USBasket.com All-D-League Awards 2014 - May 1, 2014
USBasket.com All-D-League 1st Team 2014
Howard
Murphy
Jeffers
Covington
Hamilton
Player of the Year: Ron Howard (6'5''-G-82) of Ft.Wayne MA Guard of the Year: Ron Howard (6'5''-G-82) of Ft.Wayne MA Forward of the Year: Othyus Jeffers (6'5''-G/F-85) of Iowa Energy Center of the Year: Justin Hamilton (7'0''-C-90) of Sioux Falls Most Improved Player of the Year: Frank Gaines (190-G-90) of Maine RC Rookie of the Year: Robert Covington (6'9''-F-90) of Rio Grande VV Impact Player of the Year: Ikechukwu Diogu (204-C/F-83) of Bakersfield Jam Defensive Player of the Year: Deandre Liggins (6'6''-G-88) of Sioux Falls S. Coach of the Year: Conner Henry of Ft.Wayne MA
Ft.Wayne MA - Santa Cruz W. 119-113 It took a long time for the mad Ants to get here. Seven years, most of which has been spent in or near the D-Leagues cellar. Saturday, they raised the D-League championship trophy for the first time, thanks largely to a transcendent performance from Tony Mitchell (6'6''-F-89, college: Alabama), who had 32 points in a 119-113 victory over the Santa Cruz Warriors at Memorial Coliseum. Of course, it would ultimately come down to a shot from Mr. Mad Ant, Ron Howard (6'5''-G-82, college: Valparaiso), who has been with the team for each of its seven seasons. His shot from just inside the 3-point line with 1:12 remaining put Fort Wayne up 115-113. After a pair of Sadiel Rojas (6'4''-G/F-89, college: Okla.Wesleyan) free throws, teammate Tony Mitchell hit a leaning 15-footer, and drew the foul, with 9.2 seconds left for a 118-113 lead that put the game out of reach. It was typical Mad Ants basketball. They had a 20-point lead in the third quarter, then fell behind by two in the fourth before coming back to win it all. The Mad Ants had been to the playoffs only once before this season getting swept by Santa Cruz in the first round last year and had never won more than 27 of 50 games in the regular season. Under coach Conner Henry, who was an assistant with Los Angeles last year, it was a different season almost from the start for Fort Wayne. It won its first division title and then the D-Leagues regular-season championship, going 34-16 and winning 17 of its final 20 games. In the playoffs, the Mad Ants swept Reno and Sioux Falls in best-of-three series, learning along the way that guard Ron Howard had been selected Co-MVP along with Iowas Othyus Jeffers (6'5''-G-85, college: Robert Morris) by league coaches. Henry was selected Coach of the Year and Howard, who became the leagues all-time leading scorer in the regular season, won the Jason Collier Sportsmanship Award for a second straight year. After winning Game 1 of the Finals 102-92 on Thursday in Santa Cruz, Calif., they extended their winning streak at the Coliseum to 17 games and captured the first championship for a professional basketball team in Fort Wayne since 1945, when the Pistons won one in the National Basketball League. Against sixth-seeded Santa Cruz, which was 29-21 in the regular season, and defeated Los Angeles and 2013-champion Rio Grande Valley in the first two rounds, the Mad Ants opened Game 2 with a touch of nerves and a lot of missed shots. They missed five of their first 17 shots and fell behind 20-11 with 4:20 remaining in the first quarter, when Seth Curry (6'1''-G-90, college: Duke) hit a 3-pointer and drew a foul. The Mad Ants stormed, thanks to dunks from Tim Ohlbrecht (6'11''-PF-88), Trey McKinney-Jones (6'6''-G-90, college: Miami, FL) and Mitchell, who tied it at 20 with a 3-pointer from the corner with 2:00 remaining in the quarter. After a Santa Cruz timeout, Mitchell hit another 3-pointer to extend the run to 12-0. The Mad Ants continued to roll and built a 42-29 lead with 8:21 left in the second quarter, thanks to a Matt Bouldin (6'5''-G-88, agency: Priority Sports, college: Gonzaga) 3-pointer, set up by Sadiel Rojas, who flew five rows into the stands to save the ball. A monstrous Mitchell dunk with 4:25 left made it 50-38, giving Mitchell 20 points on 9-of-15 shooting to that point, all coming off the bench. A Mitchell 3-pointer with 48 seconds left in the second quarter made it 63-46, after which he stared down the Santa Cruz bench. By halftime, when Fort Wayne led 65-48, Mitchell had 25 points on 11-of-18 shooting and Howard had 11 points. But the Warriors got back within seven, at 83-75, with 2:43 remaining in the third quarter after two jump shots by Cameron Jones, a former Fort Wayne player, and a Curry 3-pointer, as Henry called from the sideline for his team to improve its defensive intensity. With Curry trying to pull the Warriors to within one, an Ohlbrecht dunk set up a Howard layup with 40 seconds remaining in the third for an 85-80 lead. A McKinney-Jones reverse layup at the end of the quarter made it 91-80. Mitchell was scoreless in the third. After a missed dunk by Fort Waynes Chris Porter (6'7''-F-78, college: Auburn), a 3-pointer from Mychel Thompson got Santa Cruz within 5, but Mitchell answered with a 3-pointer of his own for a 97-89 lead with 9:00 left in the game. But Jones layup with 8:15 remaining cut the Fort Wayne lead to three at 97-94. But back-to-back Porter baskets quelled the rally, until Curry had back-to-back 3-pointers to cut the Fort Wayne lead to 101-100. A Thompson layup plus a foul put Santa Cruz up 103-101 with 5:03 left. Curry made three free throws, thanks to a foul by Mitchell, and Santa Cruz went up 105-101 with 4:33 left, but a Porter free throw tied it at 105. Courtesy of: journalgazette.net
Henry
