Ahearn was key in Erie reaching the 2011 D-League playoffs/ETN file photo.

Blake Ahearn didn’t bite on the invitation.

The Reno Bighorns combo guard was watching his former team play a game against the defending D-League champs, the Iowa Energy, that was postponed due the floor being deemed as unplayable.

Ahearn had to leave Tullio Arena with his fellow Bighorns to rest up for their game against the BayHawks tonight when Erie lead local investor Owen McCormick offered to take him out to dinner.

“I got to get some rest so I can put up 30 on you,” Ahearn said smiling.

McCormick laughed.

“Got to show you how much I love,” Ahearn said while hugging him.

In his two seasons with Erie, Ahearn became a fan favorite for nailing threes, being automatic from the line and playing carefree. The day after the 2011 D-League Draft, the BayHawks traded him to Reno in a four-player deal that resulted in Erie getting Donald Sloan.

“I was shocked,” he said. “It was literally the last phone call I thought I would get, but it is what it is. Everybody knows that professional sports, stuff is a business. I mean, Peyton Manning. Look at that. That’s a perfect example. One of the best quarterbacks of all time. That’s just the nature of our business. It came as a shock and to me, the hardest part was leaving the relationships that you have. That’s the toughest part, but you make new ones in new places you go.”

Tonight at 7, Sloan and Ahearn, whom were teammates for Team USA in the  2011 Pan American Games, will square off at Tullio Arena.

“I’m ready for that game,” said Sloan on Thursday night.

Ahearn, who leads the D-League in scoring at 24.4 points a game, can’t wait either.

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The Erie BayHawks (2-3) split a two-game series at Iowa against the defending D-League champion Energy (3-3) last weekend.

Iowa won the first game, 112-108, Saturday night as the Energy players who were on the 2010-11 championship team received their championship rings.

The BayHawks won the rematch, 97-87, Sunday. Would provide highlights of this game, but once again, I got the same reply: The uploader has not made this video available in your country.

Where is this one located? China?

Here are highlights of Iowa’s 130-117 win at Rio Grande Valley heading into Saturday’s game against the Erie BayHawks at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines. Rio Grande Valley has already beaten Erie twice this season.

Erie also has a game Sunday at Iowa, which lost its first game to the Vipers this season.

Would provide highlights of Erie’s 105-87 home win against the Maine Red Claws, but when trying to upload it from the YouTube’s D-League channel, it says, “The uploader has not made this video available in your country.”

Well, if it’s not available in the United States where the D-League exists, where is it available?

New Zealand?

After leading the Iowa Energy to the 2011 D-League title, head coach Nick Nurse headed to the team he beat in the league finals – Rio Grande Valley.

The Vipers open the season tonight (8 p.m.) against the Erie BayHawks at State Farm Arena. Earlier this week, Duane Rankin caught Nurse on the phone and talked to him about why he left Iowa, being part of hybrid partnership and the change in weather.

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Chris Daniels/Photo by Rob Engelhardt/Erie Times-News

The Erie BayHawks closed out Saturday’s three-team exhibition with a convincing 57-42 win against expansion Canton at Penn State Behrend.

Center Chris Daniels had 19 points while forward Tirrell Baines added 16 as the BayHawks shot 62.2 percent from the field.

Erie won its earlier game, 43-39, against Fort Wayne, which beat Canton in the opening game, 49-41. The three games were only two quarters long. Forward D.J. Kennedy (knee) and point guard Al Nolen (foot) didn’t play for Erie.

Look for the Bayhawks to make some cuts in the next day or so. The BayHawks have until 5 p.m. on Nov. 23 to reach the 10-man roster limit. Before looking at the BayHawks, here’s a quick observation of Fort Wayne and Canton.

Fort Wayne is experienced. Has key returnees in Ron Howard and Walker Russell. Got some solid pick ups in former Michigan State forward Antonio Smith and Marvin Phillips, who was a key contributor for the Iowa Energy.

However, the biggest force the Mad Ants have – Chris Hunter – was in street clothes. The big fella was nearly unstoppable in the D-League. With him, Fort Wayne could be be scary.

Canton – The Charge didn’t finish their second scrimmage with Erie well. Got pretty good talent, but they’re young and didn’t play like a cohesive unit down the stretch against Erie.

Now to the BayHawks.

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Allan Houston is running Erie's b-ball show./NYK.

The 2011-12 D-League season hasn’t started yet and the Erie BayHawks have already made three roster moves.

Fortunately for the BayHawks, the D-League increased roster moves from 10 to 12 this season.

Let’s take a look at the latest one, which may give a good indication of how things are going to be for the BayHawks being in a hybrid partnership with the New York Knicks, who led by Allan Houston is running their basketball operations.

A former star guard with the Knicks, Houston is their assistant general manager.

A day after the draft, Erie traded veteran point guard Blake Ahearn and second-round pick Taj McCullough, a small forward, to Reno for point guard Donald Sloan and its seventh-round pick, veteran forward/center Joe Kennerly III.

Let’s start with the appetizer part of the trade.

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No beard for Erie BayHawks reserve PF Kyle Goldcamp in the playoffs.

He was so excited.

Late last month, power forward Kyle Goldcamp was growing out his beard and viewing it as a good luck charm for the Erie BayHawks heading into the D-League playoffs.

The problem was Erie kept losing.

So the former Gannon standout shaved the whiskers and Erie won its last three games of the regular season.

The fifth-seeded BayHawks (32-16) will play Game 1 of the best-of-three first round series against second-seeded Reno (34-16) Sunday at 5 p.m. at Tullio Arena.

“Well, it was a pretty decent length and then we lost again at home to Iowa and I was convinced it was a bad-luck  beard,” Goldcamp said. “Then I shaved it between the Iowa games and we won by 20. As athletes, we’re a little superstitious so I have to keep going with it. I’ll be freshly shaved the rest of the way.”

Game 2 of the series will be Tuesday night (10 p.m.) in Reno. If a Game 3 is needed to decide the series, it will be played in Reno on Thursday night (10 p.m.).

Alabi struggling to find playing time in D-League for the Erie BayHawks.

The Toronto Raptors sent Solomon Alabi down for a third time to play because he wasn’t doing that with them, but he isn’t seeing much action in Erie, either.

Since returning to the BayHawks, the 7-foot, 1-inch rookie center out of Florida State has played fewer than 14 minutes in five of Erie’s last nine games. The BayHawks are 4-5 in those games and that includes the win they got today against Iowa, 138-118, in Tullio Arena.

Alabi had a point, two rebounds, two personal and attempted just one shot from the field in 5 minutes, three seconds of play today.

Erie is 11-9 with Alabi, 19-9 without him. He’s averaging seven points and five rebounds.

Alabi has started 15 games for Erie, but has been coming off the bench recently. Having 6-8 Erik Daniels gives the BayHawks more flexibility up front because he can score from all over and pass so Alabi is kind of the odd man out in terms of starting.

As for when he does get in the game, it’s tough for Alabi to blend in. Erie doesn’t really guards who get into the thick the defense and dish to big men.

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Iowa Energy point guard Curtis Stinson applauded what Ivan Johnson has done for Erie this season.

After the Iowa Energy battered the Erie BayHawks, 124-101, Friday night at Tullio Arena, two D-League All-Stars meet at half court – Curtis Stinson and Ivan Johnson.

Stinson, the floor general for the league’s top team in the Energy (35-12), whispered words of encouragement in the ear of  Erie’s inside force, Johnson, who didn’t play in Thursday’s game against Fort Wayne for disciplinary reasons in large part to him picking up 23 technical fouls this season.

Stinson said he told Johnson to “let his game do the talking.” Johnson had 33 points in Friday’s loss for Erie (29-18).

“He’s an emotional guy. He’s a great player. You see it. Night in and night out, he’s killing it. He’s doing his thing. You have to respect him. I just told him to keep holding his head up. Let his game do the talking. That’s something I learned, too. I’m an emotional player, but it’s something I learned. Let the game do the talking. I got a lot of respect for him. He knows that. He’s an All-Star. Scoring 30 every night. That’s not easy.”

Johnson appreciated Stinson’s comments.

“It’s something that every player wants,”  Johnson said. “I appreciate him looking at me like that. I look at him the same way. It’s like, you know you got game when somebody else is saying it.”

Kyle Spain and the Erie BayHawks have more work to do before the D-League playoffs begin next month.

A night in Reno.

The BayHawks resume their five-game road trip tomorrow at Reno (26-16) and follow that up with two games at Bakersfield (25-16) before rounding it up Tuesday at Fort Wayne (19-23).

Erie opened the road trip with a 133-126 loss Sunday at Iowa, which has the D-League’s best record at 32-11.

Erie (27-14) has clinched the playoffs and is right now a fourth seed. The top four seeds have home-court advantage for the first round and the top three seeds get to pick their first-round opponent.

Reno is just 1.5 games behind Erie and Bakersfield trails the BayHawks by two games. If the BayHawks lose those three, they could drop from fourth to seventh in a hurry.

Plus the Bighorns and Jam will own the head-to-head tiebreaker against the BayHawks.

And don’t think that game at Fort Wayne will be easy.

Erie is 4-1 against the Mad Ants, but they’re vying for the final playoff spot and have a former BayHawk in point guard Derek Raivio, who landed in Fort Wayne following a three-team trade last month.

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