Mike Harris is averaging 27.1 points for Rio Grande Valley heading into Friday night's game at Erie.
Rio Grande Valley Vipers (15-6) at Erie BayHawks (10-13)
Today, 7 p.m.; at Tullio Arena
On the air: WJET-AM/1400, www.nba.com/dleague (live stream)
Lafayette has shown a more complete game in Fort Wayne than he did while with Erie last season.
When Fort Wayne combo guard Oliver Lafayette received his starting lineup introduction, a small buzz of cheers arose Wednesday night at Tullio Arena.
By the time the first half ended, a fan said the following to him:
“Hey Oliver, we still love you, man.”
The way Lafayette shot the ball probably made some Erie fans wish he was still a BayHawk.
Lafayette scored 25 first-half points on a ridiculous 9-of-9 shooting from the field in the 21 minutes, 42 seconds. He was an amazing 5-of-5 from the 3-point line.
Now Lafayette cooled off in the second half, the Mad Ants lost 109-87, but Lafayette showed the BayHawks, their coach John Treloar and their fans he’s a pretty darn good player.
“Coach realize I’m a player and a force to be reckoned with,” said Lafayette, who finished with a season-high 32 points on 12-of-18 shooting. “Coming into this game, I didn’t have any grudges. I just wanted to lead my team to a victory.”
Jackie Manuel, center, is the only BayHawk to start every one of their games this season.
Fort Wayne Mad Ants (8-11) at Erie BayHawks (7-12)
Today, 7 p.m.; at Tullio Arena
On TV: Image Sports Network
On the air: WFNN-AM/1300, www.nba.com/dleague (live stream)
Clinkscales will look to bounce back today.
It was painful to watch Saturday night.
Seeing Cliff Clinkscales miss four key free throws in the fourth quarter of Erie’s 89-87 loss to Fort Wayne made you cringe or shout out in frustration as many fans did when he misfired.
After the misses, veteran teammate Jackie Manuel came up to him and tried to loosen him up with some words of encouragement during the game, but after the game, Clinkscales sat in the locker room with his head down.
However, he stood strong in answering questions about the missed free throws and took responsibility for the loss. That is not an easy thing to do and Cliff did so with his chin up. You’ve got to respect that.
So today, I look for him to bounce back and have a solid game against Fort Wayne. The guy is from Jamacia Queens, N.Y., so he’s not going to back down from a challenge, especially one that is within.
Once a BayHawk, Oliver Lafayette returned to Erie as a Fort Wayne Mad Ant on Saturday night.
Oliver Lafayette and Rod Wilmont returned to Erie on Saturday night as Fort Wayne Mad Ants.
Pretty weird to see Lafayette in a different uniform, but he was still launching those rainbow 3-pointers, making two big ones in the fourth quarter that helped put away the BayHawks, 89-87, Saturday night at Tullio Arena. He scored 16 points with half coming in the fourth.
After the game, I talked to Lafayette about Erie and he said he has no issues with its players or coaching despite getting cut by the team on the final day of training camp. However, he did prove to a certain extent the ability to play point guard, which was a question mark while in Erie by dishing out a game-high nine assists Saturday.
Wilmont, who was heated when he got released back in November, didn’t express any ill will towards the BayHawks either, saying he still has love for guys like Cedric Jackson and Jackie Manuel. He had just three points, but made a pair of free throws to seal the game. He also grabbed eight rebounds.
With the two teams facing each other again later today at 2 p.m. and Wednesday at 7 p.m. at Tullio Arena, expect those two to continue to try to have big games against Erie.
Jackie Manuel is the hustle guy of the late unit Erie may end games with more often this season.
This won’t take long.
What I noticed in Erie’s 102-89 win was the game-ending lineup coach John Treloar went with against the Los Angeles D-Fenders in the final day of the D-League Showcase in Boise, Idaho.
He put rookie point guard Cedric Jackson, forward Ivan Harris, newly acquired guard Mike Gansey, center John Bryant and swingman Jackie Manuel.
Final: Erie 108, Springfield Armor 94
High scorers: Morris Almond (SPR) 37 points, Donell Taylor (ERI) 24 points, Alade Aminu (ERI) 22 points, Jackie Manuel (ERI) 20 points.
High rebounders: John Bryant (ERI) 13 rebounds; Manuel (ERI) 9 rebounds.
High assists: Cedric Jackson (ERI) 13 assists; Cliff Clinkscales (ERI) 11 assists; JamesOn Curry (SPR) 11 assists.
Double-doubles: Bryant (ERI) 19 points, 13 rebounds; Curry (SPR) 14 points, 11 assists.
Local look: Kyle Goldcamp (ERI) 0 points (0-of-0 shooting) and a block in two minutes, 14 seconds.
Biggest lead: Erie led by 23 points, 53-30 with five minutes, seven seconds left in the half.
Next game for Erie (3-7): at 8-1 Iowa (Saturday, 7 p.m.)
The Erie BayHawks have now lost four of their last five games after falling at Iowa, 95-88, Saturday night.
Watched the game and the same song rang true for the BayHawks. Now they did make free throws Saturday, going 11-of-12, but the BayHawks are turnover prone. They had 21 total turnovers in Saturday’s loss.
Newly acquired point guard Cliff Clinkscales, who played 43 games for Erie last season before being waived, had six of those turnovers. Now he’s a great ball handler, but Clinkscales is going to have to get familiar with his new teammates and vice versa. Clinkscales did lead the team in assists with seven.
Final: Iowa Energy 95, Erie 88
High scorers: Ivan Harris (ERI) 28 points; Curtis Stinson (IWA) 20 points.
High rebounders: Earl Barron (IWA) 14 rebounds; Jackie Manuel (ERI) 10 rebounds.
High assists: Stinson (IWA) 10 assists; Cliff Clinkscales (ERI) 7 assists.
Double-doubles: Stinson (IWA) 20 points, 10 assists; Barron (IWA) 11 points, 14 rebounds (five offensive), Jackie Manuel (ERI) 10 points, 10 rebounds.
Local look: Kyle Goldcamp (ERI) Did not play.
Biggest lead: Iowa led by 13 points, 31-18 with eight minutes, 10 seconds left in the half.
Next game for Erie (2-6): at 7-1 Iowa (Sunday, 5 p.m.)
Donell Taylor looks to bounce back from a 3-of-18 shooting effort in Erie's loss to Maine.
Maine Red Claws (5-1) at Erie BayHawks (2-3)
Wednesday night (Buck Night), 7 p.m.; at Tullio Arena. Tickets are $5 with every time at concessions costing $1 including beer.
On the air: WFNN-AM/1300, www.nba.com/dleague (live stream)
Players to watch: Maine – SF Bill Walker (Avg. a team-high 16.7 points a game); SG Billy Thomas (Scored 26 points in Maine’s 116-90 win at Erie last week, making 6-of-8 3-point shots. He’s fifth in the D-League in 3-point shooting at 57.1 percent); SG Tony Bobbitt (Fourth in the D-League in 3-point shooting at 57.9 percent). Erie — C John Bryant (Avg. 16.2 ppg. and 13 rebounds); G Donell Taylor (Shot just 3-of-18 from the field in loss to Maine last week; avg. a team-high 18.8 ppg.); SF Ivan Harris (Scored a season-high 14 points in his last game on 6-of-11 shooting from the field. He came into that game shooting 14-of-41 from the field.
