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.
