Iowa Energy Sends Kids Home Happy; Beats Dakota, 110-106

Iowa Energy Press Release

DES MOINES, Iowa — The 2011 NBA D-League Champion Iowa Energy put on a show for a crowd of school children with a 110-106 victory over the Dakota Wizards at the Energy’s annual Education Celebration game.

Iowa stormed out of the gates much to the delight of the youthful crowd as a Mike Efevberha driving layup put the Energy up 17-4 with 5:01 remaining in the 1st quarter. Dakota fought back behind the hot hand of guard Maurice Baker, narrowing the score to 29-22 heading into the 2nd quarter. Baker finished the quarter with nine points.

Dakota continued to chip into the Energy lead, as a 3-pointer from Edwin Ubiles cut the Energy lead to 45-44 late in the 2nd quarter. After an Energy miss, Justin Johnson nailed a jumper to give Dakota a 46-45 lead, their first of the game. The teams traded buckets throughout the rest of the quarter with a dunk by Washington Wizards assignee Hamady N’diaye put Iowa ahead 55-53 heading into the halftime break.

The Energy broke open a close game in the 3rd quarter, using a series of mini-runs to take a 82-73 lead into the 4th quarter. Just as it seemed that Iowa was in control, Baker and Ubiles got hot for the Wizards. With Iowa up 91-81 and 8:31 remaining in the game, the two visiting players scored every point for Dakota during a 15-6 run to make the score 97-96 in favor of Iowa.

With the game in the balance, the Energy defense came up big, holding Dakota scoreless for a 2:54 stretch to give Iowa the opportunity to stretch the lead to 105-98 with under a minute left. Clutch free throw shooting iced the game for Iowa, as Andrew Drevo and Curtis Stinson shot a combined 7 of 8 from the free throw line to secure the victory.

Drevo led Iowa with 18 points, 14 rebounds and 8 assists while Nick Murphy added 18 points and N’diaye finished with 16 in the game.

The win moves Iowa to 15-5 on the season, a full 5.0 games ahead of 2nd place Springfield in the NBA D-League’s Eastern Conference. Iowa’s record is better through 20 games than it was last year, when the Energy started 14-6 on their way to the D-League title.

Baker scored 34 points while Ubiles added 26 for Dakota. The loss drops the Wizards to 9-11 on the year.

Iowa hosts Tulsa Saturday night at 7pm in their annual 70’s Night. Tickets are available by visiting www.IowaNBA.com, calling 564-8550 or stopping by the arena box office.