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.

He’s getting his shot.

And if he’s on, combo guard Blake Ahearn stands a good chance of making the USA Pan American Team for the upcoming Pan-Am Games.

To be in this training camp, Ahearn had to sign a D-League contract for the 2011-12 season so Ahearn will be back with the Erie BayHawks for this season.

Ahearn averaged 16.9 points and 5.8 assists last season.

Training camp was scheduled to start Friday in Tulsa, Okla. Ahearn was one of 21 players invited to participate in the USA Pan American Games Team training camp that’s scheduled to end Oct. 22.

Ahearn can stroke the long-range shot, is nearly automatic from the free throw line (150-of-156 from the line for the Erie BayHawks in 2010-11), but can be liability on defense.

So depending on whether the coaches want an offensive or defensive team will factor into whether Ahearn makes the team.

The team will have a 12-man roster. The Pan American Games is Oct. 26-30 in Guadalajara, Mexico.

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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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Think the Erie BayHawks had an exciting finish by winning Saturday’s game, 98-96, in overtime against Tulsa on a goaltending call at the buzzer?

Check out how their upcoming opponent – Springfield – won Sunday on a straight-on bank shot from 3-point range by JamesOn Curry to give the Armor an 100-97 win at Maine against the Red Claws.

The BayHawks (25-13)  and Armor (11-28) will get it on Tuesday at 11 a.m. at Tullio Arena.

Erie was once 12-1 at home and had won 11 straight at Tullio Arena.

Then Iowa showed up and beat the BayHawks twice there in consecutive games. The Energy, who beat Erie 115-93 Tuesday night, has the D-League’s best record.

Now 24-12, the BayHawks will look to rebound against the top team in the West Conference, the Tulsa 66ers, who beat them 117-115, last week in Tulsa.

Friday, 7 p.m. at Tullio Arena

ON THE AIR: WFNN-AM/1330; www.nba.com/dleague
PLAYERS TO WATCH
▀   Erie — PF Ivan Johnson (A 2011 D-League All-Star, Johnson leads the BayHawks in scoring at 20.7 ppg. Was named D-League co-player of the month for averaging 24.5 points, 7.6 rebounds and 3.1 assists, shooting 61.2 percent from the field.) … SF Tasmin Mitchell (Avg. 25.4 points, seven rebounds and shot 60 percent in eight games in February). PF Kyle Goldcamp (Avg. 6.8 points and five rebounds, but in his last three games, the former Gannon standout is avg. 11 points and 9.6 rebounds.

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The Erie BayHawks came out the D-League All-Star break riding an 8-game winning streak and having the best record in the league at 23-9.

Two games later, the BayHawks are 24-10 after splitting their two-game road trip. Erie lost 117-115 at Tulsa on Thursday night, but rebounded to blast Texas, 132-110, Friday night.

Here are highlights of both games. The BayHawks play their next game Sunday at home against Iowa (27-10), which leads them in the East Conference by 1.5 games. Erie is 12-1 at home.

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If D-League All-Star forward Ivan Johnson gets an NBA call-up, what will happen to the Erie BayHawks?

The question is will they end the regular season that way?

With a 23-9 record, the BayHawks have won their last eight games, have a superstar in Ivan Johnson and are playing with great chemistry under a first-year head coach in Jay Larranaga, who just turned 36 last month.

Will the winning continue?

As the BayHawks come out of the D-League All-Star break, here are five things to watch for as they resume play Thursday night at Tulsa (24-10), which leads the West Conference.

1. Ivan Johnson – If he gets an NBA call-up within say the next three weeks, Erie will have to play at least four to five games without him. That could be a turning point in the season.

2. Tulsa and Iowa – The BayHawks have to play the 66ers (24-10) three times and the Energy five times. Erie is 1-1 against Iowa (25-10), which is just .05 percentage points lower than them in terms of record. Big games for Erie.

3. Home cooking – With a 12-1 record at Tullio Arena, Erie will play 11 of its last 18 games at home. The BayHawks, who have won 11 consecutive home games, close out the regular season with five home games. Can they stay hot at home?

4. Making more changes – Adding PF Alton Ford gives Erie more size, but the team is rolling. Larranaga says they’re more talented with Ford and Garrett Temple returning from the Milwaukee Bucks, but will they all mesh?

5. Defensive-minded? – Erie prides itself on being a defensive team, but it has allowed at least 100 points in six of its last seven games. Erie had only given up 100 points 10 times in its previous 16 games. Can it get defensive again?

The Cleveland Cavaliers have traded the tough, but troubled Delonte West.

Very interesting trade here.

In their attempt to rebuild after losing LeBron James in free agency, the Cleveland Cavaliers have traded gritty, but troubled combo guard Delonte West and young  journeyman guard Sebastian Telfair to the Minnesota Timberwolves for guard Ramon Sessions, center Ryan Hollins and Minnesota’s second round pick in the 2013 NBA Draft.

The Cavaliers officially announced the trade about a hour ago.

First off, big ups to my man Marc Spears at Yahoo! Sports for getting that out there to the masses. He just tweeted a few minutes ago the Timberwolves will waive West and trade Telfair.

Hmmm. If true, that’s sad, particularly for West.

For Cleveland, it’s all good on a variety of levels. The Cavaliers rid themselves of West, who for all his toughness on the court, was shaky off it. He just plead guilty to weapons charges dating back to last summer when he got caught with those guns. He isn’t going to jail, but will be on house detention.

So for the Cavaliers to get that burden off their neck can only help them. I interviewed West several times and he was always open and honest with me. You hope he does get it together.

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They have the league’s best player. Now they’re champions of it.

The Rio Grande Valley Vipers won the D-League title in a best-of-3 series by beating the Tulsa 66ers, 94-91, on a last-second, 3-point shot from Craig Winder in Game 2 Tuesday night at Dodge Arena in Hidalgo, Texas.

D-League MVP Mike Harris had a game-high 26 points and 16 rebounds to lead the Vipers.