Playaz show once again they got game

BY MIKE PEDEN

The Errol Carlstrom Playaz sweated another game tonight, but fought off B2X in Howard Pulley Pro City Summer League action Wednesday night with a 117-113 win in the St. Paul Salvation Army gym.

The win was big for the Playaz, who move to 4-1 and will at least stay one game behind El-Amin Fish House going into the final pair of regular season games next week.

B2X (2-3) held a one-point lead in the first quarter after starting on a 6-0 run, but fell behind early in the second, never to see the lead again.

B2X had two key chances to change the momentum, the first when they were trailing 69-68 midway through the third, only for the Playaz to go on a 13-2 run.

The final chance came late in the fourth quarter when B2X cut the lead to two twice. With just over a minute in the fourth, B2X was picked off by Minnesota's Devoe Joseph, setting up an easy dunk for Minnesota transfer Trevor Mbakwe. Minnesota recruit Rodney Williams scored a layup with 19.6 seconds to make the score 113-115, but Mbakwe was too much, dunking one more time with 4.2 seconds left to seal the game.

Joseph scored a game-high 31 points with Mbakwe right behind at 29.

"We were missing some key players," Mbakwe said. "It was good that we were able to come together as a team."

Gophers fans had plenty of reasons to stick around. Blake Hoffarber was hot in the first half for B2X, shooting five of six from behind the three-point line to rack up 20 first half points before finishing the game with 30.

"My team was getting me open, but I was looking for my shot more," he said. "Everyone was hitting their shots, but we weren't playing very good defense and they were scoring at will."

The second half colored in more maroon and gold, with B2X's Williams breaking through after a scoreless first half, and with no shortage of his signature dunks. However, Williams had to share his crowd pleasers with Mbakwe, who did what he wanted to for most of the game. For Mbakwe, that means a lot of dunks.

"That's how I've been born to play. I played the rim all my life," Mbakwe said.

With the entire Gophers roster spread out among the league teams, playing with and against each other could prepare them well when they do dress in maroon and gold in November.

"It'll be fun," Hoffarber said. "We got a bunch of young players that are very good."

B2X will play El-Amin Fish House next Monday at 7:00 p.m. while the Playaz take on Troy Hudson Enteprises next Tuesday at 7:00 p.m.