I’m listening to the game online so here are my thoughts as I think of them are after the jump. Expect them to be somewhat sporadic as I am also filling out grad school applications while listening.
Pre-Game:
- 8:03: The connection works on my Mac, unlike many video connections. The one good thing about this being audio only.
- 8:05: The announcers mention that it’s an okay but not great crowd in attendance. It’s apparently painfully cold there.
- 8:09 The announcer knows Lewis from some time in Worcester, MA. Strange.
- 8:11 Twyman, SirVal, Dandridge, Cordell Jeanty and Rob Sanders are starting for Halifax. They’re going small to start.
- 8:12 Williams, Stephenson, Plummer, Joe Williams, and Cole are starting for the Frost Heaves.
- 8:14 Andre Levingston is in Vermont for the game and they’ll talk to him at half. Crookshanks is not with them.
- 8:16 Joe Williams over powers Jeanty and the announcers are already questioning the Rainmen’s lack of size. Shocking.
- 8:17 Cole blocks Sanders. Let’s get some friggin’ size in there, Lewis. Twyman drops a three to tie it. Williams drops a three. Twyman drops a three. Williams uses a ball screen and someone goes under it instead of going through it and drops another three. Quick time out for Lewis.
- 8:20 Jeanty needs to stop shooting threes.
- 8:21 They’re looking to run Sanders iso against Cole to take advantage of the speed difference.
- 8:22 The announcers are guessing 700 fans in Burlington for the game.
- 8:25 Sanders drops Millsap with a foul that the announcers want to say is dirty but can’t. I love Sanders.
- 8:26 Voigt has already brought in four subs… and there is the fifth.
- 8:30 McNeal sees some early action as he checks in for Jeanty! Hammack also checks in. Here’s hoping McNeal can show something here. Both teams are ice cold from the outside.
- 8:31 And he gets called for the offensive foul…. not a good start. Second fould on McNeal… and he’s so winded that he needs a sub. Vermont are exploiting mismatches… and Dandridge travels.
- 8:34 Vermont start with a normal sized line up and use their size advantage to overpower Halifax. They then sub in their smaller guys so Lewis responds by putting in McNeal who is just too slow to keep up or play defense… Ladies and gentlemen – Rick Lewis!
- 8:35 STRICKLAND IS IN FOR HALIFAX! STRICKLAND IS IN FOR HALIFAX!!!!!!
- 8:35 High screen and roll leads to another open jump shot. STOP GOING UNDER SCREENS!
- 8:37 Strickland gets an easy lay up on a flop by Cole which the announcers call “pulling an Anosike”… man they hate Manchester.
- 8:39 28-20 for Vermont. The Frost Heaves are killing them on outside shooting, particularly Greg Plummer who is 3 for 3 on three point attempts. The live stats are not working, darn it.
Second Quarter
- 8:41 Strick drops the assist from the low post. I can’t wait to see Strick in Halifax.
- 8:44 Rodney Mayes is wearing Eric Crookshank’s #20 jersey… which means I won’t be wearing that jersey anymore.
- 8:52 Halifax get called for delay of game… WTF?
- 8:53 Sanders picks up his third. Halifax bring Val in for Sanders and Halifax go small.
- 8:54 Yet another turn over for Halifax. Terrible. Halifax get the rebound and drops his first three of the game. Finally.
- 8:57 The announcers are very appreciative of the PBL website having things like stats and standings on it “It’s so much better than what we’re used to…” Take that ABA.
- 8:59 Dandridge tricked us with his three point shooting in those pre-season games. Vermont hit two threes in a row on the other hand. The Frost Heaves lost last night because they were outshot… they’re not going to let that happen tonight. 52-41 Heaves.
- 9:05 I really like the Vermont announcers, they’re not prone to the homerism that many announcers assigned to teams fall into. They call it as they see it.
- 9:06 I checked the PBL website – Mayes’ number has been switched to #20… why on earth would they do that? That makes no sense.
- 9:10 Silverhorn will be back next week – no serious damage was revealed in the MRI. Thank god.
- 9:11: Frost Heaves are up by ten at half.
Third Quarter
- 9:36 7:08 left and it’s 65-54. Sanders and Jeanty both have four fouls.
- 9:38 Sanders takes a dive and you can hear the fans in the background screaming at him. Can we give him one of those Wrestling championship belts that he can wear during the pre-game intros and whenever he’s on the bench? He can hold it over his head when he subs in and maybe even use it as a weapon when the refs’ backs are turned?
- 9:39 Halifax have hit 100% of their free throws… unbelievable for the Rainmen.
- 9:40 Fifth foul on Jeanty.
- 9:41 Ramey shoots up a one handed winner and the announcers can’t believe it went in. The lead is down to four.
- 9:49 Lead is back up to six with a big three in the corner from Nixon off of an inbounds pass. Halifax are terrible when it comes to out of bounds situations, particularly under the net.
- 9:50 Vermont went small and are grabbing offensive rebounds all over the place.
- 9:51 DAMNIT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Fifth foul on Sanders. Strick is in.
- 9:52 74-66 after two made free throws by Vermont. Stupid jump shot early in the shotclock by Dandridge, Vermont come down and hit a three. Lead back up to 11 in a hurry.
- 9:52 The refs just told Voigt that they made a make up call on Vermont because the call on Sanders was wrong… are you shitting me?! Plummer comes down and knocks down a three, Dandridge tries to respond with another pull up three but misses.
- 9:53 Hammack with a steal, a drive, the basket and a foul. Lead down to ten. I like Hammack, I wish Lewis wouldn’t yank him from the game the way he does.
- 9:54 McNeal hasn’t been in since that bad stretch in the first quarter – why is he even here?
Fourth Quarter
- 9:59 Lead is down to nine but it’s been floating between secen and eleven for about a full quarter now. Halifax need some stops and need to lock down the defensive boards if they’re going to get back into this one.
- 10:01 I wish the PBL refs would give a tech to a coach already.
- 10:11 90-83 Frost Heaves and Sanders and Ramey check in. The Rainmen start throwing a full court press out there.
- 10:16 Sanders is coming up huge. Bailey hits a jump hook off an inbounds and it’s down to two!
- 10:17 Block and rebound by Bailey! Outlet to Ramey who gets his pocket picked by little Williams who hits a lay up and gets fouled… back up to five.
- 10:18 Halifax get a lay up and a stop, and then Plummer gets a steal for an easy Vermont basket. Back up to five. Halifax just can’t get over the hump.
- 10:21 Sanders hits one, misses the other free throw but the rebounded is deflected out of bounds, sanders gets a lay up off of the inbounds! Two point game with three minutes left.
- 10:22 Halifax steal! And they blow the fast break… Halifax do no execute that fast break well.
- 10:23 Vermont hit a three and its back at five. Jesus. Execute. Sanders gets to the line again, thank god. 100-96 with 2:09 left in the game.
- 10:28 Dear Halifax, please stop fouling jump shooters. But Greg Stephenson misses both free throws. 1:40 and Halifax are down by three. Sanders draws yet another foul, nails both shots. Vermont are subbing offense/defense here with Nixon and big Joe Williams… you’d never see Lewis do this.
- 10:30 Bad Vermont shot and Halifax have possession down by one! John Williams steals from Sanders… and Plummer knocks down a three! 50.4 seconds and Sanders gets the ball stolen again.
- 10:32 Halifax are trying to intentionally foul but it takes forever for the refs to call it. 20.4 and it looks like it’s more less over.
- 10:33 Game is over. 107-99 for Vermont. Halifax played it hard but simply couldn’t get the steps down the stretch. You can’t really be disappointed in a game like that. Hopefully Halifax can get ready to get the opposite result in Manchester on Sunday.
The stats aren’t up yet but here are some highlights for Halifax:
- Sanders had 19pts and 11 rebounds
- 15 points for Dandridge, most of them in the 2nd quarter after not hitting shot in the first.
- Hammack had 12
- Strick had 6 points in limited minutes.
- Another game with Mayes and McNeal being non-contributors.
SECTION 23 
650 – 800 total attendance? And this is the home opener!!!!
The starting lineup makes no sense.
The Heaves play at two courts. This is not their true home opener. Their venues are also tiny.
I love how Rob Sanders fouls.
Is there an NBA franchise close by? Or do they compete with college hoops for fans?
They’re just in the middle of no where. Barre is tiny and it’s -20 F out there. The venues are 1800 and 1200 capacity high school gyms that look like they’re from Hoosiers.
So our 3000 – 4000 home opener would be big by PBL standards?
Yeah – the only team with a bigger average attendance is Rochester. They had 4,600 for the home opener this year. Welcome to the minor leagues.
Man. These threes are killing us.
Strick is killing it.
Dandridge is really shooting like shit.
If they reassigned Crookshanks number , he must be done in Halifax.
We are really missing Silverhorn and Crookshank.
Silverhorn should be back next week. Thank god.
Down by 10 at the half…it’s not hopeless…let’s Go Rainmen!!!
last night they called a delay of game on Manchester. First time I’d seen that.
We’re with a bucket. 67 – 65
This is super risky playing these guys with so many fouls.
wow, this sucks.. nice coaching lewis, dandridge will be shooting threes when he is 80..
shooting threes at 80…..sounds right to me.
i really think the talent here is in halifax’s favor BUT barre is the toughest place to play in the PBL by far…..that may bring them through
predictions by division in the pbl:
halifax
wilmington
battle creek
1:30 left, 1 point game.
800 in Barre is the equivalent to 4000 in Rochester when it comes to noise and advantage……Barre fan rock
They are playing in Burlington
good win for vt…..I still stand by my predictions…parity and increased talent (mostly due to instabillity in other leagues) will make it a tough year for Vt and the perennial minor league powers…..but Barre still rocks better than anywhere
oh sorry…….i stand corrected…but burlington rocks too
Dandridge with 11 fucking turnovers!!
Thanks for the live blog. I read it when I got home from work. Very good summary.
They lost but they got close. This team needs some time to find its identity. 20 game season so I hope they find it fast.
I can’t understand how Dandridge gets so many minutes. He played 40 minutes but shot 33% from the field and had 11(!) turnovers.
After the game one of the announcers asked a hypothetical question: “Halifax outshot and out rebounded Vermont, but Vermont won by eight… how did that happen?” It was in part three point shooting (41% to 30%) but it was mostly turnovers – Halifax had 28 turnovers and Vermont scored 21 points off of those turnovers.
Is Dandridge this season’s Booyer (except he is active)?
I think re-assigning Eric’s number is a) in poor taste, since the suspension just happened, b) short-sighted, since the Rainmen want #20 to go to schools and talk to kids, c) a pretty good sign that Eric is toast with the Rainmen, d) stupid PR move since fans may still want to wear the jerseys they bought to show loyalty to Eric but still be Rainmen fans – those are not mutually exclusive, e) all of the above.
The correct answer is: e) all of the above.
Thanks for the great play-by-play Chris. Good for those of us who didn’t listen to the game.
It looked to me like just about every game the Rainmen played last year – on the verge of winning, just keeping up, and then losing in the last minute despite being within a bucket or two. Sure sign of a coach who doesn’t know how to use the talent on the court.
Levingston said in the article on the Metro website that the league only sent them 12 jerseys (that is dumb) and they needed to shift around some numbers to find a jersey that fit Strick.
scary that we need to find new uniforms for strick..11 turnovers, what is he the whole raptors team last night.. wicked.. I am sure he insanely talented and the only thing I can come up with is that Lewis thinks he can be a major threat and has told him to shoot through his slump.. hopefully it ends sooner rather than later for the team’s sake.. That is a lot of turnovers, especially when we do not run intricate plays that involve quick inside passing, alley oops etc.. Our is pretty standard outside of the key and them dump it into the post or the high screen for a shot.. the only thing I can imagine is if he was handling the ball on the fast break..
I agree that having a NEW # 20 is in poor taste.
EC 20 forever.
I don’t think there is anything the team could do, though – they have to wear league issued jerseys, but they were only given 12. I just think that the few number they were given is dumb.
Each team should have been given 30 home jerseys and 30 away jerseys. Two of each number in each colour, in sizes that each team choose. What are they going to do if someone catches an elbow in the nose and they get a blood stains all over their jersey? They can’t switch jerseys in game, and even worse he’d have to wear a stained jersey the rest of the season. This is stupid.
On another note – how funny is it that Eric’s jersey was SMALLER than Mayes’ jersey? I love how they keep trying to claim that Eric is 6’8 when it’s clear that he’s 6’6 at most.
Two straight loses!!!!! This sucks they better not lose tomorrow!
halifax will be fine and will probably win the division and maybe the league…i say this even though my favorite two teams are vermont and wilmington…..mostly b/c they pack their small venues and give the fans the most for their $