Scott Adamson, Author at Adamsonmedia.com

Squadron holds off 905

**Malcolm Hill (33) scored 30 points and Trey Jemison (55) recorded his seventh consecutive double-double in Birmingham’s victory over Raptors 905 Monday**.

The Birmingham Squadron closed out its MLK Celebration Weekend with a performance worth celebrating.

Malcolm Hill scored a game-high 30 points and Kira Lewis Jr. and E.J. Liddell – assigned to Birmingham from the New Orleans Pelicans on Monday morning – provided plenty of help as T.J. Saint’s club nipped Raptors 905, 108-105, before 1,115 fans at Legacy Arena.

**Scott Adamson writes stuff. Follow him on Threads @sladamson1960 and Adamsonmedia on Facebook.**

Lewis Jr.’s two free throws with 4.2 seconds remaining iced the G League matinee game for the hosts, who improve to 3-5 overall.

Raptors 905 out of Mississauga, Ontario, slip to 3-6.

“Credit to Toronto,” Saint said after the game. “(Eric Khoury) is a friend of mine and does a great job, but I give a lot of credit to our guys. It was a crazy game, and it got a little too tight at the end because we had some self-inflicted wounds, but what I really like is our defense is getting better.”
Lewis Jr. finished with19 points and dished out nine assists, and Liddell and Trey Jemison each had 16 points to go with 11 rebounds. For Jemison, it was his seventh consecutive double-double and 11^th in the last 13 games.

Izaiah Brockington accounted for 11 Birmingham points.

Kevin Obanor led 905 with 21 points, Markquis Nowell notched the double-double with 20 points and 11 boards, and Justise Winslow scored 19.

Mouhamadou Gueye and Javon Freeman-Liberty closed out double figure scorers for the visitors with 16 points apiece.

With Birmingham leading 91-89 with 8:03 to go, the eventual winners stepped up the defensive intensity and outscored the Toronto Raptors affiliate 12-2 over the next four minutes.

Ultimately, that provided them with just enough of a cushion once things got hairy down the stretch.

“We switched to a coverage we call Drop 15 where we put Trey back in the paint instead of up on the pick-and-roll, and then we relied his development on defense which has just been great to protect the rim,” Saint said.

As for Hill, it was another good day at the office.

“I’m experienced, but I also think games like this are due to the work I put in,” said Hill, who was on the original Squadron roster in 2021-22. “But my teammates uplift me. Last game I played terrible, but the coaches and other players were still encouraging me to play well. Things worked out well today.”

Liddell wasted no time making an impact, scoring 10 points over seven minutes in the first quarter to help Birmingham grab a 30-25 lead. Hill – setting the tome for his big day – scored nine.

Hill continued his hot shooting in the second frame, ending the first half with 20 points. Although turnovers allowed 905 to briefly take the lead and keep things close, the Squadron went into halftime on top, 57-53.

There was little separation between the teams in the third, with Nowell, Freeman-Liberty and Obanor doing much of the scoring work for the guests.

But Birmingham kept the Canadians at arm’s length, and entered the final 12 minutes with an 84-79 edge.

Despite a frenzied fourth, the home team hung on.

“Pressure builds diamonds,” Hill said. “I feel like a game like this, when it’s really tight, brings out not only the best in me, but the best in us as a team.”

OTD in 1948: The Birmingham Vulcans of the Southern Professional Basketball League lost to Montgomery Rebels, 66-59, in front of 800 fans at the National Guard Armory.

Ther game was billed as a replay of a protested game from December 19, and the result gave Montgomery a league-leading 22-2 mark while Birmingham slipped to 12-13.

Frank Wheeling was the high scorer for Birmingham with 19 points while Kenny Spiker paced the winners with 25 points.

OTD in 1949: The Birmingham Steelers of the SPBL beat the Laurel Oilers, 85-84, with 1,500 fans looking on at Municipal Auditorium.

Bob Murphy hit a free throw with nine seconds left in regulation to lift Birmingham to victory.

Joe Parker led the winners and all scorers with 27 points, while Murphy pumped in 19 – his last charity toss the biggest.

Next up: Birmingham hosts the Iowa Wolves on Thursday. Tip-off is slated for 7 p.m.

It’s College Night, and fans are encouraged to dress repping their favorite school. The first 1,000 fans will receive a Squadron flag and halftime will feature a seven-minute basketball game with members of the Unless U Unicorns.

Turnovers doom Squadron

**Birmingham’s first quarter lead evaporated in a 14-point loss to Raptors 905 Saturday at Legacy Arena.** (photo courtesy of **RODTEE Media**)

After racing out to a 15-point lead in the first quarter, the Birmingham Squadron appeared to be in good position to extend its winning streak to two games.

But basketball games are never won in the first quarter, and it was the last three that helped put the New Orleans Pelicans developmental club back in the loss column.

Raptors 905 (3-5), G league farmhands of the Toronto Raptors, heated up from the floor from the second quarter on and took advantage of Birmingham (2-5) turnovers in a 112-98 victory on Saturday in front of 1,616 fans at Legacy Arena.

“Turnovers,” Squadron coach T.J. Saint said, shaking his head. “They scored 112 points on 102 or 103 possessions. If we have normal turnovers, our defensive effort and rating would’ve been better than Memphis (a 122-111 victory on Thursday) but turnovers killed us. They’re demoralizing.”

While Birmingham’s 24 turnovers were actually one less than 905, they came at the worst possible times.

“Trying to pick up human morale when you’re dealing with turnovers is a trick I’ve got to figure out as a coach,” Saint said. “But the good thing is that it’s very correctible, it is on us, and we will be ready (Monday).”

Trey Jemison recorded his sixth consecutive double-double (13 points, 11 rebounds), and Malcolm Hill led the home team with 19 points. Others scoring double figures for the Squadron were Jalen Crutcher (17), Izaiah Brockington (16), Tevian Jones (12) and Devin Cannady (11).

Raptors 905 shot a sizzling 51 percent from the floor and netted 12 more field goals than Birmingham.

Omari led six double-digit men with 22 points, followed by Jaysean Paige (20), Kevin Obanor (16), Mauhamadou Gueye (14), Drake Jeffries (13) and Markquis Nowell (11).

Gueye had 13 rebounds and Nowell added 11 assists to give each player double-doubles.

Birmingham controlled the first quarter, leading by as many as 15 points before settling for a 33-22 edge after 12 minutes.

Brockington and Jones had already accounted for eight points each, although Brockington was saddled with three personal fouls.

The team repping Mississauga, Ontario, however, stormed back in the second quarter, wiping out the deficit and taking the lead (44-42) at the 5:10 mark. Their cushion inflated to five before the Squadron launched a mini-rally and tied it up at 52-all with 1:47 to go before halftime.

But 905 got those points back – and more – and with 24 minutes in the books, held a 61-54 advantage.

The visitors threatened to end all doubt about this one early in the third quarter, scoring the first 14 points of the frame to secure a 75-54 lead.

Brockington’s 3-pointer finally ended the drought, but Eric Khoury’s team rarely cooled down, and led 91-73 going into the fourth.

From there, 905 put the game in maintenance mode.

Specialty unis: The Squadron wore theme uniforms for Saturday’s game, the first time in 2023-24 the team has dressed out in alternate colors. As part of the Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration Weekend, the Squadron paid tribute to the Birmingham Black Barons by wearing black unis that featured the legendary Negro League club’s BBB logo on the jersey, and an outline of the Magic City skyline across the shorts.

The team will wear the same uniforms again for Monday morning’s MLK Day game.

OTD in 1949: The Birmingham Steelers of the Southern Professional Basketball League beat the New Orleans Sports, 119-75.

The win at Municipal Auditorium, which improved Birmingham to 14-8, was also record-setting as the 119 points by the victors was an all-time high in a SPBL game.

Bob Murphy led the onslaught with 28 points, followed by John Murphy (27), Darrell Lorance (26), Joe Parker (23), and Lloyd Spitzer (11).

OTD in 2023: The Squadron lost to Salt Lake City Stars, 132-110, at Legacy Arena.

Feron Hunt led Birmingham with 24 points, Javonte Smart scored 21, and Kelan Martin added 17.

Both Zyan Cheatham and James Kelly Sr. recorded double-doubles. Cheatham had 18 points and 10 boards, while Kelly tallied 13 points to go with 14 rebounds.

Up next: The MLK Celebration Weekend continues on Monday as the Squadron faces Raptors 905 again to close out a two-game set.

Game time is set for 11 a.m., and Red Panda will perform at halftime.

‘Platinum’ end to an era

Preston Goldfarb’s final soccer team didn’t return from the 2023 Pan American Maccabi Games in Buenos Aires with any medals to display.

But the mettle they displayed?

Well, that made Goldfarb as proud as he’s ever been during a storied career.

In his finale as a soccer coach on January 3, Goldfarb’s United State Men’s Open team defeated Argentina – the eventual gold medalists – 3-2.

A glance at the box score shows the Americans jumping out to a 3-0 lead in the first 21 minutes thanks to goals from Yaniv Bazini, Yoni Sorokine and Jake Rozhansky.

But that hardly tells the whole story.

Due to a rash of injuries, Goldfarb’s club had only nine field players available for the match. Argentina was down a man due to a red card, but the USA team was still outnumbered.

Not only that, many of the players who were able to participate were injured.

“You had to be there to witness my proudest moment in coaching,” Goldfarb said. “We wound up with nine players on the field against Argentina – not because of a red card – but because we had injuries and I didn’t have any subs. One player had a hamstring injury and all he could really do was stand there at midfield. We had a body out there that could at least get in the path of a pass or something.

“Fortunately, they got a player ejected for a handball, but we were still playing nine versus 10 against a very good team.”

Having played four games in a short time window, the Americans were dealing with exhaustion as well as pain. And the whistle didn’t blow after 90 minutes.

“It was mind-boggling,” Goldfarb said. “For them to play the way they did was just remarkable. After 90 minutes were done, the referee added 12 minutes of stoppage time. And it turned into 20 minutes, and then more minutes were added. So, our guys, despite all the injuries, and having to play all those additional minutes, still managed to win.”

The celebration was short-lived, as the USA found out quickly they had failed to qualify for the Final Four after losing a convoluted tiebreaker to Brazil.

“Even if we had qualified for the Final Four, we only had six healthy players after the Argentina match,” Goldfarb explained. “We basically had seven field players and two keepers. Physicians ruled nine players out for the fifth-place game and we refused to play it because we simply didn’t have enough players. The organizers didn’t like that, but I wasn’t going to endanger the health of my guys.”

The trip was a trying one for Goldfarb, with personnel issues starting to pile up before the plane ever left for Buenos Aires.

And things didn’t get much better after he and his team arrived.

“Sometimes the best laid plans fall flat,” Goldfarb said. “We had three players that dropped out before we left, and we had three more players who were nursing injuries that I didn’t know about. One was my best player, Evin Nadaner, and he only played 20 minutes in the first game and got a concussion in the second game.

“He was the link between our defense and our midfield and losing him threw everything off.”

Goldfarb said his team had roughly 20 minutes of practice time before opening the round robin tourney against Mexico – a 3-1 loss.

“When I tell you the field was a postage stamp, it was smaller than that,” Goldfarb joked. “The goals – I measured them – were 7×20, and they’re supposed to be 8×24. And the posts were these little sticks. Of course, both teams played on it and it’s not an excuse, but other teams had gotten there earlier and practiced on it.

“Uruguay, Mexico, Argentina go year-round, and we had guys on our team who were still trying to learn each other’s names.”

And despite occasions where the Americans got off the bus and had to walk a mile to the stadium (and a mile back to the bus after the match), they still managed to log round robin victories against both Uruguay and Argentina.

There were plenty of frustrations along the way, but Goldfarb was able to end his time on the sidelines with one of his most memorable results.

“I didn’t go out with a medal, I went out with beating Argentina,” he said. “So, we didn’t win gold, we won platinum on effort and what those kids did. The parents who were there couldn’t believe what we did and what we accomplished in that game. To see that moment, with those players knowing they did everything with heart against the team that went on to win it, was my proudest moment as a coach. They were ecstatic until the bubble was burst and we found out we didn’t qualify for the Final Four.

“To be on the bench, watching those kids literally crying through pain to play, was something I’ll never forget as long as I live. That moment in time is indelibly painted in my mind forever.”

Aside from Bazini, Sorokine, Rozhansky and Nadaner, the USA roster featured Benjamin Ziegler, Richard Shapira, Nadav Zarmi, Aaron Olson, David Abidor, Stephen Elias, Ryan Hepp, Jack Beer, Sam Friedman, Eric Hepp, Joshua Ziarno, Gabriel Einhorn, Alec Weiss and Gaston Becherano.

Ryan Jones was Goldfarb’s assistant.

“On paper I had a great team – no question – but we were missing so many key players and had so many injuries it just changed the complexion of everything,” Goldfarb said. “But those things happen, and it just made it a crazy tournament. But regardless, we came home with platinum.

”For a complete recap, go to prestongoldfarb.blogspot.com.