Game Review: Iowa Energy 99, Erie BayHawks 90

The result was almost identical the last time these two teams met. A week ago, Erie lost 95-88 and 99-89 in Iowa. The BayHawks hoped a change of scenery would equal a change of outcome, but he Energy bounced back from a 50-47 halftime deficit to win 99-90 and improve to 9-1 on the year. The BayHawks dropped to 3-8 on the season, including 0-4 at home.



There was a lot to write about from this game. But this is the Internet, it's after 10 p.m., so I'm going with a bullets review for this one, breaking it down into three sections: Erie, Iowa, and General Observations.

Erie

• How do you follow up an 11-assist, 1 turnover game? Cliff Clinkscales followed it with a 11 assists in the first half against the Energy. He finished the game with 16 assists and just 2 turnovers. Surprisingly he also went 7-13 from the field. I say surprising because he has arguably the ugliest jumper on the team. What's important is that he doesn't force many jumpshots, and he finds other ways to score.
• As per @DLeagueDigest's tweet, the BayHawks missed a plethora of layups/tip-ins, even a dunk attempt by Jackie Manuel. Maybe you can excuse that kind of sloppiness in high school. You have to make those shots if you're going to win at this level.
• I tweeted about this repeatedly during the game, but Ivan Harris has an uncanny tendency to hit every shot he takes from 20-21 feet out—or just inside 3-point range. As the box score shows he was 1-5 from 3-point range and 7-8 from elsewhere, and I swear at least seven of those eight shots were launched from a spot somewhere between the college 3-point line and the NBA line. That said, Harris gave them a huge spark with 21 points off the bench. It's just frustrating because he could have had 28 if he'd been a foot deeper on each of his attempts.
• This was not a good night for the Jackie "Marathon" Manuel. He leads the league in minutes per game and played a team-high 41 again tonight, but he was just 4-17 from the field with 3 turnovers.
• John Bryant's first game back in Erie since being benched against Maine was hit and miss. He started hot, scoring 4 of Erie's first 6 points, but he struggled defending Earl Barron all night, eventually fouling out in just under 22 minutes with 8 points and 5 rebounds.
• Donnell Taylor is too good off the dribble to settle for his jumpshot as much as he does.
• Alade Aminu had the highlight of the night for Erie with a thunderous dunk on a would-be Energy defender late in the first half that punctuated a second quarter that saw the BayHawks outscore the Energy 29-16.
  

Iowa

• Earl Barron became the second NBA-experienced big man to give BayHawks center John Bryant fits on the defensive end. Barron scored 25 on 10-17 shooting and added 15 rebounds, including a huge offensive board down the stretch to seal the BayHawks' fate.
• Iowa's switch to a zone defense to start the second half paid off in a big way. Unfortunately, FutureCast archives are unavailable, but assuming the other teams have other means to access the game footage, they'll no doubt look to replicate what Iowa did to stifle Erie's offense, which scored just 13 points on 6-20 shooting with 6 turnovers in the 3rd quarter.
• Curtis Stinson was one rebound and one assist shy of a triple-double when he was T'd up twice and ejected for arguing with the ref. The 10-9-9 is a pretty solid line for a point guard, but it loses a little luster when you factor in the 5 turnovers.
• The Energy were held to just 5-17 from 3-point range.
  

General Observations

• The biggest ovations at the BayHawks games consistently go to free T-shirts, the halftime dance team, BayHawks #1 Fan Bubba's dance routine with the BayHawks Dance Team, and free T-shirts again. Look, I love free stuff as much as the next guy, but aside from Bubba, who rocks the house every night, it would be nice to hear a peep during the pre-game warm-ups, when the other team is shooting free throws, and maybe even during game action! C'mon, Erie, get loud!
• Things got a little chippy in this one. A lot of whistles led to two players fouling out for the BayHawks and one player being ejected for the Energy.
• Erie has two more shots at breaking through with a home victory before the new year: tomorrow at 2 p.m. in a rematch with Iowa and then Tuesday at 7 p.m. against the Bakersfield Jam.