Thursday was an active day for the Birmingham Squadron.
It started with the acquisition of 6-11 center/forward Karlo Matkovic, brought in to add some size and strength to the lineup.
Later in the afternoon Malcolm Hill – the NBA G League’s top scorer – was given a two-way contract by Birmingham’s parent club, the New Orleans Pelicans.
And Jalen Crutcher, who has played every game for T.J. Saint’s squad in 2023-24, got a 10-day contract with New Orleans and was immediately assigned to the Squadron.
For the day to have a happy ending, though, the Squadron needed to topple the visiting Maine Celtics at Legacy Arena.
Dereon Seabron made sure they did.
Seabron scored on a reverse layup with 1.3 seconds left as Birmingham (9-12) downed Boston’s developmental team, 127-125, in front of 1,353 fans.
The Squadron led by six late but the Celtics (11-10) managed to rally and knot the score at 125-all just 14 seconds from the finish.
Opting to work the clock down, Seabron made sure the ball was in his hands when it came time for the last shot.
It was the most important bucket of his 16-point night, and he also added 11 rebounds to earn the double-double.
But the “W” was secured in large part by Hill and Matkovic; Hill finished with a team-high 27 points and Matkovic was outstanding in his Magic City debut with 19 points and nine rebounds.
E.J. Liddell aided the cause with a double-double of his own (16 points, 10 boards), while Landers Nolley II added 12 points, Izaiah Brockington chipped in 11 and Crutcher wound up with 10.
Joe Wieskamp led Maine with 36 points and University of Alabama product JD Davison, a two-way player, contributed 28 points and eight rebounds.
Other double-digit scorers for the Celtics were Drew Peterson (18), Tony Snell (12), Jordan Walsh (11) and DJ Steward (10).
The game was tight throughout, with Maine leading 30-27 after the first quarter and 62-54 at intermission.
Birmingham won the third quarter 28-20 to erase the deficit, and outscored the visitors 45-43 in a wild fourth stanza. The victory leaves the Squadron three games out of the final playoff position with 13 games remaining.
Next up: The Squadron and Celtics square off again here Friday at 7 p.m.
Ignite in trouble?: One of the unique aspects of the G League is the Ignite, a team based in Nevada and made up of elite NBA prospects. It was formed as an alternative to college basketball, offering salaries up to $500,000.
However, NBA commissioner Adam Silver suggested that G League Ignite will be “reassessed” due to NIL options for current college players.
“I think given that that’s happened, I think we are in the process of reassessing Team Ignite,” Silver said during his state of the league address during All-Star weekend. “Now some of those same players who didn’t want to be one-and-done players because they felt it was unfair and they wanted the ability not just to earn a living playing basketball but to do commercial deals that weren’t available to them at college, to hire professional agents, an opportunity that wasn’t available to them at college, they now — all of those same opportunities have become available to them.
“I’m not sure what the future of Team Ignite will be, because before there was a hole in the marketplace that we thought we were filling before doing that, and now my focus is turning to earlier development of those players.”
OTD in 1948: The Birmingham Vulcans of the Southern Professional Basketball League defeated the Mobile Gulls, 77-46, for their ninth consecutive victory in league competition and tenth straight overall.
Shag Hawkins led the winners with 20 points and four other Vulcans notched double figures.
OTD in 1949: The Birmingham Steelers of the SPBL lost to the Laurel Oilers, 78-49, allowing Montgomery to clinch the league title.