Thursday, February 24, 2011

No Deals Done for the Reignmakers

As the trade deadline loomed for the NBA, the Reignmakers were working the phones as well for the BRBL. But not as hard as others.

The Reignmakers were looking to see if they could add another big man, with the team being unsure of how long Kerry Hunter was going to be out for in the playoffs.

"We looked at a few possibilities, we weren't really thiking we would be in this position as the season progressed. But when our big man went down, you have to look," Coach Jason Hunter said.

As stated before, the team was not looking too hard at making any big moves, but they did put some feelers out. They did dangle a couple of future draft picks it was reported, but only got lukewarm interest from a handful of clubs.

The team also put calls out to the agent of ex-NBA'er Raef LaFrentz, but nothing came to fruition.

"We have faith in this team, this organization," top scorer Brandon Hunter said, "we know we have what it takes on this roster to win a championship. We want to do that not only for us, not only for our fans, but for the doubters. Mostly for them."

Monday, February 21, 2011

Regular Season Review

The Reignmakers ended their regular season with a forfeit win over Your Carpenter. The team ends their season with a 10-1 record which placed them 2nd overall in Division II.

The Reignmakers will get a first round bye in the upcoming playoffs. They will play the winner of Sidelines and Shawn Kemps Kids, both who were beaten by the Reignmakers during the regular season.

The long break may give the team a chance to recover from various injuries that plagued them over the last few weeks. Kerry Hunter will get more time to heal from his bad back, Chad Dobson, who injured his wrist in the final true game of the season, will have two weeks, and Clinton Weigel coming off of heart surgery, will all benefit from the hiatus from the hardwood.

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Here is a look at some regular season highlights from the year:

Jason Hunter
11.2 ppg, 5.3 rpg
34% from 3

Brandon Hunter
22 ppg, 8.3 rpg
264 total pts, 100 total reb
41% from 2

Brent Hunter
17.3 ppg, 2 rpg

Kerry Hunter
10.2 ppg, 7.6 rpg
112 total points, 84 total reb
55% from 2, 76% FT

Chad Dobson
.3 ppg, .9 rpg

Andy Kempf
2 ppg, 4.3 rpg
40% from 3

Mike Petrilli
4.3 ppg, 2.8 rpg

Clinton Weigel
4.5 ppg, 2.9 rpg
53% from 2, 60% from 3, 54% FG

Ryan Stuver
1.6 ppg, 4.3 rpg

Team Stats
43% FG, 33% 3P, 38% FG, 63% FT
57.4 ppg, 33.8 rpg

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Monday, February 14, 2011

Injury Update

The Reignmakers will be without big man Kerry Hunter and energetic Clinton Weigel again for tonights game.

Hunter is still nursing a back injury and Weigel, who had minor heart surgery (as minor as heart surgery can be), is still recovering as well.

The Reignmakers will likely start both Hunter brothers, Andy Kempf, Mike Petrilli, and Ryan Stuver.

The final regular season game will be tonight at the Brunswick Rec Center. Tip off is set for 6:30 EST.

Wednesday, February 9, 2011

No Center? No Problem

The only thing that the Reignmakers seemed to miss with Kerry Hunter on the bench with a back injury was the jump ball.

Everything else went smoothly.

The Reignmakers grabbed a season best 55 rebounds and had four players in the double digits rebounds on the night as they found another way to win, 51-41, against Buckeye Superwash.

Brandon Hunter, Jason Hunter, Andy Kempf, and Ryan Stuver all picked up the slack underneath as they had 13, 14, 10, and 14 rebounds respectively. Brandon and Andy tied season highs, while Jason and Stuver bested theirs.

"We all knew the areas in which we had to step up with our big guy out tonight," Ryan Stuver said afterward. "It was good to see the team effort on the boards."

The shots were not exactly falling for the second night in a row. The game as actually still tied at zero after about five minutes in the first half, but the Reignmakers found the bucket and lead 21-12 at the half. Those 12 points being the least given up in one half by the team this year.

The second half was more of the same, but Buckeye made a run early when the 2-3 zone started to break down.

"There one guy had a bunch of shots in the lane, easy shots," Coach Hunter commented later, "for the first time this whole year we actually saw our defense break down because we got tired, only having 6 guys dressed tonight."

Clinton Weigel was also missing from the lineup after heart surgery and the team does not have a time table for his return.

But with subsitutions down the stretch, the Reignmakers kept their composure and finished off strong. The team only managed two free throws all night, both misses, but kept battling underneath even if the calls were not going their way.

Brandon Hunter lead the way on the offensive end making good on 5 of 10 from two point range (22 points). Jason Hunter (13 points) got to the basket more and Mike Petrilli (12 points) kept his hot hand from three as he connected on all four of his attempts from deep. Stuver (2 points) and Kempf (2 points) found holes behind the zone while Chad Dobson played the most minutes of his year and took his defense to heart. He attacked the rim on the other end and was the sole free throw taker on the night.

The Reignmakers final matchup of the regular season is next Monday against Your Carpenter. The team will then have a week to rest as the playoff tree is created and seeded. Another win should help the Reignmakers climb to either number one or two in the seeding, which would give them a great path in the playoffs.

Tuesday, February 1, 2011

Crashi...errr...Smashing OT Victory

A car accident two days before? That didn't hinder the Reignmakers performance this past week versus Skully Jaxx, who was slated as one of the "teams to beat" at the beginning of the year, 52-48 in overtime.

The first overtime game for the Reignmakers went as good as it could have. The good guys outscored the visitors 7-3 in the extra period to take home the win.

The outcome looked far different after the first few minutes of the game. Behind 20-8 early in the first half, Coach Jason Hunter made a rare decision, the first of the year, to call a timeout from the bench.

The timeout seemed to work. After the first half, the Reignmakers only trailed by eight, 31-23. The team continued their brilliance in the second half and had the game tied at 45.

The usual suspects struggled for the most part throughout the game. Brandon Hunter only hit on one of his three point attempts (1 of 15) and had only 11 points total. Jason Hunter only had 8 points and one rebound, but hit the game tying three pointer to send the game into overtime, and hit two big free throws in overtime to push the lead to four.

Everyone else put up the numbers where the two leading scorers could not. Kerry Hunter grabbed 8 rebounds and had a game and season high 20 points. The big man seemed to find the areas behind Skully Jaxx's 2-3 zone and had layup after layup (8 of 11). He also connected on four of five from the foul line.

Mike Petrilli finally found his stroke. After shooting only 26% from beyond the arc this year, he connected on three big threes, six taken total, and gave the Reignmakers a huge boost in both halfs, and the overtime (9 points, 7 rebounds).

Andy Kempf found his niche on the glass and grabbed a season high 10 on the night. The second chance points were down for Skully Jaxx as the Reignmakers gobbled up 40 rebounds on the night, a team high.

Ryan Stuver (2 points, 3 rebounds) contributed on the glass and on defense and Clintion Weigel (4 rebounds) kept up the energy on both ends with a couple steals and penetration on the other end.

A win like this over a top team is a great boost to the Reignmakers morale heading into the post season. With only two games left, they have easily played the top competition this past week.

"It's a huge win, definitely our best win of the year." Coach Hunter said after the game. "To be behind that early, to battle back, to make it to overtime, and then to win...we were never tested in that way this year. It was great. We are riding a high and need to keep it going through the next two games. We can't relax."

"We definitely have a target on our backs now, we have to," Andy Kempf followed up.

"We like this view from the top."