs this week. … Shooting guard Mike Gansey has averaged 26 points and shot 13-of-23 from 3-point range in his last three games. … Erie has won its last two games.

Fast facts: Albuquerque — The Thunderbirds’ leading scorer, Carlos Powell, is now overseas playing in China. The top pick in the 2009 D-League Draft, Powell averaged 22.1 points in 33 games for them. … Albuquerque snapped a seven-game losing skid in Wednesday’s win against Fort Wayne.

 BayHawks up next: at Idaho (Saturday, 9 p.m.), at Utah (Monday, 9 p.m.).

— Duane Rankin

Rob Kurz (shooting) and Alade Aminu were traded for each other on draft day. Both played in the All-Star game.

Erie made its third trade this season in shipping D-League All-Star rookie power forward Alade Aminu to Bakersfield for shooting guard Blake Ahearn, a 2009 league All-Star.

Here’s a look at how players in the two previous trades have fared this season.

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In 16 games with Idaho, former Erie BayHawk guard Donell Taylor is averaging 23.1 points for the Stampede.

Nice.

It’s a word former Erie BayHawks guard Donell Taylor uses quite a bit.

As Taylor road a bus from Houston to Dallas earlier Friday, he felt a little better than nice because he had been selected to participate in the D-League All-Star Weekend festivities at the Dallas Convention Center.

Taylor was selected as a replacement in Friday’s Shooting Stars competition.

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The Springfield Armor have had enough of Mike Gansey.

Last Wednesday, Gansey made two free throws with 5.2 seconds left to beat the Armor in Erie, 95-94. He finished with a game-high 25 points after missing five games with a bruised calf.

Today, he hit the game-winning basket with eight seconds left as the BayHawks (12-16) won, 93-91, at Springfield (5-19). Once again, Gansey was the high-point man with 27 points. He played all 48 minutes for the second straight game in a back-to-back situation.

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Newly acquired guard Mike Gansey made his Erie debut in today’s game against Reno in the D-League Showcase. Last week, the BayHawks traded their 1st-round pick – Donell Taylor – to get the former WVU star.

Gansey started the game and finished with 15 points on a shaky 5-of-17 shooting from the field in the 92-88 overtime win for the BayHawks.

Now let’s look a little further into his performance. I watched the game on NBA TV and this is what I noticed.

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Erie is 11th in the latest D-League power rankings.

Too early to make a big deal out of this. The BayHawks won’t really know what they have until later this month. Idaho and Iowa are atop the list. The rankings came out the same day Dakota beat Idaho, 117-114.

“Some guys were like, ‘Man, he’s coming to take my minutes. I’ll be mean to him.’ They wouldn’t talk to you. If I said hello, they’d just look away. Just being rude.”

Nathan Jawai didn't have a pleasant D-League experience this past season.

Since Nathan Jawai will enter the 2009-10 NBA season as a second-year player, the Toronto Raptors have the option of sending him down to play in the D-League.

With Raptors replacing the Philadelphia 76ers as Erie’s NBA affiliate, the 6-foot, 10-inch, 280-pound Jawai may wind up spending signficant time with the BayHawks.

Whether he’d enjoy it or not is another story.

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Erik Daniels finished this season as a first-team All-D-League pick.

The D-League picked its top 10 performances of the season and Erie BayHawks forward Erik Daniels made the cut.

The league Web site recognized his 30-point, 23-rebound and 10-assist effort against Tulsa at home on March 5.

Personally, I thought the best game Daniels had was at home  against Idaho when he had 26 points, 12 rebounds and nine assists against the 2008 D-League champion Stampede.

The D-League also recognized when power forward Richard Hendrix of the Dakota Wizards pulled down 25 rebounds against Erie on New Year’s Eve. The Wizards won that game, 113-89, in Dakota.

The most memorable performance  I personally saw an opposing player have against Erie was when point guard Blake Ahearn had 35 points against the BayHawks in an 123-117 win for Dakota on March 13.

Ahearn made 7-of-10 shots from 3-point range in that game.