A championship means nothing to the Wilmington Sea Dawgs.  That is, the PBL championship the Rochester Razorsharks won last season.

Despite the supreme caliber of competition the defending champs were supposed to offer, the Dawgs (2-2) were hungrier, as they defended their home court, posting a 111-101 victory.

Besides it being a conference victory, it was a huge win because Rochester beat Wilmington in all their match ups last season.  Alex Harper, who led the Dawgs with 24 points and 5 rebounds, understood the importance of this victory.

“We knew what to expect.  They were the defending champions and they had pretty much everybody back from that team,” said Harper.  “Overall, it was a collective effort by the team, and we wanted to come out and establish our defense first.”

The Razorsharks (1-2) jumped out to an early eight point lead at the end of the first quarter, but for the most part, it was a tight game in the first half.  After back and forth jumpers between Harper and Keith Friel of Rochester, the Dawgs closed out the first half with a one-point lead.

Defense was the biggest offense for Wilmington in the second half.  They scored numerous points on break away dunks and lay-ups.    The Dawgs soared to a 17-point lead over the Razorsharks late in the third quarter after recording a season-high 16 steals.

However, in a physical game, fouls started piling up for the Sea Dawgs.  Brian Leggett, Jim Jones, and Kadiri Richard all hit the maximum of 6 fouls.  In contrast to NBA rules, the PBL doesn’t foul out a player.  Instead the player can stay in the game, but each additional foul over the limit gives a team the free throws and the ball back.

With all of the foul trouble, the Razorsharks slowly crept back into the game, cutting the deficit to four points.  It was former UNCW basketball player Joe King’s 3-pointer late in the fourth quarter that proved to be the biggest shot of the game, putting the lead back to eight points.

“The guys are telling me, always be ready to shoot, and Cedric hit me with the pass,” said King.  “I was ready to shoot, and as long as my team has confidence in me, I’m going to have confidence to shoot.”

King scored 15 points and had a team-high 5 steals.

The Sea Dawgs won their second straight home game in front of another packed house at the Schwartz Center.  Coach Kuhl was impressed the way the crowd helped spark his team from an early deficit.

“The guys feed off the crowd,” said Kuhl.  “They gave us energy after playing stagnant, and I told the team at the half, we played bad and we’re leading by one.  Our best basketball is yet to come.”

The Sea Dawgs finish up their four game home stand this Sunday against the Buffalo Stampede, and next Sunday against Rochester.  With this win, the Dawgs move into second place in the Eastern Conference.

-Courtesy Wilmington Sea Dawgs