Category: Basketball

Birmingham coach T.J. Saint said after his team’s 142-118 loss to Osceola on Tuesday that he was looking forward to Thursday’s rematch because the Squadron usually fares well in “bounce back” games.

Usually, but not always.

And certainly not this time.

The Orlando Magic farm club turned in another dominant performance, thrashing the New Orleans Pelicans’ affiliate, 168-133, in front of 1,433 fans at Legacy Arena.

When asked what he could learn from a game like this Saint said, “It’ll be something in the offseason … I don’t know.”

E.J. Liddell gave Birmingham a 2-0 lead with an opening bucket but it was all Osceola the rest of the way as the NBA G League Eastern Conference pacesetters – who lit it up for 85 first half points – improved to 21-9.

The 168 points is a season-best for the circuit in 2023-24 and the most scored by a team since the 2014-15 campaign. That season the Los Angeles D-Fenders defeated the Reno Bighorns, 175-152, while Reno topped L.A., 174-169, in a rematch.

Mac McClung led the way with 40 points, followed by Jett Howard (27), Kevon Harris (25), Trevelin Queen (22), Chris Walker (15), Myron Gardner (12) and Miye Oni (10).

Queen had 10 rebounds and Walker, 13, to give the players double-doubles.

For the night the winners outrebounded the hosts, 63-35, and outscored the Squadron in the paint, 78-56.

The overwhelming show of scoring force overshadowed the 41-point showing by Birmingham’s Landers Nolley II, who was just three points shy of a franchise single game scoring mark.

Dereon Seabron added 27 points and E.J. Lidell was good for 26.

The Squadron fell to 14-18 and are assured of a losing season with just two games to go.

“There was some collective will that was not shown tonight,” Saint said.

Osceola set the tone for this one early, leading by as many as 22 points and holding a big 45-36 advantage after one. The Magic also held a 19-8 rebounding edge through 12 minutes.

The cushion inflated to 26 in the second quarter before Osceola settled on an 85-68 lead at halftime.

In the second half it was simply a matter of whether or not the Squadron could make it respectable.

The Magic was relentless, eclipsing the century mark at the 7:30 mark and entering the final period with a comfortable 129-100 margin.

Next up: Birmingham travels to Oklahoma City on March 27 to take on the Blue at noon. The game at Paycom Center will be the Squadron’s final road trip of the 2023-24 season.

OTD in 1992: The Birmingham Bandits of the Continental Basketball Association fell to the Quad-City Thunder, 125-102, in the first round of the CBA playoffs.

Jim Farmer led Birmingham with 28 points while Skeeter Henry added 15, although the duo hit just 13-of-34 from the field combined. The loss put the Bandits in a 2-0 hole against Quad City in the best-of-three series.

College basketball began the First Four segment of March Madness on Tuesday.

But the Birmingham Squadron? Well, the New Orleans Pelicans’ NBA G League affiliate jumped straight to its version of the Final Four.

Birmingham faced the Eastern Conference-leading Osceola Magic at Legacy Arena, the first of its remaining four regular season games for the 2023-34 season. And what was billed as battle of the league’s leading scorers (both Birmingham’s Malcolm Hill and Osceola’s Mac McClung came into the contest averaging 24.4 points) went the way of the Orlando Magic’s developmental club, 142-118.

“We were down 13 at halftime and a lot was going on and I think we cut it to like six maybe in the third,” Squadron coach T.J. Saint said. “I do think we ran out of gas, and I do think we got down on ourselves individually. In building a team you’ve got to find somebody who can galvanize the group and tonight we didn’t have enough guys play well on their own to do it.

“It was tough loss, but I told them when we’ve been popped by someone we’ve responded (the next game).”

Osceola improved to 20-9 to tighten its grip atop the East while Birmingham falls to 14-17 and is all but eliminated from playoff contention. A crowd of 1,098 was on hand to watch.

Alex Morales came off the bench to lead the victors with 24 points, while McClung was just under his average with 23. Trevelin Queen had 22 in the win.

Other double-digit scorers for the Magic were Jett Howard (17), Kevon Harris (16), Daeqwon Plowden (14), Miye Oni (12) and Myron Gardner (10).

Morales had 10 rebounds and McClung dished out 11 assists to earn double-doubles.

Dereon Seabron had his third highest-scoring game of the season with 31 Squadron points, while Karlo Matkovic had 20 points and 11 boards and Jalen Crutcher scored 17 points to go with 10 assists to account for the home side’s double-doubles.

Hill finished with 15 points, Izaiah Brockington pumped in 13 and E.J. Liddell hit for 11.

The Squadron was outrebounded, 50-38.

“Offense isn’t our problem,” Saint said. “We’re the number one offense in the G League but defense is our problem … we’re the worst defense in the league. They played with a lot of physicality. We have a lot of young players and I don’t think they have a rookie, and even though it doesn’t feel good, it’s all part of growth.”

Matkovic had a 3-pointer, slam and two other buckets in the first quarter, but Morales’ 12 points helped Osceola take a 37-27 lead after one.

Seabron found the range for the Squad in the second – finishing the first half with 21 points – but the Magic led by as many as 19 in the frame.

McClung had already netted 18 points for the visitors, and Osceola was on top, 74-61, after 24 minutes.

The Magic held double-digit leads throughout most of the third and was in front 111-100 heading into the fourth.

Howard opened the quarter with a three for Dylan Murphy’s crew, and that set the stage for a dominating finish by Osceola that saw the Floridians empty their bench toward the end.

Next up: Birmingham finishes its two-game set with Osceola here on Thursday. Tip-off is 7 p.m.

Developing players: Job One of a G League team is to get players ready for the NBA, and the Squadron trails only the Westchester Knicks in the number of call-ups this season. The Knicks have seven and Birmingham, six.

Magic City native and UAB standout Trey Jemison was called up to a 10-day contract by the Washington Wizards on Jan. 20. He was the first Squadron player to get a call-up since Jared Harper in 2022.

Hill, now on a two-way contract with New Orleans, was signed to a 10-day contract by the Pelicans on Jan. 27. Jemison got his second and the team’s third call-up on Jan. 30 when he signed a 10-day contract with the Memphis Grizzlies.

Following the conclusion of that 10-day pact, Jemison was given a two-way contract by Memphis.

Crutcher (10-day) and Brockington (10-day) have also been called up by New Orleans.

OTD in 2023: The Squadron lost to the Mexico City Capitanes, 124-115, in Mexico City.

Seabron scored 29 points for Birmingham, followed by Hill, who had a double-double with 22 points and 11 rebounds. James Kelly Sr. added 18 points, Kelan Martin scored 14, and Feron Hunt scored 12 points.

The Birmingham Squadron hosted its annual Literacy Day this morning at Legacy Arena, with kids from 35 local schools helping the New Orleans Pelicans’ NBA G League affiliate draw far and away their biggest crowd of the season.

And what lesson did the 4,544 fans learn by watching the Squad tangle with Brooklyn’s developmental club, the Long Island Nets?

Well, they discovered this is a really good brand of basketball.

And in this particular matchup, it was Long Island who played it best.

University of Alabama product Noah Clowney led Long Island and all scorers with 33 points and he had plenty of help as the Nets took a 134-124 decision to sweep the two-game set.

Keon Johnson came off the bench to score 22 points in a winning effort, followed by Kennedy Chandler (20), Kaiser Gates (18) and Kyler Edwards (17).

Malcolm Hill had 29 points for Birmingham, Dereon Seabron added 26, Jordon Hawkins – assigned to the Squadron from the Pelicans today – chipped in 19, Izaiah Brockington and Karlo Matkovic each finished with 15 and Jalen Crutcher added 10.

Long Island finished with a 42-33 rebounding advantage and Birmingham had 17 costly turnovers.

“Long Island is very, very good,” Squadron coach T.J. Saint said. “They’re very physical. We lost because they were more physical. Rebounding is for sure our Achilles’s heel. It’s something I’ve already thought about how to teach next season, but come at it from a totally different approach.

“It’s so valuable … we’re 17-2 on the season when we win the rebounding battle.”

Birmingham trailed by eight points entering the fourth quarter of a game in which Long Island always seemed to stay a step ahead.

A Crutcher three at 9:01 tightened things up to six at 104-98, but the Nets then reeled off five straight points to grab a double-digit lead.

The eventual winners maintained a healthy cushion the rest of the way, improving to 16-11 and jumping into the third playoff position.

Birmingham dropped to 13-15. With just six games left and three and a half games out of the sixth and final postseason spot, its hopes of playing into April are fading.

“If we don’t make it, they’re the team I’m pulling for,” Saint said. “I like that team a lot.”

Matkovic – who had seven points over the first 12 minutes –started the game with a slam. But after Johnson’s 3-pointer at 4:49 put the Nets in front, 24-21, they led the rest of the frame. At the end of one Long Island was ahead, 31-29, with Clowney pacing the leaders with 11 points.

Long Island led by as many as 12 in the second quarter but Birmingham started chipping away at the deficit late, cutting it to 73-66 at halftime.

Hawkins and Hill – each with 14 points – helped the hosts get back in the hunt, although Clowney, Gates and Chandler’s combined 47 points kept the Nets on top.

The Squadron got as close as two in the third stanza, but Long Island refused to give up its advantage.

An 83-81 lead grew to 92-81 with under three minutes left in the quarter, and when the buzzer sounded Mfon Udofia’s charges still showed the way, 98-90.

The home team never got closer than six the rest of the way.

Next up: The Squadron travels to Wilmington, Delaware, on Friday to take on the Delaware Bluecoats at Chase Fieldhouse.

Tip-off is set for 6 p.m. The teams will meet again on Saturday at the same venue with a 5 p.m. start.

OTD in 2022: The Squadron dropped a 110-104 overtime decision to the Texas Legends.

Jared Harper led six double-digit Birmingham scorers with 25 -points, and also dished out 10 assists to get the double-double.

Zach Hankins got a double-double of his own with 19 points and 17 rebounds, and Zylan Cheatham joined the club with 10 points and 10 boards.