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Sam Dunkley: Sam Dunkley with Linndale basketball coach Pio Reina. Pio,what are you seeing with the team so far?

Pio Reina: Well, we don’t rebound as well right now. The shooting is as inconsistent as ever. Free throws are problematic. Turnovers are an issue. I’d like us to generate more steals and blocks. We have to generate more offense.

SD: So, the same problems you complained about last season?

PR: I’m a coach. We control what we can control. Rebounding is one. Defense is another. Taking care of the basketball, making free throws, our effort… those are all things we can control.

SD: Are there roster issues you’re working around? The rotations are very different this season.

PR: No. We’re working around the limitations of the players we have by training them up.

SD: Training seems to be inside heavy up to this point.

PR: It needs to be.

SD: The team has made two big acquisitions on the inside. What can you tell us about Hugo Gareca and Gintaras Iliuchinas?

PR: Iliuchinas is the hammer we’ve needed that we haven’t had for a long time. Gareca is an exciting player to develop. On offense, we can do a lot with him. He’s not the hammer Iliuchinas is, yet, but he’s more versatile offensively. That duo is a tough matchup for anyone. We’re trying to figure out the best way to use them both, but that’s a good problem for us to have.

SD: It’s noted that Raul Tamm has seen his playing time decline since that duo’s arrival.

PR: It’s been a case of matchups, and us needing to get others on the floor at times. He’s still getting his work in. He’s still important to this team. He’s working on things, like everyone is.

SD: Arout Hairigyan looks like a different player this season.

PR: He is. We’ve found a few ways to use him while he works on things. We have some very high hopes for him.

SD: Joy Beko seems to have gone from an automatic starter to a utility guy. How’d that happen?

PR: Things are not always what they appear. The players, the skill sets, and the combinations we can use have evolved. We can do more things. That can only make us a deeper and better team.

SD: Let’s talk about that second unit. You have multiple guys scoring on that unit now.

PR: We do. It’s someone different each night. Right now, no one knows who’s starting from day to day and everyone has to stay ready. The guys have been up to that task. When things get settled, I expect you’ll find the second unit to be very dangerous.

SD: Juan Onrubia hasn’t been a consistent starter after a solid campaign last season.

PR: Don’t worry about Juan. He’s where we want him to be right now. He’ll be fine.

SD: What about last season’s pick up, Prudence Masuecos? His role seems to have changed.

PR: We’re asking him to work on some things, and yeah, we’re able to use him more creatively. We’ll continue to do that.

SD: The backcourt has been decidedly different this season.

PR: I disagree with that. We have a shooter and distributor in the backcourt, same as always.

SD: Are Colenbrander and Dolnicek not a unit in the backcourt?

PR: They have the ability to play in combination with a number of guys, something we choose to use to our advantage. You mentioned the scoring of the second unit earlier. Every starter returning from last season has come off the bench at least once this season. Has that helped? Yes. We wanted to come at people in waves. Our depth is a weapon. What works against the first unit likely won’t against the second unit. What works one game against us may not in another. We’re still learning and taking notes, but once we get things dialed in, you’ll see it.

SD: What should fans look forward to in the next 5 to 7 games?

PR: If I told you that, what incentive would they have to come to the games? The only way to find out is come down and support the team.

SD: Thank you for your time, coach.

PR: Thank you, Sam.

Last edited by Speedtraps at 7/31/2025 5:04:11 AM

...and now our depth gets tested. Losing Hairigyan hurt, but losing Gubatanga too?

Brutal.

Good thing I planned for that.

Day 7 (Saturday 2 August 2025) : Performances by (https://www.buzzer-manager.com)

Night results
Defenseless Babies 106 - AZ Sunburn 89
GloryBoyz 129 - Rochester Rampage 97
Waterloo Sky High 83 - New York Nugs 100
Las Vegas Red Pandas 125 - Roman Wolves 100
Nanooks of the North 56 - Andersonville Alligators 129
High Point Heroes 103 - Linndale 94
Twotone Touloose 97 - Page 2 69
Eternityz Rostah 97 - No Limit BPE 112

Best collective performance of the evening
Points : 129 : GloryBoyz, Andersonville Alligators
Rebounds : 66 : Andersonville Alligators
Assists : 36 : GloryBoyz
Steals : 16 : New York Nugs
Block Shots : 12 : Andersonville Alligators

Personal best performances of the evening
Points : 35 : L. Alaniz (High Point Heroes)
Rebounds : 21 : B. Macis (AZ Sunburn)
Assists : 15 : T. Mizoguchi (Eternityz Rostah)
Steals : 4 : G. Starr (Defenseless Babies), M. Caputo (New York Nugs), Y. Penin (Eternityz Rostah)
Block Shots : 4 : W. Lemons (Andersonville Alligators)

Top 5 of the evening
Point Guard : T. Mizoguchi (Eternityz Rostah) (24 Points, 1 Rebounds, 15 Assists, 0 Steals, 0 Block Shots) : Efficiency : 28
Shooting Guard : W. Shorter (GloryBoyz) (29 Points, 9 Rebounds, 2 Assists, 1 Steals, 0 Block Shots) : Efficiency : 34
Small Forward : L. Alaniz (High Point Heroes) (35 Points, 3 Rebounds, 5 Assists, 1 Steals, 1 Block Shots) : Efficiency : 32
Power Forward : B. Macis (AZ Sunburn) (19 Points, 21 Rebounds, 6 Assists, 1 Steals, 1 Block Shots) : Efficiency : 45
Center : A. Di Massimo (GloryBoyz) (7 Points, 7 Rebounds, 11 Assists, 1 Steals, 3 Block Shots) : Efficiency : 27

MVP of the evening
B. Macis (AZ Sunburn) (19 Points, 21 Rebounds, 6 Assists, 1 Steals, 1 Block Shots) : Efficiency : 45

The bad performance of the evening
C. Fortier (Nanooks of the North) (0 Points, 1 Rebounds, 1 Assists, 0 Steals, 1 Block Shots) : Efficiency : -4

All kinds of statistics
The player who forgot to remove his mittens : T. Entika (AZ Sunburn), T. Skelton (AZ Sunburn), U. Caparrós (Rochester Rampage), N. Ðào (Page 2) : 5 Turnovers

Player targeted by the referees : N. Tissola (Roman Wolves), G. Iliuchinas (Linndale) : 6 Personnal Fouls

The iron-man : A. Palmer (Waterloo Sky High), J. Julian (Page 2) : 48 Minutes

The shooter : K. Ksiazek (Rochester Rampage), N. Tissola (Roman Wolves), L. Little (Roman Wolves), D. Shaji (Andersonville Alligators), L. Alaniz (High Point Heroes), Y. Penin (Eternityz Rostah) : 4 Three points

The best performer : G. Starr (Defenseless Babies), B. Macis (AZ Sunburn), G. Pica (New York Nugs), G. Dávila (High Point Heroes) : Rating : 16.5

The worst performer : T. Skelton (AZ Sunburn) : Rating : 6.0

Day 8 (Tuesday 5 August 2025) : Performances by (https://www.buzzer-manager.com)

Night results
AZ Sunburn 75 - Andersonville Alligators 89
Defenseless Babies 118 - Nanooks of the North 59
Rochester Rampage 72 - Linndale 116
GloryBoyz 111 - High Point Heroes 127
New York Nugs 85 - Page 2 73
Waterloo Sky High 75 - Twotone Touloose 103
Roman Wolves 95 - No Limit BPE 117
Las Vegas Red Pandas 101 - Eternityz Rostah 86

Best collective performance of the evening
Points : 127 : High Point Heroes
Rebounds : 62 : Defenseless Babies
Assists : 37 : Defenseless Babies
Steals : 11 : Andersonville Alligators
Block Shots : 13 : No Limit BPE

Personal best performances of the evening
Points : 47 : Y. Penin (Eternityz Rostah)
Rebounds : 24 : G. Pica (New York Nugs)
Assists : 12 : G. Starr (Defenseless Babies)
Steals : 4 : S. Vujadin (Andersonville Alligators)
Block Shots : 5 : G. Pica (New York Nugs)

Top 5 of the evening
Point Guard : D. Voitikovas (Roman Wolves) (32 Points, 7 Rebounds, 6 Assists, 0 Steals, 0 Block Shots) : Efficiency : 34
Shooting Guard : D. Rognoni (No Limit BPE) (42 Points, 3 Rebounds, 7 Assists, 1 Steals, 1 Block Shots) : Efficiency : 42
Small Forward : L. Alaniz (High Point Heroes) (30 Points, 6 Rebounds, 8 Assists, 1 Steals, 2 Block Shots) : Efficiency : 36
Power Forward : W. Yi Fung (Las Vegas Red Pandas) (17 Points, 10 Rebounds, 2 Assists, 1 Steals, 0 Block Shots) : Efficiency : 25
Center : G. Pica (New York Nugs) (6 Points, 24 Rebounds, 2 Assists, 0 Steals, 5 Block Shots) : Efficiency : 30

MVP of the evening
D. Rognoni (No Limit BPE) (42 Points, 3 Rebounds, 7 Assists, 1 Steals, 1 Block Shots) : Efficiency : 42

The bad performance of the evening
Y. Kaifang (Nanooks of the North) (4 Points, 5 Rebounds, 1 Assists, 0 Steals, 0 Block Shots)U. Caparrós (Rochester Rampage) (10 Points, 2 Rebounds, 1 Assists, 1 Steals, 1 Block Shots)G. Purcell (Eternityz Rostah) (4 Points, 2 Rebounds, 1 Assists, 0 Steals, 0 Block Shots) : Efficiency : -4

All kinds of statistics
The player who forgot to remove his mittens : H. Chunda (Nanooks of the North) : 6 Turnovers

Player targeted by the referees : T. Entika (AZ Sunburn) : 6 Personnal Fouls

The iron-man : A. Palmer (Waterloo Sky High) : 48 Minutes

The shooter : Y. Penin (Eternityz Rostah) : 7 Three points

The best performer : J. Collante (Andersonville Alligators) : Rating : 18.0

The worst performer : T. Skelton (AZ Sunburn), K. McDuffie (Roman Wolves) : Rating : 5.5

Day 9 (Saturday 9 August 2025) : Performances by (https://www.buzzer-manager.com)

Night results
Nanooks of the North 140 - AZ Sunburn 157
Linndale 84 - Defenseless Babies 98
High Point Heroes 120 - Rochester Rampage 100
Page 2 111 - GloryBoyz 140
Twotone Touloose 83 - New York Nugs 109
No Limit BPE 111 - Waterloo Sky High 85
Eternityz Rostah 129 - Roman Wolves 109
Andersonville Alligators 101 - Las Vegas Red Pandas 109

Best collective performance of the evening
Points : 157 : AZ Sunburn
Rebounds : 64 : New York Nugs
Assists : 34 : Nanooks of the North
Steals : 16 : No Limit BPE
Block Shots : 13 : No Limit BPE

Personal best performances of the evening
Points : 39 : U. Caparrós (Rochester Rampage)
Rebounds : 18 : B. Macis (AZ Sunburn)
Assists : 11 : J. Imbroda (AZ Sunburn)
Steals : 5 : N. Flood (No Limit BPE), T. Thibodeaux (No Limit BPE)
Block Shots : 4 : R. Sasinas (Twotone Touloose)

Top 5 of the evening
Point Guard : J. Imbroda (AZ Sunburn) (23 Points, 4 Rebounds, 11 Assists, 1 Steals, 1 Block Shots), J. Babcock (No Limit BPE) (27 Points, 3 Rebounds, 10 Assists, 1 Steals, 1 Block Shots) : Efficiency : 33
Shooting Guard : F. Di Matteo (AZ Sunburn) (35 Points, 3 Rebounds, 6 Assists, 1 Steals, 0 Block Shots) : Efficiency : 35
Small Forward : Y. Kaifang (Nanooks of the North) (30 Points, 7 Rebounds, 7 Assists, 2 Steals, 0 Block Shots) : Efficiency : 35
Power Forward : M. Williamson (High Point Heroes) (26 Points, 11 Rebounds, 10 Assists, 0 Steals, 2 Block Shots) : Efficiency : 42
Center : V. Pérez (No Limit BPE) (19 Points, 17 Rebounds, 2 Assists, 2 Steals, 3 Block Shots) : Efficiency : 38

MVP of the evening
M. Williamson (High Point Heroes) (26 Points, 11 Rebounds, 10 Assists, 0 Steals, 2 Block Shots) : Efficiency : 42

The bad performance of the evening
A. Palmer (Waterloo Sky High) (4 Points, 5 Rebounds, 2 Assists, 0 Steals, 0 Block Shots) : Efficiency : -7

Triple-Double of the evening
M. Williamson (High Point Heroes) (26 Points, 11 Rebounds, 10 Assists, 0 Steals, 2 Block Shots)

All kinds of statistics
The player who forgot to remove his mittens : F. Noyer (Rochester Rampage), M. Gannon (Waterloo Sky High) : 5 Turnovers

Player targeted by the referees : W. Colenbrander (Linndale), U. Caparrós (Rochester Rampage), M. Williamson (High Point Heroes), K. Tanko (Page 2), L. Lozada (Page 2), P. Niel (Twotone Touloose), N. Flood (No Limit BPE), R. Boyles (Waterloo Sky High), N. Tissola (Roman Wolves), D. Bowling (Roman Wolves), B. McAlinden (Las Vegas Red Pandas), M. Cummings (Andersonville Alligators) : 5 Personnal Fouls

The iron-man : L. Romero (Rochester Rampage), A. Palmer (Waterloo Sky High) : 48 Minutes

The shooter : A. Anak Jugah (Page 2) : 7 Three points

The best performer : G. Pica (New York Nugs) : Rating : 18.0

The worst performer : R. Matthews (Nanooks of the North) : Rating : 6.0