Erie BayHawks point guard Blake Ahearn made the final 12-man roster for the USA Pan American Games Team.

Team USA made the announcement late Wednesday night. The squad will continue practicing in Tulsa, Oklahoma for the men’s tournament, which will run Oct. 26-30 in Guadalajara, Mexico. USA’s first game is against Dominican Republic.

The team consists of several D-League players that include three guys I predicted would make the team – point guard Jerome Dyson of the Tulsa 66ers, small forward Renaldo Major of the Dakota Wizards and forward Lance Thomas of the Austin Toros.

Ahearn will give USA that outside shooting threat and is money from the free throw line, as you can see below.

Combo guard Blake Ahearn is vying to make the USA Pan American team for the Pan-Am Games./ETN file photo.

Veteran guard Blake Ahearn, who has starred for the Erie BayHawks the last two seasons, is still in the hunt for a spot on the USA Pan-American team.

Ahearn, who averaged 25.7 points in 13 games with Erie in 2009-10 and 16.9 in 31 games with Erie last season, made the cut from 21 to 15 players.

Training camp is scheduled to end Saturday. The final 12-man roster will play in the Pan-Am Games.

The men’s tournament is Oct. 26-30 in Guadalajara, Mexico. USA opens tournament play Oct. 26 against Dominican Republic.

When training camp began, I predicted point guard Jerome Dyson, small forward Renaldo Major and forward Lance Thomas would make the team.

Those three made the first cut as well.

Should be interesting to see how this pans out.

Shooting guard Mike Gansey may be back with the BayHawks after playing overseas last season./ETN file photo.

The D-League has yet to announce when it will have its draft, but the Erie BayHawks have been up to quite a bit.

1. The BayHawks had their free-agent tryout in New York last month and will have one in Erie on Sunday at Family First Sports Park from 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.. There is a $150 fee to try out.

An ESPN contributor – Jim Cavan – actually tried out in New York at Baruch College in Manhattan.

Check this out here. Good stuff.

2. Next week on Oct. 15-16, the BayHawks will have guard Mike Gansey, who played for Erie in the 2009-10 season and power forward Kyle Goldcamp, a former star at Gannon who has been with Erie since that season, work as coaches at their basketball clinic.

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By season's end, Maureece Rice was playing as well as anyone in the D-League for the Erie BayHawks.

I understand why Maureece Rice isn’t one of Erie’s returning players for this season.

In between scoring at will on teams last season, Rice and I talked about how he had a daughter to support back in his hometown of Philadelphia.

With the D-League paying peanuts, Rice has opted to play in Mexico for now, Erie BayHawks coach John Treloar said. Rice may end up in Europe later this season.

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